Pas Graphe

Same Sex Marriage - A Christian Response

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Fri, 26 Jun 2015 17:53:00 -0400

I am torn over the Supreme Court's decision today. I am disappointed in the Supreme Court's decision mainly because churches and pastors will now come under intense scrutiny. I truly believe freedom of religion is gone.

I am also pretty sure Jesus never involved himself in politics while he walked the streets that were under Roman rule. He just kept preaching the Gospel. He did not argue with Caesar or Pilot he just kept loving the unloveable. My guess is that Jesus would love the gays as much as he loves the straights. He would still rebuke the religious who have forgotten about their own need for forgiveness and he would be called a homosexual sympathizer because he would probably be seen hanging out in their midst.

In the end I believe God is sovereign and in control. How all of this fits into His plan I have no idea. What I do know is that no one is drawn to the Gospel by hearing angry Christians who are ready to fight over this. The lost will be drawn to the Gospel by seeing radical displays of love. You know, the kind Jesus used to show to the hookers, tax collectors and drunks. Maybe we should just give that a try. Maybe we should try to live out Matthew 5:44 - But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Peace

The Sloth and the Gospel

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Thu, 26 Feb 2015 11:50:00 -0500

When I saw this video of a sloth trying to cross a busy street I immediately thought of the Gospel. Before you know how it ends you assumption may be "this is not going to end well", if you are like me you may be thinking this sloth is going to get creamed by a speeding car. However, spoiler alert...a man intervenes and take the sloth safely across the road. The man bridges the gap and delivers the sloth safely across the road.

Spiritually speaking we are just like the sloth. We are trying to cross from from this life into the next on our own, we are trying to bridge the gap based on our works, on what we do, hoping it will be enough. The end result is that we will be crushed by the weight of our sins before a Holy God.

Isaiah 64: 6 - We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Ezekiel 33: 13 - Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die.

Knowing this is what man would face, God had a plan in place in eternity past. He would send someone who would help us safely cross from this life to the next based on what he did, not on what we did. He lifted us out of our sins and carried us across the divide that was far too wide for us to cross on our own.

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

Romans 5: 8 - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Sometimes we can begin to think a little to highly of ourselves but the reality is we are not much more that this lowly sloth trying to cross the road. Thank God He sees us as worth redeeming based on what He did for us, not what we do for Him. This is the Gospel, this is Good News.

Hope for Mr. Grinch

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 08:48:00 -0500

This time of year almost every radio station is playing Christmas music, some traditional and some new. As I was taking my daughter to school this morning I heard an old classic Christmas tune...Mr Grinch. I have heard this song numerous times but for some reason the lyrics just jumped out at me. Take a look at just a portion of the lyrics.

You're a rotter, Mr. Grinch,
You're the king of sinful sots,
Your heart's a dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots, Mr. Grinch,
You're a three decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce!

You nauseate me, Mr. Grinch,
With a nauseous super "naus"!,
You're a crooked dirty jockey and you drive a crooked hoss, Mr. Grinch,
Your soul is an appalling dump heap overflowing with the most disgraceful
Assortment of rubbish imaginable mangled up in tangled up knots!

You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch,
You're a nasty wasty skunk,
Your heart is full of unwashed socks, your soul is full of gunk, Mr. Grinch,
The three words that best describe you are as follows, and I quote,
"Stink, stank, stunk"!

As I listened to this song I began to think about our souls. If we were honest with ourselves we would probably admit this is a really good description of who we are deep inside. Deep inside where few, if anyone, other than ourselves ever get to see. Look at how the Bible describes the human heart.

Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Matthew 15:19 - For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Romans 3: 10-12 None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.

For many the song ends there. Many are foul, nasty and they stink, stank, stunk. But for others, the song has a much better ending. Look at how the apostle Paul describes those who are trusting in Christ. It starts out very much like the Grinch song but it has a much better ending.

I Corinthians 6: 9-10 - 9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

II Corinthians 5: 17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Paul says there is hope of having a new heart, there is hope that our sins can be forgiven, that our heart can be made new. That hope is not in trying harder to be a good person, that hope is not in ignoring the problem and hoping it will fix itself, the hope Paul speaks about is the finished work of Christ. Understanding that what took place on the cross is where we must begin, understanding that Christ took our place on the cross, he took upon himself our dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots hart, our appalling dump heap overflowing with the most disgraceful assortment of rubbish imaginable mangled up in tangled up knots souls and he died for them.

When he said "it is finished" he meant it. All that God required for the forgiveness of sin was accomplished by Christ. Forgiveness of sins comes through faith in Christ's finished work, not our feeble attempts at fixing ourselves.

Maybe this Christmas we can focus on the ultimate gift and the One who gave it.

Merry Christmas.

Those Ungrateful Trick or Treaters!

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 08:42:00 -0400

As I was riding in to work this morning there was a story on the radio about a woman who was not happy with kids from other neighborhoods coming into her affluent neighborhood looking for free candy. As the radio audience called in and lambasted her I began to think about how I felt that same way too. I live in a neighborhood that gets a lot of "those people" coming in looking for free candy. "Those people" might look different from me, they might speak a different language or they might even live in a home that has wheels attached to it. How dare they come into my neighborhood looking for a free handout and to top it off when they leave they don't even say Thank You.

As I thought about this the Holy Spirit reminded me that spiritually speaking I am the kid who is in a neighborhood I don't belong in, I am the kid who gets the greatest free gift anyone could ever get and I am the kid who time after time forgets to say Thank You. There is a vivid picture of this in the Bible.

Luke 17: 11-19 - 11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

None of these guys deserved to be healed, none of them should have gotten anything from Christ. Yet because of his mercy and grace he healed them. He did for them what they could not do for themselves. And how did they respond when they received this incredible gift, they simply walked away. All except for the one. Were they all thankful? Were the nine just so excited in their being healed that they simply forgot to turn around and say thanks? I certainly hope so. Before you jump in and say I would be the one who came back, I would be the one who threw himself at Christ's feet, ask yourself how often do you do that now. How often do you thank God daily for the Gospel, how many times are you quick to pass judgment as opposed to showing mercy. How often do you curse the driver who cut you off in traffic, how often do you criticize the coach who won't let your kid play in the game. How often do you drive by the homeless guy and think "get a job". How many times have you been behind the person who is paying for their groceries with a food stamp card and your blood begins to boil.

The Gospel is so amazing because in spite of our being the crusty old neighbor who does not want "those kids" coming around God still loves us, He still pursues us, He still sent Christ to the cross, He still lavished His love on us knowing full well that we would not truly get it, that most likely we would not turn around and say thanks. That is what makes the Gospel so amazing.

Maybe this Halloween as "those kids" show up at your door you will remember the amazing love that God has shown you (and me) and thank God for what He has done for you every time the door bell rings. Trick or Treat!

The walking dead

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Sun, 19 Oct 2014 09:53:00 -0400

We seem to be obsessed with zombies these days. Although I do not believe in literal zombies all of are spiritual zombies. We are the walking dead.

Psalm 51: 5 - Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Some people embrace this and sin out loud, others try to hide this fact and put on a front and hope no one finds out. Some people simply give in to the thought that there is no hope for them and they dive head first into a sinful lifestyle. A zombie who is not trying to cover his grotesqueness but rather embraces it. Others don't want the world to know, they want to try to hide the fact and walk around like a zombie with makeup. A zombie with lipstick and perfume. Both groups of people need the gospel, they need the cross. You need the cross and I need the cross.

Ephesians 2: 4, 5 - 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

The bible describes us as dead people. This is worse than a zombie, a dead person cannot do anything. A dead person cannot make himself better. A dead person cannot clean himself up. It takes someone from outside to move a dead person, it takes an outsider to dress a dead person and get him ready for the funeral. However, God is not prepping people for a funeral, he is resurrecting dead people. He is moving in the lives of sinners and extending love, mercy and grace.

Romans 5: 8 - But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Stop trying to do something you cannot do and simply believe God. Look at the words of Christ as he hung on the cross - ...It is finished... John 19: 30. He has done the work God required for us. You and I cannot do enough to please God, only Christ could and did. Step out from among the walking dead and begin to walk in newness of life in Christ.

Exposed to the Truth

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Wed, 6 Aug 2014 10:28:00 -0400

For the Believer one of the most loving things God can do for us is show us just how sinful we are, just how dark our hearts are. Only then can we truly appreciate the power of the cross. We are exposed in the scriptures as God haters (Romans 5:10 - For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! ) yet in spite of this God sent His son to the cross for us. Have you ever stopped to think about that? The world wants us to think we are good people, we are constantly inundated with the thought that you are a good person. Sure you make "mistakes" every now and then but so does everyone else so it is no big deal.

One of the worst things a Believer can buy into is the thought that I am basically a good person. When we begin to believe this about ourselves we debase the cross. You have probably heard the saying before "Why do bad things happen to good people?" That only happened one time in all of history. That Good person was Christ, not you, not me, not your mom, not your grandfather and not your child.

Every other faith outside of Christianity says you must dig deeper, you must do more, you must work harder, you must check off all the items on the to-do list. However, true Christianity is not about what we are to do it is about what has already been done for us. True Christianity is about what God, through Christ, has accomplished for us. That's why over and over and over Scripture says believe, believe, believe - Acts 16:31, John 3:16, John 6:47, I John 5:13. It does not say do more, work harder, climb higher or try harder.

When we finally get this we begin the process of shaking loose the chains of performance based Christianity. We begin to understand that our acceptance by God is not based on what we do or do not do, it is based on what Christ did for us. This is Good News, this is the Good News we are to tell others about. It's time to stop performing and start proclaiming.

Captain Jack Sparrow of the Bible

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 21:41:00 -0400

This week I was in Judges 13, 14 15 and 16 reading about Samson - you know, the really strong guy. As a kid I remember the stories of how heroic Samson was, how strong he was and how he killed the evil Philistines at the end of the story. However, as I read the story this time (probably the 50th time!) I saw something I had never seen before. Samson was used greatly by God but Samson never once did anything to earn God's favor, Samson did quite the opposite, he did just about everything God said not to do. Samson disrespected his parents, married a Philistine girl, stole from people, killed people, lied to people, was arrogant and never once repented of any of it.

At the end of the story when he finally killed the Philistines he said he did it to revenge their gouging out his eyes, not because he was being obedient to the Lord. As I sat there taking this in I could not help but think of Captain Jack Sparrow. The two were very similar, they were in to wine, women and warfare. Read the story for yourself. There is even a verse that makes me think they looked alike:

Judges 16: 13b - “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and fasten it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” ~ Apparently Samson had dreds.

It just reminded me again as to how God does not choose to use us based on how good we are, He chooses to use broken, sinful people so He will be glorified, not us. In the end God destroyed the Philistines through Samson but if we make the hero out to be Samson we have given glory to the wrong person.

The ultimate show of God's love for sinful mankind was when He sent His son. Just like how God chose Samson in spite of his unrepentant, selfish ways, God sent his some for lost sinners.

Romans 5:8 - 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We did nothing to deserve God's grace and mercy. Better yet we did the opposite, we were God haters and yet He still saved us:

Romans 5: 10 For if, when we were haters of God, the death of his Son made us at peace with him, much more, now that we are his friends, will we have salvation through his life;

What an awesome God we have. A God who loves us in spite of who we are!

I'm exhausted

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Sun, 16 Mar 2014 08:56:00 -0400

Have you ever felt like you worked so hard you were about to pass out? Have you ever had a job where you loathed getting up and going to work?

Sometimes we can translate this to our spiritual lives. Sometime we try really hard to do the right thing hoping that, in the end, it will turn out ok. We want to make God happy by what we do, we hope He is looking down on our good behavior and our good deeds and smiles. I have some bad news for you if that is what pleases God. Take a look at a passage of scripture:

Matthew 5: 48 - You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This verse should make us realize that we cannot do what God requires of us. We cannot be perfect. So we have to ask the question - What do I do now? Good question. We must look to the only one who was able to live a perfect life and realize that Christ did for us what we could never do for ourselves. He begins to unpack this for us a few chapters later:

Matthew 11: 28 - Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Without a clear understanding of who Christ is and what He did for us we will constantly strive to do more, hoping it is enough, to please God - this is the heavy burden we bear in vs 28.

The reality is that the work has been done for us by Christ.

John 17:4 - I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.

When we finally see this we can take off the burden of do more, try harder, pretend we have it all together and we can put on the easy yoke of - I believe that the work it takes to please God has been done for me and I can rest vs 30. The perfection God requires was fulfilled in Christ. I can stop trying to please God and begin worshiping the only one who ever truly pleased God.

The Duck Dynasty Distraction

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 11:53:00 -0500

I have been sitting at home over the past few days with the flu and have had a lot of time to read. It seems as though a lot of people are offended about a lot of stuff. People are offended about whether a nativity scene can be displayed in a certain area, people are offended about whether A&E Network can silence of of it's stars, people are offended by certain businesses choosing to say Happy Holidays as opposed to Merry Christmas.

As I sat around thinking in my heavily medicated state of mind I began to wonder what Paul, James, Luke or Peter would have done. Would they have protested the businesses that use Happy Holidays or would they threaten to boycott a network for trying to silence a personality?

My guess is that they would not. My guess is that they would stick to their mission, they would stay on task. They would continue to fulfill the Great Commission. They would continue to spread the Gospel.

If we are not careful we will find ourselves majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors. Instead of an issue like gay marriage or the removal of the Ten Commandments from a public building causing division we should be sharing the Gospel and letting that divide. Take a look at what Christ said:

Luke 12: 51-53 - 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

If we "defeat" gay marriage or if we "win" in allowing a nativity scene to be displayed on the lawn of city hall will that transform hearts? No! The only thing that can truly transform hearts is the Gospel. The one thing that should truly divide people is the Truth.

In his interview with GQ Phil Robertson quoted a portion of I Corinthians 6:

I Corinthians 6: 9-10 - 9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

The problem is that he either forgot the Gospel or GQ left it out of their article. Take a look at the rest of the passage:

I Corinthians 6: 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

That is the Gospel, that is the Good News, that is what really matters.

If you are a Believer please stay of task. Please don't let the world and the ruler of this world distract you from what we have been called to do. Offer the world the only thing that can truly bring peace and unity - the Gospel.

The Bungee Cord Gospel

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Wed, 4 Dec 2013 08:44:00 -0500

Do you have any experience with Bungee Cords? Have you ever tried to strap something down with a Bungee Cord only to have it snap back and pop you in the hand. Or better yet have you ever jumped off of a bridge strapped to a Bungee Chord or paid good money at a fair or amusement park to be strapped into a Bungee Chord ride. As you are falling faster and faster or catapulted up, up and away you know (or hope) that the chord is going to eventually reach it's maximum stretch and snap you back just before you hit the canyon floor or riverbed.

As I was reading the other day I came across a passage that made me think of this. Take a look at the passage that I call the Bungee Chord Gospel:

Ephesians 2:1-7 1And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Do you see it...the Bungee Chord Gospel?

In case you don't let me explain my thoughts.

In verses 1-3 Paul is telling us how we were hell bent on destruction. In the famous words of AC/DC we were on the Highway to Hell, we were breaking the speed limit and we did not even know it. However, in verse 4 there are two amazing words that offer hope - But God. In spite of our desire to follow the prince of the power of the air ie: Satan, God snatches us from that. Just as we are about to self destruct, just as we are about to crash and burn, just as we are about to hit the canyon floor God via the Bungee Chord Gospel snaps us out of that.

In spite of our desire to pursue everything that is anti-God he makes us alive by his mercy and grace. It is not by what we do, as evident in verse 9, but by his grace he snaps us back, he saves us from self destruction.

If you find yourself pursuing all that this world has to offer and yet you still feel empty, you still feel that there is something more to this life maybe, just maybe, the Bungee Cord is tightening and is about to snap you back. Maybe you are about to experience the "But God" moment when you realize just how merciful and loving God is and you will realize what he did for you at the cross.

So close...and yet so far away!

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Sun, 17 Nov 2013 23:04:00 -0500

When you leave this life, ie - you die and step into the presence of God, what are you going to depend on to hear Him say "Welcome to my heaven?" Are you going to begin to list all of the things you have done, are you going to list your good deeds, all of the good things you did, all of the hours you spent working on your Sunday School lesson, the number of people you served at the soup kitchen, the number of times you posted or re-posted some type of I love Jesus quote on facebook or Twitter?

There is a guy in the Bible that was really close to getting it but it appears he never did. The guy we love to hate...Judas. Do you realize that Judas knew more about Jesus than any of us will ever know this side of eternity. Do you realize that Judas knew how tall Jesus was, he knew if Jesus' hair was long or short, he knew what he smelled like, he probably knew what Jesus' favorite food was.

Judas was with Jesus when he was healing the sick, he saw Jesus restore sight to the blind, he saw him raise a boy from the dead, he saw him cast out demons. Judas was so close to Christ but his knowledge and proximity to Christ was not enough.

Our religion and our knowledge of Christ are not enough. The things we do for God will not cut it as it relates to eternity. There is one section of scripture that is almost haunting when I read it.

Matthew 7:21-23 - 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 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 in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

This verse tells us that there will be people who are depending on what they did to get them into heaven. They missed it. They were doing some impressive things. I have never done a miracle and I have never driven out a demon! These people apparently did and that is what they were trusting in.

The Bible is clear, Christ did for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Ephesians 1: 7, 8 - In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding

We have redemption through his blood, ie in what He did, not through what we do.

Colossians 1: 21, 22 - 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation

Again, He (God) reconciled us through what Christ did, not what we do.

I know you may think I beating this point to death but I don't what you to miss it, I don't want you to get close to the truth and not really get the truth. Christ finished work is all we can base our faith on. Christ lived the sinless life we could never live, he was the perfect sacrifice that God accepted on our behalf.

Don't miss this. Don't be like Judas and get really close but end up so far away.

Angels watching over me...

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 14:07:00 -0400

Have you ever been in someones home and seen the feminine looking angel figurines? Have you ever seen the bumper stickers with the phrase I've got angels watching over me and it has a angel in a long flowing garment with a dainty smile on her face?

I am reading through the Old Testament and there are several passages that show angels interacting with humans and from what I can tell they are far from what we portray them as. Let me show you a couple of examples.

II Samuel 24:15-17 - 15 So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men. 16 And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father's house.”

II Kings 19:35 And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

Revelation 12:7,8 - 7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

Now sure, not all passages about angels are of them killing people but if I needed an angel to look out for me or to be my guardian angel I think I would want one of these on my side. Angels are also portrayed as messengers or helpers:

Luke 1:26-33 - 26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Matthew 4:11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

I guess my point in all of this is the total misrepresentation of angels is just one piece of scripture and truth that gets distorted time and time again. More important than the truth about angels getting distorted is the truth about Christ being distorted. Christ was not just a good man, Christ was not just a good teacher, Christ was not just a mythological figure like Zeus or Hermes. Christ was God in the flesh.

John 8:58,59 - 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

John 14:8,9 - 8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

So why did he do it, why did God come to earth in the person of Jesus?

John 3:16,17 - 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

It was his love for you and me. He did for us what we could never do for ourselves. Christ came to earth and lived a perfect life and offered himself as a sacrifice to please a Holy God. The adversary, Satan, wants to do nothing more than distort this truth. Don't fall for the lies and deception.

John 17:17 - 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

We will not get the truth from the world we will only get it from God's word. Who are you listening to?

Not too close...Danger ahead

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Sat, 3 Aug 2013 09:50:00 -0400

How many times have you heard someone say "Man is basically good." or "He was basically a good person."

Over the past several weeks I have seen obituaries say this over and over again. As I began to think about this I began to realize just how messed up this thought process is. Especially if the person is a Christian. Let me explain:

There is a verse in the New Testament that might be familiar to you. It has been quoted many, many times and is often used by evangelist. Let me give you just a little background on this verse before I share it with you. The verse is found in I Timothy. Many scholars believe Paul knew his life was coming to an end and he was writing to Timothy encouraging him to continue what he had started. Scholars believe that this letter, along with II Timothy, were written just a year or two before Paul was killed for his faith.

Paul met Christ on the Road to Damascus around 40AD. Paul wrote I Timothy around 64 or 65 AD. Paul had been a Believer for about 25 years when he wrote this verse. To say Paul was a mature Believer is quite an understatement. However, I believe we have elevated Paul to something he never intended. We want to make him out to be a holy man, a super apostle, an example of what we should strive for. But look at this verse and see how Paul, a Believer for some 25 years, describes himself:

I Timothy 1: 15 - The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

Did you catch that, Paul's description of himself. I am the foremost of sinners (ESV), I am he worst of sinners (NIV), I am the chief of sinners (NKJ). And notice the little two letter word that I want to focus on, the word "am". Paul said he was the chief of sinners, present tense. He did not say he used to be the foremost of sinners. He did not say that he finally got to a point to where sin was no longer an issue.

I believe that if we are truly growing in our relationship with Christ and we are drawing near to God we too will begin to see just how sinful we really are. The closer we get to a Holy God the more evident our sin will become. This is what Paul was experiencing. This is why the first part of the verse is so important. "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" The Gospel is the Good News that although we are wretched sinners we have hope, not in what we do but in what Christ did for us. We did not seek him out, he came to us.

Romans 5: 8 - But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

My prayer for me and you is that if we are becoming puffed up with how well we are doing or how much we have done for the Kingdom God will remind us of how sinful we really are and how desperately we need his grace and mercy day in and day out.

The funeral...part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:18:00 -0400

Have you ever been to a funeral where there were not many people in attendance? Several months ago I posted about a funeral that was not very well attended. When someone dies I tend to think that if the funeral is well attended then the person was very influential, if there were not many people there then they might not have had much of an impact on those around them.

As I read the Bible I am constantly amazed at how much I miss every time I read it. This is my fourth time reading through the Bible and for some reason I never noticed Moses' funeral. At the end of Deuteronomy we have a description of Moses' funeral. Take a look:

Deuteronomy 34: 1-12 - 1Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the Lord showed him the whole land—from Gilead to Dan, 2 all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea, 3 the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar. 4 Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.”

5 And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. 6 He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. 7 Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. 8 The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.

9 Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the Lord had commanded Moses.

10 Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11 who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. 12 For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

Here are a couple of thoughts on this passage.

First: Moses only had one in attendance at his funeral. Moses climbed Mount Nebo by himself where God showed him the promised land. In verse 5 it says he died there. No one else is mentioned. But look at what took place in verse 6. God buried him. Could you imagine? God came down from heaven and buried Moses.

Second: Verses 10 - 12 are Moses' eulogy. It is short and to the point. There was no one else like Moses. He knew the Lord face to face. What I find amazing about this is that Moses was not a super prophet in terms of his behavior. Moses was a coward, he was a murderer, he was not a great public speaker and he was disobedient. He sounds a lot like me (minus the murderer part). Yet through all of this God knew him face to face. Why? How?

Hebrews 11: 24-27 24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.

Moses was not a super human rather he was a sinner just like you and I. Like all the other prophets in the Old Testament they were chosen by God, not because of who they were but rather because of who God is. Moses had faith in Christ. Moses had the righteousness of Christ applied to his sin filled life.

Imagine what our lives would look like if we could live them as though the only person we needed approval from was God. If we lived a life that did not care what man thought only what God thought. If we could get our minds around this concept what an amazing influence we would have for the Kingdom.

Rebuilding the Altar

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:50:00 -0400

I am on my quest to read through the Bible this year and I have made it to the book of Ezra. Ezra tells the story of God bringing Israel back to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity. When Israel gets back to Jerusalem the first thing they do is rebuild the temple. Before they work on any of the walls or any other infrastructure they rebuilt the altar.

Ezra 3: 1-4 - 1When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. 2 Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. 3 They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening.

Why start with the alter and not the exterior walls of the city? We are not specifically told why but I believe they realized that their release from captivity had nothing to do with them and had everything to do with God. He orchestrated the entire release and return of his people to Jerusalem. I think Ezra and the other leaders realized this and knew that if God ordained this He would protect them during the process.

As I thought about this I looked for the Gospel in this story. I believe the city is a representation of man. We are born in sin, our life is a mess. We may try to cover it up with a successful career, a nice car, new clothes, etc but internally we are all messed up. The problem is that we seem to try to focus on the external. We will work a little harder at our job hoping a promotion will fix us or we will buy a new car, maybe get a new wardrobe. Maybe we will try to will our self into putting down the bottle or turn off the computer so we stop looking at those web sites but it does not seem to work long term. We might find a little success but eventually our sinful nature rears it's ugly head again and we blow it.

The story of Ezra shows that we have to focus on the internal, the spiritual aspect of our lives first. If we focus on our internal altar, our hearts, true reconstruction can take place. The Gospel teaches that we cannot work hard enough, we cannot do enough to fix ourselves. The true fix has to come from the outside. Once we come to the end of ourselves and we realize we are broken people we can then understand the true message of the Gospel. Christ came to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He lived the life we could never live, he fulfilled the law that we break on a daily basis. His perfect life and eventual death was acceptable in the eyes of God as an atoning sacrifice.

Romans 3:25a God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood--to be received by faith

When we come to realize this and allow the Holy Spirit to begin working on our spiritual altar we can have true reconstruction. We can allow Him to change our hearts which will in turn change our actions. Once our heart is transformed to understand who we are in Christ we can then begin to rebuild our exterior walls. Once the change happens on the inside our exterior cannot help but change.

Remember that Christ can produce in us what we cannot produce on our own, a new heart. He can rebuild the alter of our soul.

Amazing Works

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:55:00 -0400

Do you ever look back on things you have done or said and thought what the heck was I thinking?!?. I am a work in progress. There was a time after I "accepted Jesus" that I felt like it was up to me to help save the world and show everyone how it should be done. I talked about the grace of God, I studied the grace of God but I did not live my life as if I believed in the grace of God. I took the famous song Amazing Grace and changed the words to show what the song would have said if it was about my life:

Amazing works just look at me
Come see what I have done
I oft have heard and now I know
I do not need the cross

Twas works that helped
my head to swell
And works my pride did grow
How mighty did these works appear
The more to church I went

Consider all the things I do
I teach, I cook, I sing
Twas works that got me where I am
And these will be well known

These works have brought the light to me
My pride doth often swell
A smile I must forever wear
To keep the front alive

When I have worked for many years
And my name is lifted high
I've only a few more years to go
To hear the praise of man

Amazing works just look at me
Come see what I have done
I oft have heard and now I know
I do not need the cross

I am happy to say that the Lord is merciful and has shown me the error of my ways, he has helped me understand the concept of grace on a much deeper level than I have in the past. He has graciously shown me that it is all about Him and not about me. He has let me know that He did fine before I showed up and He will do just fine when I am gone. I am not there yet, as I said before I am a work in progress. I am realizing more and more every day that I can rest in the finished work of Christ. I am not required to do anything to make God love me any more than he does.

I hope we can get the fact that God loves us because of what Christ did for us at the cross, not because of what we do or do not do. It is truly good news.

Take the land

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:17:00 -0400

I was in the book of Joshua the other morning and I came across the following verse:

Joshua 10: 7,8 - 7 So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. 8 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.”

Joshua 18: 3 - So Joshua said to the Israelites: “How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you?

If we look even earlier we will see this.

Deuteronomy 7: 22-24 - 22 The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. 23 But the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. 24 And he will give their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under heaven. No one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them.

Actually all we need to do is look at the promise God made in Genesis 3.

Genesis 3: 15
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”

God promised to defeat Satan some 4000 or so years before Christ was born. The battle was essentially over before it ever began!

These great Old Testament stories are simply precursors pointing us to the Cross. Christ defeated sin and death and gave us life and freedom. He has already done everything for us. Christ faced down Satan, Christ fulfilled the law, and Christ met the demands God had for us that we could never meet. John showed us this.

John 19: 30 - When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

It is finished! As I have said over and over in my posts, these are the three most powerful words ever spoken. The work has been done, the enemy has been defeated and the land is ours to possess. The life we now live is a life that should reflect a heart of thanksgiving and not a heart of obligation. The life we now live should not be a life of do more, work more or try harder. The life we now live should be a life of resting more in the finished work of Christ. God help us not to miss this.

Starbucks and same sex marriage.

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 10:33:00 -0400

In regards to the recent comments by Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks on same sex marriage I have this to say. Too many Christians seem to think that they can shame or strong arm people into changing their beliefs. I think that was called the Crusades a few hundred years ago and if you ask many people how that went most would probably say not too good.

The bottom line is that if the SCOTUS rules in favor of same sex marriage God will not be scrambling for a Plan B. God is in complete control and He does not need us to fix things or people. He is perfectly capable of doing that himself. If God allows this to take place he will not have to apologize for Sodom and Gomorrah as some morons think. God apologizes to no one! Also, the homosexuals will probably find out rather quickly that their right to marry will not satisfy; it will not create a panacea. Just ask most heterosexual couples! Do I support redefining marriage? Absolutely not, it is not ours to define or redefine; God defined marriage back in Genesis 2.

In lieu of this, what if we went out in droves to Starbucks and showed the love of Christ to those who work there instead of throwing insults at them. What if we actually apologized for how many Christians have responded to Mr. Shultz comments? I would be willing to bet that when he was crafting his comments he knew exactly how most “Christians” would respond. He knew that most would get angry and protest. What if we shocked Mr. Shultz and the Board of Directors with the love of Christ.

What people need is the Gospel. That is the only thing that can save us from ourselves. The Gospel is what the CEO of Starbucks needs to hear and it is what I need to hear over and over and over! Let’s share the Gospel instead of sharing the anger and bitterness. Peace out!

It is finished...again!

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:46:00 -0400

Have you ever needed to hear something over and over and over. Or, have you not realized you need to hear something but you did, over and over and over? I think this has happened to me recently. I have been involved in a study for the past several months on Jesus in Genesis. It is a fascinating study to see Christ in Noah, Abraham, Joseph and others. To see the parallels between Joseph's life leading to his being seated at the right-hand of Pharaoh and Christ's life leading to his being seated at the right hand of God.

But enough about that. Let me get back to my point. What I have been exposed to over and over and over is the Gospel. For the longest time I thought the Gospel was something "the lost" needed to be exposed to so they could "get saved" and move on with their lives. I thought the Gospel was something that an evangelist needed to focus his efforts on and those of us Believers needed to worry about more important things. How wrong I was, how arrogant I was, how flat out ignorant was I to believe this!

I truly believe that if we are looking for it we can see the Gospel everywhere in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Every book shows us the Good News. At the end of Genesis and the beginning of Exodus the Jews were in bondage to Egypt much like we are in bondage to sin. The Jews were helpless, they did not have an army, they did not have weapons and they did not have a military ruler. They were hopeless and helpless much like us outside of Christ.

Colossians 2: 13 - When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature...

Ephesians 2: 1-3 - And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind...

I don't know about you but I have never seen a dead person do anything and this is how we are described.

However, what the Jews did have was a God who saw their need, a God who stepped into their situation and rescued them. Israel had nothing to do with being released from Egypt. God brought them out, God parted the sea and allowed them to cross over on dry land, God closed the sea and destroyed the army of Egypt. God provided manna. God did not allow their sandals to wear out as they wandered for 40 years in the wilderness.

This is exactly what he did for us. Let me share the rest of the verses above to show what God did for us.

Colossians 2: 13 - When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins

Ephesians 2: 1-5 - And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.

God stepped in and made us alive, he did for us what we could not do for ourselves. This is Good News, this is the Gospel and I need to hear this over and over and over. The life I/we now live should not be a life of do more, work more or try harder. The life we now live should be a life of resting more in the finished work of Christ. The three most beautiful words spoken were from Christ's mouth as he was hanging on the cross - "It is finished." He did it all, he did what I could not do, he paid the price I could not pay. God help us not to miss this.

Missing the Point

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 10:25:00 -0400

Have you ever been listening to someone try to explain something and you realize they are completely missing the point? This happened to me Sunday. Unfortunately it happened while I was in church listening to the pastor preach! The pastor was trying to encourage the congregation to invite people to church (which is not necessarily a bad thing but is it a Biblical thing?) He asked us to turn to Mark 2:

Mark 2: 1- 12 - 1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

The pastor spent his time talking about the men who carried the paralyzed man to see Jesus. He encouraged us to be like the men who carried him, the men who realized how important it was to get the paralyzed man to Jesus and how sometimes we might have to sweat and get a little dirty if we are going to bring people to church. Again this is not a bad thing but it is not the point of the verses. We tend to make the scripture about us and they are not about us, they are about Christ.

The verses above are a picture of what God does for us. We are the helpless, paralyzed man who can do nothing spiritually speaking. Scripture is clear that we were not just paralyzed but we were dead in our sins and dead people cannot do anything for themselves.

Colossinas 2: 13 - And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

Ephesians 2: 1 - As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins

Much like the paralyzed may we are unable to do anything for ourselves. It is only when God draws men to himself that we can begin to walk spiritually speaking.

John 4: 44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.

The men who brought the paralyzed man to Christ are representative of the Holy Spirit drawing people to Christ. Once men are drawn to Christ they can receive forgiveness for their sins and begin walking in Christ and his finished work.

Many times we tend to make the Bible our self-help guide and what we are to do and although this is not necessarily a bad thing it is not what the Bible is about. The Bible is about Christ and what he has done. His last words on the cross were "It is finished" - John 19:30. He has done all the work, he fulfilled the law, he lived the sinless life we could not live. This is the Good News. Christ did for us what we could not do for ourselves. He paid the price we could never pay.

The Gospel is about what has been done, not what we are to do. God help us to never forget this.

Raised from the Dead

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Fri, 8 Mar 2013 09:59:00 -0500

When is the last time you had an Ah Ha moment? That happened to me just the other day. I noticed something as I have been reading through the Bible over the past few weeks. I am around Deuteronomy 10 and I noticed the phrase “the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” over and over and over. As a matter of fact I looked it up and it has been stated 20 times up to where I am and a total of 27 times in the Old Testament. So what is so significant about this? What did the Lord show me with this phrase being repeated over and over and over? What was my Ah Ha thought? This is it: He is in control. He chose me. He redeemed me. I had nothing to do with it. Just like Israel had nothing to do with being released from Egypt. God brought them out, God parted the sea and allowed them to cross over on dry land, God closed the sea and destroyed the army of Egypt. God provided manna. God did not allow their sandals to wear out as they wandered for 40 years in the wilderness.

Fast forward to the New Testament and we see this as it relates to the Believer.

Colossians 2: 13 - When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins

Ephesians 2: 1-5 - And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.

The New Testament says we were dead in our sins and a dead man cannot do anything for himself. If his tie is crooked or his hair is out of place as he lies in the coffin he cannot fix them. He is completely dependent on someone else to fix them. That is us before God intervenes and spiritually raises us from the dead.

A vivid picture of this is the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead:

John 11: 38-44 - 38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

This is a great picture of the Gospel. Christ calling forth a dead man from the grave. Lazarus was not seeking Christ, Lazarus was not looking for Christ, Lazarus was dead but Christ made him alive. He brought Lazarus back to life some 2000 years ago and he is still bringing dead people back to life today in the spiritual sense.

I worship an amazing God who raised me from the dead over 20 years ago and I am eternally grateful.

Jude 24, 25 - 24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

It's all about Jesus - The Ram

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:13:00 -0500

I attend a men's Bible study on Wednesdays. The guy who leads it is going through the book of Genesis with a focus on the grace of God. The other day he was in Genesis 22 talking about Abraham obeying God when he was asked to sacrifice his son. He mentioned that we tend to focus on Abraham and Isaac but the main focus on this story should not be them but rather the ram in verse 13.

Genesis 22: 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

The guy leading the study said the symbolism of Christ is all over this verse. He pointed them out and I wanted to share them with you.

First it was a ram and rams were used as a sin offering. Rams were sacrificed to cove the sin of the children of God.

Leviticus 19: 21, 22 - 21 but he shall bring his compensation to the Lord, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. 22 And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven for the sin that he has committed.

Second the ram was caught in the thicket. The thicket was overgrowth or thorns, a result of Adam's sin. The ground was cursed:

Genesis 3: 17, 18
17 And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
    and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
    ‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
    in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
    and you shall eat the plants of the field.

Christ had to come because of this same curse. Adam's sin affected everything and everyone.

Third the thistles or thorns were around the rams head just as Christ had a crown of thorns thrust upon his head.

Matthew 27: 28, 29 - 28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

Finally Abraham took the ram and offered it as a sacrifice instead of his son. This is the ultimate picture of Christ dying in our place. The ram was innocent, he did nothing to deserve death, he did not gore anyone to death with his horns he did not try to attack Abraham or Isaac. Just as Christ did nothing to deserve death. God, in his perfect plan, sent Christ to do for us what we could never do, live a perfect life, a life without spot or blemish. Christ was the ultimate sacrifice. He died in my place, he took my sins upon him so I could have a right standing before God.

Jude closes his letter with a beautiful doxology about this:

Jude 24, 25 - 24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

As I have mentioned before, the whole story of the Bible is about Christ. Don't miss him as you read.

Stuck

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 08:30:00 -0500

Not too long ago I was looking through some old photos a friend posted on facebook. I came across the one to the right and I begin to think about that crazy night. The photo was taken around 1986 and yes those are acid washed jeans under all that mud!

Have you ever noticed that when guys get bored they tend to do stupid things, they come of with what they think are really good ideas but they usually end up being really bad ideas. Well that is exactly what happened that night. We were sitting around a friend's apartment doing who knows what but we were bored. We did not have cell phones, we did not have the internet, we did not have facebook and we only had about 20 cable channels. I know some of you younger readers are wondering how we survived without these things.

As I mentioned, we were bored and one of us came up with the brilliant idea of going to see the Bingham Light. It is a famous haunt. You can read all about it here. Unfortunately in order to get to the light you had to travel down some less than perfect roads. My buddy Jack had a 1980 something 4X4 turbo diesel Ford Ranger. He swore that it could get through anything. Apparently "anything" didn't mean a mud hole that had been worn away by logging trucks so that the bottom of the truck would get stuck. Now one key element that I did not mention is that the Bingham light is about 30 miles from the apartment we were hanging out at and the area where we got stuck is about four miles from nowhere. We were deep in the woods. I also failed to mention that we did not leave the apartment until around 9 or 10 o'clock that evening. The mud hole took it's victims captive around 11:00 that evening. We thought about spending the night in the woods, in the bed of the truck in the hopes that some other fools would show up and help us out.

Around midnight and after hearing all sorts of sounds and wondering if there were any axe murders in the area we decided to hike out and try to find a pay phone to call for help. Around 3:00 in the morning we finally made it to an old gas station where we dropped a quarter in the pay phone and called our smart friend (because he did not go with us) Chris to come pick us up. After listening to him cuss us out for waking him up he reluctantly came and brought us home where we were able to get another 4X4 and get the truck out of the mud. Needless to say our clothes (my acid washed jeans) were ruined and we smelled like road kill but we made it home.

As I thought about this I had a verse come to mind.

Psalm 40:2 - He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

In my story me and my friends were stuck, we tried everything we could to get the truck out of the mud but nothing worked. We had to have someone outside of our situation come to our rescue. The same is true spiritually speaking. The Bible says we were dead in our sins, that there was nothing we could do to save ourselves but God in his mercy sent someone who could rescue us from the muck and mud called sin:

Ephesians 2: 1-9 - 1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Whether we realize it or not we are, or at some point were, stuck in the mud. We are/were helpless and need someone outside of our situation to show up and get us out. Christ did that at the cross. Christ has fulfilled the requirements of God. Christ lived the life we could never live and his sacrifice was sufficient. We can continue in the mud trying to get ourselves out or we can rest in his finished work, we can believe that he is who he said he was, the son of God, the lamb without blemish who took away the sins of the world.

Jesus and Noah

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 09:07:00 -0500

In my last post I mentioned that everything in the Bible points to Christ. I also mentioned that my reading through the Bible this year will try to focus on that. I want to share another example of Christ in Genesis.

Most people have heard of the story of Noah and the flood. But have you heard of the symbolism of the ark, the barge that saved Noah, his family and the animals during this flood? In Genesis 6 God told Noah that he was going to flood the earth and destroy everything and everyone.

Genesis 6: 13, 14 - 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.

God told Noah that the only way he could be saved was to build an ark and get inside when the rain came. He did not give Noah multiple ways to be saved, he did not tell him to build an ark, a tower or an underground waterproof bunker. He gave him one option that would save him - an ark.

When the floods did come Noah went into the ark and was saved. Others outside who did not go into the ark perished. They may have seen the waters rising and moved to higher ground, they may have gotten to the top of a mountain and tried to climb the highest tree they could find but eventually all alternative means of being saved from the judgement and wrath of God failed. The waters covered everything according to Genesis 7: 19.

So what does this have to do with Jesus? I'm glad you asked. In John 14 Jesus makes a bold statement that offended many in his day and it especially offends many today.

John 14: 6 - Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Just as God told Noah there is only one way to be saved from God's judgement Christ told his disciples that he was the only way to be saved from God's judgement. Peter reiterated this in Acts. Peter was speaking to the rulers, the elders and the scribes, ie all the religious people and look at what he said when speaking of Christ.

Acts 4: 12 - 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

There is only one way. Just like Noah had only one way we have only one way. In the days of the flood there were many who were probably running to other options, trees, mountains, caves, etc they all fell short of saving them. Today many people are looking to other means of salvation. People are looking to power, money, fame, Buddha, Mohammad, Mother Nature and a whole list of "alternatives".

Throughout the Bible the picture of one means of salvation is shown over and over and over. There is only one way to have our sins forgiven and that is through the finished work of Christ at the Cross. When he said "it is finished" he meant it. God accepted his sacrifice by raising him from the dead three days later.

This is the Gospel message. We cannot save ourselves, we cannot float long enough or climb high enough to make it on our own. God reached out to Noah and said I will save you, I will provide a way for you to escape. Noah was not looking for salvation but God in his sovereignty chose to save Noah. God is still doing this today.

Romans 3: 10-18 - 10 as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." 13 "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips." 14 "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness." 15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not known." 18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Yet in spite of this God chose to seek us out and offer is a spot on the ark in the person of Christ. This is the good news, this is the Gospel for those who believe.

If you are a Believer then you and I are to follow the example of Noah and be a herald of righteousness:

II Peter 2: 5 - if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly

Noah was preaching the Gospel in the days leading up to the flood. He was not quiet, simply hoping that people would figure it out. He preached and shared with those around him. No one other than his family responded and that is ok. When we share our faith it is not up to us to convert people God will take care of that. We simply scatter seed and let God do the rest.

The day is coming when the spiritual waters will overtake us and we will pass from this life into the next. Are you on the ark? Are you trusting in the one way God provided for us to have a right standing before Him?

It's all about Jesus

noreply@blogger.com (Lamar Younginer) — Mon, 4 Feb 2013 08:57:00 -0500

It's all about Jesus! Have you ever heard that before? When I say that I am not talking about my life (I wish I were) but I am talking about the Bible. I started reading through the Bible again a few weeks ago. I think this will be my fourth time. My focus this time will be on Christ. I know that might sound strange but I think at times I am reading just to read. I am reading just so I can say I read. I read without a real purpose. This time will be different. I truly believe that you can find Christ anywhere in the Bible because it truly is all about him.

In the beginning God made everything perfect. He put Adam and Eve in the garden and told them they could eat anything they wanted except for the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Well as you probably know they did exactly what they were not supposed to do. They ate of the very tree God told them to not eat from. At that moment everything changed and when I say everything I mean everything, the entire universe was tainted by sin:

Romans 8: 20, 21 - 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

When Adam and Eve sinned they did not run to God and apologize, they ran from God and tried to hide. God was the one who came looking for them, God came to them and replaced their garment of fig leaves with a garment of animal hide. God came looking for them to keep them from eating of the tree of life and really making a much bigger mess.

In the same way when we are introduced to Christ in the New Testament he goes looking for men. Peter, John, Matthew, none of them were looking for Jesus, they were consumed with their own lives, their occupations. They were busy fishing or collecting taxes. Sure they had probably been told that one day Messiah would come but people had been saying that for almost 4000 years, why would this year be any different. But it was different, this was the year Jesus went looking for the sinners.

Mathew 4: 18-22 - 18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Just like God went after Adam and Eve in the garden Christ went after the disciples in the towns and villages. Just like God provided a blood sacrifice for Adam and Eve Christ was going to offer a blood sacrifice for not only the disciples but for the entire world.

I Peter 1: 18-20 - 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.

This is the theme of the Bible and it is stated all the way back in Genesis 3:

Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”

My hope is that as I read through the Bible I will fix my eyes on Christ and not on me. I will see what Christ did and not what I do. I will see that Christ finished the work that I am completely incapable of finishing. If you decide to pick up the Bible and begin reading that you will do the same.

I hope that you will see how much God love us sinful creatures, that you will see how everything he does and says points to the finished work of Christ. From Noah to Abraham to Joseph to David and all the others, it is all about Christ.

In the end it is not about me, it is not about you, it is all about Christ. Consider this as you read the scriptures. Take your eyes off of yourself and put them on Christ. It will make a huge difference in your life.