Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Today we celebrate all of the many blessings God has given us. God has been so very good! We are blessed! He is faithful! Have you taken time to count the ways God has blessed you? In what ways has God been faithful to you in the past year? Last Sunday I asked a class I teach to break up into groups and list 100 things for which they are thankful to God and to do it in 7 minutes! You should try it! When we brainstorm we see things we often take for granted. It was amazing how many different things, great and small, which made the list of the various groups. One of the "small" things on one of the lists included enchiladas...I concur!

I hope you won't let Thanksgiving pass you by this year. Don't miss the opportunity to stop, smell the roses and give thanks for the many things, great and small, God has given you this year.

Thankful for you!
James

What Are You Believing God For Today?

"The just shall live by faith" -- Romans 1:17

What does it mean to have faith? If you want my "hillbilly" definition it would be a "belief that becomes a conviction which results in trust and a new way of living." In short, faith is belief plus trust which equals change. As believers in Christ we are called to live our entire existence by faith in God. Faith is to be the driving force by which we make our decisions, take action and live out an abundant kind of life. If we are not living our life by faith in Jesus, who loved us and gave Himself up for us, we are missing out on the abundant life Jesus came to give us.

Abundant living is a kind of life which surpasses the natural and moves into the supernatural things of God. Paul told the Corinthian church unbelievers could not understand the things of God because they were living in the natural and did not have the mind of Christ. Occasionally Jesus went to villages and was limited in the number of miracles He could do because of the limited faith of those living there. Those who choose to live in the natural miss out on the supernatural activity and wisdom of God.

Where are you choosing to live your life today? Are you living in the natural or supernatural? Are you living the limited existence of what you can know and do or are you living by faith in God and the unlimited knowledge and power of Him? Can you name something in your life for which you are having faith in God right now? If not, take a moment this week to ask God to help you break free from a mind chained to the natural so you may have faith in God's supernatural, Holy Spirit power!

How Do We Know We Are Right?

"But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you have all knowledge."
-- 1 John 2:20

Naturally, John did not mean to say believers are omniscient! None of us know everything there is to know! However, when we look at the context of this verse a very significant teaching emerges. First, believers are anointed with the Holy Spirit! We have God's Spirit inside of us, joined together with our spirit. We are in constant fellowship with God because His Spirit is upon us! Second, God's Spirit reveals truth to us so we can know God and stay in fellowship with Him.

There are many heretical teachings circulating the world, many of which are found inside churches. How can we be sure of the Gospel in which we believe? How can we know we have THE truth? How can we have confidence in our salvation when there are so many competing views and religious ideas out there? The Answer: Our confidence is found in the Holy Spirit of God! We are not responsible for discovering the truth concerning God and His Gospel. God has chosen to reveal the truth to us through His Holy Spirit. We are not dependent upon our own fallible self! We are not dependent on what we can discover to be true! It is God's Spirit which leads us to Himself, convicts our heart of the truth concerning Him and enables us to accept Him as our Savior and Lord. We can have confidence in the truth we believe because we know this truth wasn't something we discovered or "figured out" for ourself! God's Spirit made His truth known to our heart. We are convicted, assured, and confident in the truth God's Spirit continually confirms and teaches to us.

We may be at different points in our understanding of some of the finer points of our faith but all true believers in Christ have genuine faith because of the Holy Spirit which keeps us in the truth concerning God. I know the truth because God has chosen to reveal the truth to me and keep me firmly planted in it. John wants believers to remain confident in the faith they profess; such confidence is found when we depend upon the Spirit of God for what is true!

James

I Would Enjoy Shopping If This Happened More Often!

On Saturday, October 30, 2010, the Opera Company of Philadelphia brought together over 650 choristers from 28 participating organizations to perform one of the Knight Foundation's "Random Acts of Culture" at Macy's in Center City Philadelphia. Accompanied by the Wanamaker Organ - the world's largest pipe organ - the OCP Chorus and throngs of singers from the community infiltrated the store as shoppers, and burst into a pop-up rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah" at 12 noon, to the delight of surprised shoppers.

An Amazing Story

The story of Jonah from Corinth Baptist Church on Vimeo.

What Does "Forever" Mean?

"the man who does the will of God lives forever."

--1 John 2:17b

Have you spent much time considering what the word "forever" actually means? The truth of the matter is we have little or no concept what "forever" or "eternity" actually mean. After all, how can we truly understand the ramifications of something for which we have no frame of reference to actually measure? Everything in our current life has an end: television shows have their series finale, bowls of ice cream end when the last bite is eaten, snow ceases when the last flake falls, relationships end through divorce, break up or death and life itself (at least physically) ends when the last breath is taken. Everything in our world has a beginning and an end so how can we ever really understand John's words? What does it mean to live forever?

I believe the best way to understand the "forever" of this passage is to consider "time" as God does. What if there was no beginning or end to anything but instead everything simply existed at the same time. Stay with me! Consider time from God's perspective for just a moment and I think you will understand where I am going with this line of thinking. God is outside of time so in His perspective all of time, from beginning to end, is like a shoe box full of activity. God sees the beginning of time at one end of the shoe box and the end of time at the other end of the shoebox but everything is happening simultaneously. If God is truly omniscient then this certainly would be the way He sees history as well as the future of the human race. The place from which God views this "shoebox" of activity is "forever" or eternity and only those who know Christ as Savior will enjoy life there with Him someday.

I believe "forever" is as much a place as a reference to unending limits of existence. Of course, we are going to live without end but more importantly we will live with our God who exists outside of time. The greatest truth we can take from John's words is simply this: The man or woman who has a relationship with God (only those in relationship with Him could ever be obedient to Him) will enjoy life with Him in a place where time will be no more. Time will be like an old shoebox which has been put away in the recesses of some far away closet. Puts things into perspective doesn't it? Do you know Jesus? Will you leave the "shoebox" someday to live in forever with Him?

James

Don't Think You Can Get Away With It!

"The world and its desires pass away, but the one who does the will of God lives forever."

- 1 John 2:17

Sin is a lot of fun in the moment. Scripture itself teaches sin is pleasurable while one actually commits the sin (Hebrews 11:25). However, sin and the pleasure it brings, quickly pass from the scene leaving long lasting consequences. Sin separates from God and leads to spiritual death. As the old adage goes, "Sin will take you farther than you want to go, cost you more than you want to pay and keep you longer than you want to stay." The cost of sin is high.

Often our enemy will tempt us to sin by shielding our eyes from the consequences of our sin. When Satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden he told her she would become like God if she ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil not die as God had told her she would. Satan held up the pleasure of the sin before Eve's eyes while denying the consequences of her indulgence. In our passage John reminds us the consequences of sin and the reward of obedience to God. There really is accountability for how we live our life and if we come to think otherwise we have fallen prey to the same tactics the enemy used on Eve. Those who obey God (and obedience can only happen through a faith relationship with Christ) live while those who disobey pass away into hell.

Salvation comes to those who place faith in Christ but even those who have such faith should carefully consider the words of John. There are consequences to sin, the greatest of which for the believer in Christ, is the loss of intimacy with God. Don't allow the enemy to fool you into believing you can enjoy the passing pleasures of sin without the consequences soon to follow!

James