Christian Writing

“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” (John 15:8)

John 15 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. It is the source of the name my beloved Christie and I gave to our ministry: Friends of the King Ministries. (vs. 12-16) Even more important, it sets forth the all-important parable of the vine and the branches. (vs. 1-8) 

I picture Jesus leading His disciples from the Upper Room to the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His betrayal. As they walk through the Kidron Valley, He points to the vineyards around them as an illustration of how they and we must serve Him after His ascension to heaven. Like branches attached to the vine, He expects us to bear fruit for His Kingdom. To do that, we must abide in Him as He abides in us. Apart from Him, we accomplish nothing.

This parable is well-known to most Christians even though we may differ in our understanding of exactly how we “abide” in Jesus. The Greek word used for “abide” is meno, meaning to remain, stay, abide, or dwell. Through the Holy Spirit, our Lord Jesus Christ abides in us. (John 16:13-16; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 6:17) To live fruitful Christian lives, we must avoid bouncing back and forth between occasional focus on Christ, focus on the world, and focus on our “flesh”. (Galatians 5:16-25; 1 John 2:15-17) Instead, we must stay focused on the Lord, His presence within us, and His will for our lives.

All of us struggle to stay constantly aware of Jesus throughout the day even though that would be a wonderful way to live. I believe those who struggle most are professing Christians who fail to understand how important it is for them to “bear fruit” for Christ. In the parable, Jesus stated this is how you prove you are His disciple and how you bring glory to our heavenly Father. (v. 8) Left unstated by Jesus was a truth His original disciples knew well already. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit apart from the vine, so a vine without branches does not bear fruit at all! 

God can do anything without help, but God chose to give stewardship of the earth to mankind and has never withdrawn that assignment. (Genesis 1:26-31; Psalm 8:3-8, 115:16) So God will always work with us, but rarely without us. We are all gifted and called. (1 Corinthians 12:4-27) The Vine needs His branches just as the Head needs His Body. (Ephesians 1:22-23) The purpose of what we have traditionally called church ministry – worship services, Sunday schools, and bible studies – is to equip all Christians for the real work of ministry in this broken world. (Ephesians 4:11-16) 

Our fruit is the witness of our lives every day by word and deed to the love, truth, faithfulness, grace and power of our heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ, who brought us out of darkness and into His Kingdom of light. (Acts 1:8; Colossians 1:12; 1 Peter 2:9) We love our neighbor and everyone God loves. (Matthew 5:43-48) We serve God and others, treating others like we wish to be treated. (John 13:1-17; Matthew 7:12) We are a house of continuous prayer. (Isaiah 56:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:17) 

Although not saved by works, we are saved for good works (good fruit), so our fruit has the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Ephesians 2:8-10; Luke 6:43-49; Galatians 5:22-23) The bad fruit of sexual immorality, hatred, strife, fits of anger, divisiveness, and self-centered ambition do not grow on God’s Vine. (Galatians 5:19-21) 

The vital importance of branches bearing “much fruit” for our Lord is underscored by our heavenly Father’s role as the Vinedresser. (vs. 1-2) I believe we are now living in a season of His pruning and removal of branches so His true Church can shine brightly amidst the increasing darkness. (Isaiah 60:1-3) 

Despite biblical commands to the contrary, many people are choosing long-term to forego the gathering of God’s people in favor of broadcast services or nothing at all. (Hebrews 10:24-25)   A great many local churches are shrinking or closing, and denominations are both shrinking and dividing.  

Some view these developments as a time of spiritual defeat, but what I see is a divine shaking (Hebrews 12:26-29), a refiner’s fire (Malachi 3:2-3), a sifting of wheat from chaff (Luke 3:17), and, in the language of John 15, the hand of the Vinedresser pruning and removing whatever holds back the glorious fruitfulness Christ wants His Body to have. 

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, be a branch that abides in the Vine and bears much fruit to the glory of God! The Vine and the Vinedresser are counting on you.

God bless you, and God bless our community.

“A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion…. An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” (Proverbs 18:2, 15)

Eve was not alive when the Lord first instructed Adam that he could eat of any tree in the Garden of Eden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but that in the day he ate of that tree, he would surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17)

After Eve’s creation, either Adam or the Lord clearly shared this prohibition with her. But it is equally clear her understanding of this instruction was only partially correct. Because she was partially informed, she was easily deceived. 

When Satan uses the serpent to tempt Eve into sin, he starts by questioning her understanding of what trees she can use for food. Eve explains she can eat from any tree except the tree in the middle of the garden, but that if she eats from that tree, or even touches its fruit, she will die. (Genesis 3:1-3)

In fact, the Lord never said anything would happen if you just touched the fruit. So, when the serpent tells Eve the fruit will make her wise like God, and she goes to the tree and sees that the fruit is sweetly scented and appealing in appearance, and she takes the fruit into her hand, and nothing adverse happens to her, she concludes the serpent must be right and the Lord wrong. (Genesis 3:4-6). She eats. Adam, who came to the tree with her, also eats. And the rest is history. Sin and death came into the world, and they are still with us today. (Romans 5:12)

Abraham was a friend of God and often talked with Him. (James 2:23) At the outset of their relationship, the Lord told Abraham He would make him the father of a great nation. (Genesis 12:2) Ten years later, in his mid-80’s and still childless, Abraham shares with the Lord his concern that his heir will have to be his household servant rather than his own son. (Genesis 15:2-6) The Lord assures Abraham that his heir will be his own son, and Abraham believes Him.

Shortly thereafter, Abraham’s elderly wife Sarah tells him that the Lord has prevented her from having children. She proposes they birth their child and heir through her Egyptian servant Hagar, and Abraham “listened to the voice of Sarah”. (Genesis 16:1-2) He did not consult the Lord as he had done in the past, and so he did not learn from the Lord until years later that God’s plan was a son and heir through Sarah. (Genesis 17:16-22) 

Abraham was partially informed, knowing his heir would be his son but not knowing it would also be Sarah’s son. As a result, Ishmael was born as Abraham’s first son – a man who as Abraham’s offspring would father his own great nation, but a man (and nation) also destined to live in conflict with everyone else, including his kin. (Genesis 16:10-12, 17:20) 

Again, the rest is history. Ishmael became the father of the Arab people. Mohammad, founder and “Great Prophet” of Islam, traces his Arab ancestry and biblical legitimacy to Abraham through Abraham’s “first son”, Ishmael. Today there are almost two billion Muslims in the world, all of whom believe God has no Son and, therefore, John 3:16 cannot be true.

Jesus is the Truth. (John 14:6) Satan is the father of lies. If he cannot deceive you with a full lie, he will deceive you with half-truths and partial information. (John 8:44) Bad choices are destructive, and that is always the devil’s goal. (John 10:10)

Our nation’s political divisiveness today is largely the result of so many Americans being partially informed. The news media are all biased one way or the other, filtering what they report, and both progressives and conservatives tend to pay attention only to news sources that support their existing opinions. (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

As to the Church, most professing Christians do not personally study the Bible. They prefer to receive God’s Word “second-hand” through their denominational doctrines, their local preacher, their friends, and now even online. Because so many are partially informed and not personally informed, they often accept human doctrine and tradition as God’s Word even when the full testimony of scripture directly contradicts what they have chosen to believe. (Matthew 15:1-9; Mark 7:1-13; Colossians 2:8) The sanctity of papal decrees, cessationism, the “prosperity gospel”, and sexual permissiveness are just four examples of this.

Study the Bible personally, not just through others. Pray every day that the Holy Spirit will give you wisdom and lead you into more truth. (Isaiah 11:1; James 1:5; John 16:13) As to any issue, hear both sides and be fully informed before you reach a conclusion. 

The partially informed are easily deceived. The truth sets us free. (John 8:32) 

God bless you, and God bless our community. 

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. (John 17:20-23)

My Lord despises spiritual pride and so my desire is always to be free of it. But I am willing to risk being labelled with it rather than remain silent about the need of our Christian community to grow up and become who we are called to be.

We are living in both the times of difficulty described in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 and the times of spiritual immaturity described in Hebrews 5:13-15. Everywhere I look, the Church is failing to distinguish good from evil. One segment fails to discern sexual immorality and the sanctity of life while another fails to discern the equally unacceptable absence of humility and agape love. One ignores God’s hatred of lawlessness while the other ignores His compassion for the lost and oppressed.

Across our nation, people are being led astray by traditions and philosophies of man that are contrary to the whole counsel of the Word of God. (Matthew 15:2-9; Colossians 2:8; Acts 20:27) As a result, we are a divided house with a weak witness, and losing each upcoming generation to the world even more than we lost the last. (Mark 3:25; 1 Peter 2:9-15)

When the Lord drew me back to Him in 1991, He gave me a hunger to know ever more about Him and draw ever closer to Him. (John 16:13; James 4:8) In addition to reading and re-reading scripture, I immediately began to devour the books of wonderful teachers like Max Lucado, Philip Yancey, and C.S. Lewis. It was in the Chronicles of Narnia by Lewis that I found the phrase, “Come further up, come further in.” Amen!

As I became more aware of the importance of the Holy Spirit, I turned to charismatic teachers like Derek Prince and R.T. Kendall. Christie and I attended multi-day conferences with great speakers and great worship. We interacted in our community with devout Christian men and women from a variety of Christian faith expressions. The more we learned and experienced, the more we became aware of how much more we needed to learn and experience.

Christie has graduated to a knowledge of the Lord I cannot expect to have while I remain on earth. I am still a work in progress. But I have seen a truth in scripture that is life-changing, biblically inarguable, and yet hardly ever mentioned. If you are truly a Christian, your Lord God now lives in you! So, what are you going to do about it?

The scriptural testimony for this is set forth in my book: Be With Jesus, Be Like Jesus, Be For Jesus. All I can provide here is the “nutshell” version and point out there are hundreds of scriptures in addition to John 17:20-23 that verify what I am saying.

God creates all people, male and female, in His image and likeness, and so all have the potential to become children of God. However, sin – our failure to trust and obey God – separates us from a holy God and we are unable to bridge that gap. Therefore, God in His perfect love sent His Son Jesus to take on the form of humanity and die for the sins of the world.

When we repent of our failure to trust and obey God and put our trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord, God forgives our sins and reconciles us to Himself in the most incredible way imaginable. The Holy Spirit proceeds from God to live within us forever and become one with our human spirit. (John 15:26; Romans 8:9-17; 1 Corinthians 6:17)

What we have consistently failed to grasp is that the Holy Spirit is much more than a seal of our salvation or bestower of spiritual gifts and power. God is one God in three Persons, and the Holy Spirit is God, the third Person of the Trinity, both eternally and perfectly one with the Father and Son.

Every day we are quenching and grieving God the Holy Spirit by our compromises in trust and obedience, our lack of agape love for everyone He loves, and our lack of unity in Him. The Bible urges us to honor who He is and follow Him daily as He transforms us, fills us, and unites us with the Father, the Son, and each other. (1 John 1:1-4)

Then the world will finally be able to know and believe.

God bless you, and God bless our community.

“Jesus answered, ‘Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.’” (Matthew 19:4-6)

Marriage in America is in even greater trouble now than it was when I first wrote this column thirteen years ago, so please let me resubmit it for your prayerful consideration.

The biggest problem with marriage in our nation began long before the comparatively recent controversy over homosexual marriage. It began long before the modern tendency to live together without marriage and intentionally have children outside marriage.

The core problem of marriage in our nation is divorce. Almost half of our marriages end in divorce, and despite the strong scriptural language against divorce, this failure rate applies to marriages of professing Christians as much as it does to non-believers.

Bad marriages lead to divorce. As each succeeding generation becomes more scarred by bad marriages and divorce than the one before, the respect our culture has for the institution of marriage continues to diminish. The fundamental building block of human society crumbles, our culture becomes increasingly dysfunctional and unhealthy, and tragically, most churches offer little or no help.

Folks, it does not have to be this way. We do not have to resign ourselves to this decline. Divorce is a preventable disease. Bad marriages can be healed.

I offer these key points:

• Quality premarital counseling is extraordinarily important. The points below can all be initially covered in premarital counseling. It prepares. It eliminates unpleasant surprises.
• Communication is a skill we can all improve. Most conflicts arise out of simple misunderstanding, and good communications eliminate misunderstanding.  The most important tip – Let understanding what your spouse is saying be more important to you than having your spouse understand what you are saying. Listen!
• Conflict is inevitable. How you resolve conflict makes all the difference. Solve the problem while protecting the relationship. Avoidance and confrontation are poor methods that damage the relationship. Collaboration (teamwork) and compromise are both good methods.
• Share your expectations and your dreams. Encourage each other.
• Be quick to apologize and sure to forgive. Do not go to bed angry and give the devil a foothold. (Ephesians 4:26-32) Do not keep a record of wrongs to bring back up in the next argument. (1 Corinthians 13: 5)
•  Recognize the fundamental problem in marriage or any relationship, including our relationship with God, is selfishness. “What’s in it for me?”  For a Christian, loving service to your spouse is as important as the blessings you receive in your marriage. In fact, the greatest blessing is to be a blessing. (Acts 20:25)
•  Men – loving your wife means more than just providing, protecting, doing things around the house, and sex. We must show our beloved every day how we cherish and value them. (Ephesians 5:25-33)
• Women – your husbands want and need your respect as much or more than they need your love. (Ephesians 5:33) If a wife consistently communicates respect, most husbands will do everything in their power to live up to it.
• In addition to the challenge of children, we live in a world where we will face troubles with health, work, finances, and other relationships. These are all stressors on our marriage. How we respond to them as a couple reveals the strengths and weaknesses in our marriage. Solve the problems as they come, but also use those times of struggle to celebrate your strengths and address your weaknesses so you can grow as a couple.
• We all bring “baggage” into our marriage, including fears, unresolved anger issues, and disappointments from our life before marriage. You do not have to live with this baggage and your spouse should not have to live with it either. Seek healing and freedom from your past through the Lord.
• Get help when you need it. Marriage is wonderful but hard. When your car engine is missing, you take it to a mechanic. When the two of you are struggling and a solution does not come quickly, seek the wisdom of a gifted pastor, a biblically grounded marriage counselor, or a godly Christian couple. Don’t let things fester!
• Pray together every day. Christian couples who pray together daily have a divorce rate of less than one percent (1%). Living together in God’s presence is how two people become the threefold cord not easily broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:12) Spiritual intimacy can be the most incredible marital intimacy of all!
• Every church, large and small, should have support ministries in place for both marriage and parenting. We are the family of God!

We can heal Christian marriage in America if we choose, starting right here in our own community. Will you do your part?

God bless you, and God bless our community.

“… The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24)

Easter Sunday is nine days away, and most churches in our region will once again experience their largest worship service attendance of the year. Attendance increase is a good thing: more people to hear God’s Word and, hopefully, experience His love. But many of us who regularly participate in the Church may find ourselves quietly asking if these rarely seen attendees are true worshipers of God or just making a token appearance.

God cautions us about judging others because, unlike the Lord, we cannot see inside someone’s heart. (Matthew 7:1-2; Jeremiah 17:10; John 2:25-26) It is, however, extremely important that we understand what it means to be a “true worshipper” of God because those are the people God seeks to worship Him. And our Lord Jesus has told us who these true worshippers are. They are the people who worship God in spirit and truth.

What did Jesus mean by “worship in spirit and truth”? Certainly, it is something more than token or even regular church attendance, or some minimum level of enthusiasm and sincerity. To answer that question, we need to understand (1) “worship”, (2) “in spirit”, and (3) “in truth”.

The Greek word used in John 4 for “worship” is “proskuneo”, which literally means to prostrate oneself or bow down before God. This word images an act of both deep reverence and full allegiance, and it should be understood in the context of the Great Commandment that we love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. (Mark 12:30)

In other words, worship is much more than songs or a church service. Worship is the heart-felt reverent love of God expressed through our praise and adoration, our gratitude, our trust and obedience, and our selfless acts of service to God and other people He loves. (Romans 12:1; John 14:21-23; Matthew 25:31-46)

To worship God as He desires, we must be “in spirit and truth”. “In spirit” refers to nothing less than the reality that every real Christian is born of the Spirit – born again, and now born of God and a child of God, because she or he has received the Holy Spirit. (John 3:1-8 and 1:12-13; Acts 2:38-39)

Perspectives on the Holy Spirit may vary widely in the many “divisions” of the One Church, but the Bible speaks clearly on the matter. You do not belong to Christ until the Holy Spirit dwells in you. (Romans 8:9) Thereafter, your human spirit and the Holy Spirit are joined and can together testify that the God you worship is your Abba Father. (1 Corinthians 6:17; Romans 8:15-17)

When Paul says only the “spiritual” person, and not the natural person, can understand spiritual truths, he is talking about people who have received the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Truth who leads us into all truth. (1 Corinthians 2:12-16; John 16:13) One of the greatest spiritual truths we receive is that the Holy Spirit indwelling us, who is also called the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of your Father, is the third person of the Trinity. (Luke 4:18; Romans 8:9; Matthew 10:20; John 15:26) True worshippers, no longer separated from God by sin, worship a God who sits on His heavenly throne and, additionally, lives inside them, closer than the air they breathe.

To worship “in truth” includes the recognition that Jesus Christ brought us truth and is the Truth. (John 1:17, 14:6) However, it is best understood through the words of Jesus in John 8:31-32: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Those who abide in the word of the Lord truly love Him because they learn, have, and keep His commandments. (John 14:21-23) They are disciples of the Lord, both hearers and doers of the Word, and are readily taught to obey all He has commanded so they can witness and make others into disciples as well. (Matthew 7:24-27, 28:19-20) The truth sets them free from self-centeredness and ignorance, and the eyes of their hearts are enlightened, so that they can unashamedly worship a God who is magnificent beyond measure. (Ephesians 1:16-23; Romans 1:16)

The question I need to ask myself on Easter Sunday is not whether that infrequent attender next to me is a true worshipper, but whether I am one, and what I can do to become a better one. God is seeking Spirit-born disciples to worship Him, and He is worthy of such true worship! (John 3:16; James 1:17; Revelation 4:11; Hebrews 12)

God bless you, and God bless our community.

“See that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns from heaven. At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ This phrase, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of things that are shaken- that is, things that have been made- in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:25-29)

God’s words leap off this page of Hebrews: “We are receiving a kingdom!”

We do not have to wait until we die. We do not have to wait for Judgment Day. We can be receiving the Kingdom of God now!

This is not what we hear in most churches, is it? Dr. Myles Munroe offers an excellent explanation: most churches preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, not the gospel Jesus Christ preached.

Jesus preached, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:2) “The Kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Matthew 12:28) “The Kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21) “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness….” (Matthew 6:33)

Jesus declared, “The gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world….” (Matthew 24:14) During the forty days between His resurrection and His ascension, Jesus spoke to His disciples about the Kingdom, and He then sent them out in power as witnesses to that Kingdom. (Acts 1:3, 8; Revelations 1:7)

The Kingdom of God is the wise, benevolent, grace-full rule of a loving God over those who trust, obey, and depend on Him. Paul also preached this Kingdom. (Acts 28:31) And for Paul as for Jesus, the Kingdom was not just talk but power. (1 Corinthians 4:20) The King of this kingdom has all authority in heaven and earth, and He delegates His authority to those who fully submit to His rule and represent Him in the earth. (Matthew 28:18; 2 Corinthians 5:20; Matthew 16:15-20) The Kingdom of God is the kingdom of light in the darkness, and darkness cannot stand against it. (Isaiah 60:1-3; Colossians 1:12-13; Acts 5:12-16))

Life in this Kingdom while still in this broken world is far from trouble-free, but it is a life of righteousness, peace, and joy in the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit. (John 16:23; Romans 14:17) We are to continually pray for it, live it, and offer it to others. (Matthew 6:10; 1 Peter 2:9)

So, how do we receive this Kingdom? It helps to understand the Greek word our English bibles translate as “we are receiving”. “Paralambano” is an aggressive word, not a passive word. “Lambano” means to take, grasp, seize or acquire. “Para” indicates “alongside” or “in the presence of”.  Put together, “paralambano” means to seize and take to oneself, or to take over an office, assignment, or position.

My friends, if we want to receive the Kingdom of God, we must actively take our position in that Kingdom. We must embrace our identity in Christ and our abilities and responsibilities as sons and daughters of our heavenly Father, indwelled by God the Holy Spirit. We are a royal priesthood of disciples called to set self-centered agendas aside and follow our King, humbly loving and serving people while boldly standing against evil.

Hebrews 12 speaks of a divine shaking of both earth and the heavenlies. This shaking started years ago, and it is intensifying. I do not know how long it will last, how much more it will intensify, or whether it is the last one. But I know it will not stop until God has accomplished His purposes through it.

The Church is being shaken early and vigorously because the Lord needs a faithful, righteous Body of Christ to represent His Kingdom in this hour. Those in the Church who are not receiving the Kingdom will be shaken out because only those things which belong to the Kingdom will remain. Cultural Christianity and empty ritual will not survive. (Matthew 16:15-18)

After reading this column, I urge you, both as individuals and congregations, to read these scriptures, pray, search your hearts, and earnestly take your position in the Kingdom of God.

“Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in!” (Psalm 24:7)

God bless you and God bless our community.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)

It brings me great comfort to know my beloved Christie is in heaven having an unimaginably wonderful time, and that I will join her one day.

The pancreatic cancer that ended Christie’s life on earth has an incredibly high mortality rate for one reason. It is usually not discovered until it is too late to do anything about it. In other words, the only thing worse than being told you have cancer is to have cancer and not know.

If it is dangerous to have cancer when you think you are healthy, then imagine how dangerous it is to think you are “saved” when you are not.

The problem, described by Dietrich Bonhoeffer as the teaching of “cheap grace”, arises from a misunderstanding of the beautiful grace message in Ephesians 2 and its companion verse, Romans 6:23. We have taken the biblical concept of “free gift of God” and turned it into a well-intended but false invitation to salvation through the simple “no strings attached” choice to accept Jesus as Savior.

We must understand every scripture in the context of all scripture; otherwise, we can misunderstand what God is revealing. And nothing can be more damaging than a misunderstanding about what it takes to enter an everlasting life relationship with God.

Sin, rooted in a desire to be lord of our own life, separates everyone from a holy and life-giving God, and we could never bridge that gap. (Genesis 3; Isaiah 59:2; Romans 3:23, 6:23) So God, in His unconditional love, bridged the gap for us by sending His Son Jesus to die for all the sins of all mankind. (1 John 2:2) This is the astounding “free gift of God”!

God’s love is unconditional, but salvation is not. We must still cross the bridge God has provided. We are saved by grace “through faith” and our faith must be more than a verbal assent Jesus is who He says He is. The demons know who Jesus is, but they do not have faith. (Luke 4:41; James 2:19)

Faith is “trust” and “confident belief”.  Faith must be in your heart before you can meaningfully confess it with your mouth. (Acts 2:37; Romans 10:9-10) The following scriptures convince me that if faith is truly in your heart, there will be meaningful evidence of it in your life.

The gospel is consistently presented as “repent and believe”. (Mark 1:15; Acts 2:38; Luke 5:32; 2 Peter 3:9) The biblical words for “repent” mean change of heart (Hebrew, “naham”), change your mind (Greek, “metanoia”) and change your ways (Hebrew, “shub”).

At the end of His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus declares not everyone who calls Him “Lord, Lord” will enter heaven, but only those who do the will of His Father.

John 15:1-6 says God removes branches on the Vine who do not bear fruit.

Matthew 25:31-46 says the separation of sheep and goats on Judgement Day will be based upon acts of agape love.

Multiple scriptures declare that we must be both hearers and doers of the Word. (Matthew 7:24-27, 28:18-20; James 1:22-25; John 14:21, 23)

James 2:14-26 explains in detail why faith without corresponding works (fruit) is dead and useless.

1 John says those who claim to know Jesus Christ but do not keep His commandments are liars and adds that anyone who makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. (2:4-6, 3:6-10)

Everlasting life is to know God and His Son Jesus Christ. (John 17:3) The Greek word used for “know” is “ginoskosi”, which means to know through interpersonal relationship or experience, not just “know about”. No one has everlasting life until they receive the Holy Spirit and become a new creation born of God. (John 1:12-13, 3:3-6; Romans 8:9)

This knowing should produce a witness in your heart. (Romans 8:16) It produces a change in your worldview and corresponding changes in your behavior. (Hebrews 11:1 – 12:2) Above all else, you will now know God’s love and have at least some measure of unconditional agape love for others. (1 John 4:7-12)

You cannot have Jesus as Savior without Jesus as Lord. (Philippians 2:9-11) We are saved by grace to live by faith, trusting our Lord and seeking to obey Him so we can produce those “good works, which God prepared beforehand”. (Romans 1:16-17; Galatians 2:20) Grace will be there on the many occasions when we stumble. (Romans 8:34-39; 1 John 1:9) But if we truly have faith, we will at least try. And if a person’s life does not show evidence of such efforts, I urge them to reexamine what their true salvation condition is.

God bless you, and God bless our community.

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)

In recent articles, I have proposed from a biblical standpoint that both unconditional agape love and humility are essentials of Christian life. As we continue to live on this side of eternity in a broken world, beset along with our loved ones by so much evil, I also propose this: only good can overcome evil.

Many of you may recall a greeting and response often used a few years ago at Christian gatherings: “God is good – All the time – All the time – God is good.” This reminded us of an important scriptural truth. God is completely good. (Psalm 31:19, 34:8, 86:5, 119:68; Mark 10:18) There is no evil in Him. And what applies to the Father equally applies to His Son Jesus and to the Holy Spirit who lives within us. (John 10:30; Galatians 4:6)

God made and called creation good, including mankind, male and female. (Genesis 1:31) But then, as we all know, the evil one tempted mankind into sin, which is evil, and we have been dealing with rampant evil in this world ever since. (Genesis 3; 1 John 5:19)

God loves good and hates evil, and He calls upon His people to do likewise. (Psalm 97:10; Proverbs 6:16-19; Amos 5:14-15; Romans 12:9) Jesus came to destroy the works of the evil one, and as His disciples, we are to continue His mission with Him. (1 John 3:8; John 14:12-14, 20:21) But there is a problem.

The world has taught us its ways of overcoming evil and enemies. Might makes right. The end justifies the means. Whatever it takes. “We” can defeat “them.” And as children, one of my favorites, “He hit me first.”

The Lord, however, requires us to do things His way, which is the only way that works. So, both Paul and Peter teach us to never repay evil with evil or insult with insult. (Romans 12:17; 1 Peter 3:9) You cannot overcome evil with evil because you would simply be exchanging one type of evil for another.

Instead, we are to abstain from every form of evil, hold fast to good, and repay evil with blessings. (1 Thessalonians 5:22; Romans 12:9; 1 Peter 3:9) We are, among other things, to both hear and put into practice the Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 5:1-7:29)

When insulted, turn the other cheek. (5:39) Love not just your friends but your enemies, and pray for them. (5:43-48) Show mercy and forgiveness so you may receive mercy and forgiveness. (5:7, 6:12-15) Do not belittle or treat others with distain. (5:22) Sow peace, not discord. (5:9) And do not lie or manipulate the truth. (5:33-37; Psalm 12:2-6) Live in accordance with the “Golden Rule”, treating others the way you wish to be treated. (7:12) It is the meek, not the proud and self-centered, who inherit the earth. (5:5)

What happens, we all ask, when there is no clear choice between good and evil, and we perceive our only option is to pick “the lesser of two evils”? Nowhere in scripture are we given the right to choose evil, even when it is the lesser of two evils. Instead, we must prayerfully choose that which provides and leads to the greatest amount of good. And within that choice, we must continue to personally uphold all the standards of good commanded by the Lord, never approving of or rejoicing in wrongdoing. (1 Corinthians 13:4-6)

We must always be wary of the temptation to call evil good and good evil, and with our itching ears to seek teaching that suits our own passions. (Isaiah 5:20; 2 Timothy 4:3) This applies not just to sanctity of life and sexual morality, but to how we judge and treat people. Jesus did not shun “sinners and tax collectors”. (Mark 2:15-16)

We must also focus diligently on the work of the Holy Spirit within us as He develops in us, with our cooperation, the fruit of the Spirit that is the character of Jesus Christ – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Philippians 2:12-13; Galatians 5:22-23)

I close this column with a quotation from my book, “Be With Jesus, Be Like Jesus, Be For Jesus”:

“With Jesus Christ as our King and the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, we have the authority to become ‘more than conquerors’ and overcome evil with good, darkness with light, hate with love, apathy with compassion, loneliness with community, lies and ignorance with truth, self-centeredness with humility, foolishness with wisdom, injustice with justice and mercy, poverty with generosity and opportunity, cruelty with kindness, disease with healing, and oppression with deliverance – all in the name of Jesus and for His glory (Romans 8:37) This is our mission – to be for Jesus. It is the best way to love others and the best way to love God.”

God bless you, and God bless our community.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.  And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.  But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:18-23)

… I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations … to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:25-27)

What is the most important thing I can say to a Christian at Christmas or any other time of the year? After 27 years as an equipping minister, I have concluded it is this: God lives in you! What are you going to do about it?

Reflect with me first on the most amazing truth in the amazing story of Christmas. Amidst the humble newlyweds, the angels, the shepherds, the magi, and the guiding star, we have the extraordinary revelation that this newborn baby in the manger is not the son of Joseph and Mary. He is “God with us”!

This newborn baby is the Word who became flesh to dwell among us: the Word who was in the beginning, who was with God, who was God, and through whom all things were created. (John 1:1-3, 14) Wow!

This newborn baby is the One who was in the form of God but did not cling to equality with God, emptying Himself so He could be made in our likeness, walk in our shoes, and die for our sins. (Philippians 2:1-8; Hebrews 4:15; 1 Corinthians 15:3) Wow!

This newborn baby was conceived in a virgin through the Holy Spirit and declared first by the archangel Gabriel and later by God Himself to be God’s Son. (Luke 1:32, 35 and 3:22) His virgin birth was prophesied 700 years earlier with names that could only apply to God: “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”, and, as said before, “Immanuel”. (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6) Wow!

The birth of Jesus was not the first time God’s people had experienced the nearness of God and His activity in their midst. We remember that most easily in the time of Moses – the burning bush, the pillars of cloud and fire, the top of Mt. Sinai, the tent of meeting, and the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant. (Exodus 25:22)

But in Jesus Christ as He walked on this earth, we experienced “God with us” in a way no one could have anticipated. In Him we see both God the Father and the true design of how we are to live. (John 14:7-9; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 John 2:4-6) In Him we have God who has no sin and, thus, man without sin who can die for our sins. (1 Peter 1:19)

What truth could ever be as amazing and important as these truths? I can only think of one possibility.

My friends, the Bible makes it clear. “God with us” is now “Christ in us.” People who put their trust in Jesus receive the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Christ. (Romans 8:9-11) Just as Jesus promised, He is with us always because we have become one spirit with Him. (1 Corinthians 6:17) God is one God in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which clearly means God lives in us now and will never leave us. (John 14:16, 15:1-11; Hebrews 13:5) Wow!

This truth is much more than a seal on our salvation, or access to power, or even the wonderful experience of God’s manifest presence. Our “new creation” is much more than a change of status.

“God with us” came as a newborn baby in a manger so He could become “Christ in us” – the Lord of Lords living in us by His Spirit and ready to sit in power every day on the thrones of our hearts. In this truth of “He who is in you,” we find the hope of glory! (1 John 4:4)

What are we going to do about that?

Have a blessed Christmas season!