Unforgettable

As I write this I find myself still trying to process what I witnessed first hand, just last night. This date of June 12 2010, this night will and should be forever etched into my puny little mind.
Last night I began to help a gentleman who has taken on the task and ministry of opening up our church gym to the local youth in the nearby neighborhoods. He opens the gym and allows those who want to play basketball with one main objective, to give a devotion and short bible study. The basketball and the air conditioned gym is the bait that gets them in to here a message from God’s word. From what I gather from this kind and humble man of God of what to expect on these Monday nights, is a variety of age groups. The primary age group he said, should be from the ages of late teens to early 20’s. Well it was just as he said. That was the primary age group that showed up. On my first night of assisting Mr. Vic he informed me that he would have to leave early and would leave things with me. I thought ,o.k., what a crash course this will be. You see, I thought somehow this was just going to be a bunch of small children and preteens running around and having a good time in the gym, with a short bible story squished in at the half way point. And the squished in bible study would be led by Mr. Vic, since he has been doing this for a couple of years now.
Well here I am, no Mr. Vic and not many small children running around. The small children consisted of my son who is eight and his friend. There was a couple of preteens who attend our Wednesday night youth group who live in the same neighborhood as the young adults who were there last night. As Mr. Vic was leaving he came back in and said there were several young people walking across the parking lot of our church. So, we went outside to meet them before they came in. Mr. Vic did not recognize but just a couple of them who were in this group. He laid out the rules before they entered, if they did not want to attend the bible study they could not stay to shoot hoops. He introduced me to the group and then he was off. There was about 20 young men there that night. As I watched these young men play basketball, I wondered what it would be like when I whistled and called them all over to share with them. How would they react? How would they respond?
With nothing prepared to say and not knowing what they were accustomed to as a bible study or devotion from Mr. Vic, I knew that I was going to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. I figured in no way should this be a place where the name of Jesus Christ and His gospel is not loudly and gloriously proclaimed. No way should this be a Christianized Y.M.C.A. youth night. No way should this be a glorified Boys Club. No, the bait is basketball and the hook is Jesus Christ. So, I called them over and proclaimed the gospel with boldness and much Holy Spirit powered conviction. I know it is not how hard that I try to set the hook in the heart of these young African American men from the projects, no that job belongs to God Himself. What liberation we can feel from knowing this truth. Our job is to simply scatter the seed.
During the time I was sharing the gospel I asked one young man to assist me in illustrating a point I was trying to make his name was Mark.
After we prayed I let them return to playing basketball. Near the end of the night when it was time to go, Mark and another young man began to argue over something that happened as they were playing. I guess it may have been over a hard foul. The young man whose name I do not know began to threaten Mark. He was threatening Mark with promises of shooting him or busting a cap in his brain. I managed to get him to calm down. He quickly left. I thought, thank you God that nothing worse happened. I mean, here I am alone, what if his threats turn real? By Gods grace the angry young man left. On that note I thought it would be best to end the night right here. So, I turned out the lights and locked up the gym. The two young preteens who attend our Wednesday night youth meetings asked me for a ride home, I said yes. They lived in the same housing projects as did the older youth. The same neighborhood the young man Mark lives in I had just met forty five minutes earlier. I dropped them off in front of their door and noticed people walking and running about a hundred yards up the street in the direction I was to travel in order to leave the complex. By this time the older kids were now making it back to their neighborhood on foot. It appeared that the young man Mark had an altercation with earlier in the gym had already made it back to the neighborhood and was waiting for Mark’s return. There must have had some altercation. I didn’t see any physical fighting but what I did see I will not soon forget. I saw the the young man with whom Mark was arguing with, take off running down the side walk. Others began walking really fast or jogging away from where Mark was standing. I saw Mark lift up his arm about shoulder length. In his hand was a small revolver. He began to shoot down the sidewalk at the direction of the young man who was running away. He fired three shots. As I was witnessing this take place seated in my truck at a dead stop because the road was blocked by the people standing in the way, my eyes and Marks met just briefly before he turned and trotted off.
I reported the incident to the police. So many thoughts flooded into my mind. Where did the bullets that left his revolver end up? In the side of someone’s apartment? Inside of someone’s apartment? In someone’s back? Is this something I really want to continue to do? Is Mr. Vic naive? Does he really know what kind of environment these kids are growing up in? Do these basketball games cause arguments that lead or fuel greater violence later on? Do I know what I have gotten myself into, really? I do know this, I do not fear these kids. I see young men and women who battle poverty, gangs and violence, more properly defined SIN, unlike what our average church member has ever had to cope with. I see young men and women created in the image of God.

I see the gospel as the only means of setting captives free from the bondage of Satan and sin. Whatever happens next may it never, never, be about social ills and fixes. May it only be about Jesus Christ an exalting His Holy name to those held captive by Satan to do his will.

Love

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely; does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails....1 Cor 13:4-8a....

This passage of scripture has been heavy on my mind lately. Surely because I need to be reminded of these truths often but it seems as if it is more than that. As I have been studying the word, I am confronted with the fact that I can read the same verse as another yet we conclude two very different things. This is true on so many issues: Lordship/Free Grace, Calvinism/Arminians, Total Depravity/?almost depraved (not sure of the label there), bondage of the will/freedom of the will...and while all of things are important and deserve to be prayerfully studied there is something to be said about studying Love....the Love that saved us, the Love that caused our hearts repentance, the love that we are given and the love we are told to give to God and others. We need to know what this love looks like if we are to walk in it. First and foremost it is given to us by the Holy Spirit Himself. He has given us the grace to do what He has called us to do. There is just no way to love anyone the way that this passage describes apart from Jesus. (The name above all names) The same God that created this world, raised Jesus from the dead, and saved a wretch like me, is the same God that enables me to pursue and desire the love He gives.

1. love suffers long and is kind: how long before I am unkind to my children during school? how long before the snippy remark is made to someone that may disagree on the blog? how long before our co worker gets a taste of that suffering long?

2. love does not envy and does not parade itself: what about when the brethren prosper yet I do not? how many of us truly want to be unknown and never commended, never spoken highly of? who of us has not paraded ourselves in some area? our knowledge, our gifts, our love? (look at me how loving I am, look at how much I love God? really?)

This is just enough to keep me on my knees daily in prayer for God to grow my love!

3. does not behave rudely? surely we need zero help here to recognize this in our own life....does not seek its own, is not provoked? of course we all seek our own when we aren't walking in love, when we are seeking the best for our brother we do not do the things listed above, we wouldn't taste the anger of being put out by not being obeyed or not getting our own way or whatever our particular thing may be.

4.thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity: that can be as simple as placing sin before our eyes in the form of entertainment and being happy that we are being entertained by sin....we are not to rejoice in sin and we are to think upon evil...whatever things are lovely, pure, noble...these things we are to think on..and dare we call something that is clear sin LOVE? we cannot clean up iniquity by calling it by another name (addiction, an affair, just playing, etc )

5.bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things: YES! this is what love is...this is what Christ does for us! He bears all things, He was the bearer of our very iniquity...we are forgiven all things thru Christ..can we not forgive? can we not love others with the love we receive? can we not endure and have hope in all situations? These verses are not just for us in dealing with our family or our brothers....we are to love those who hate us. As God first loved us when we were haters of Him.

6. Love never fails: before we say whatever we are thinking, do we think of this love? before we post that comment that we feel justified in posting, do we think of this love? before we excuse sin in our life or in the life of those around us, do we think of this love? before we blog away, study away, talk away, advise away, serve away, work away do we think of this love?

We need You Jesus to work in our life, in our mind and in our hearts that we may walk in this love......

How great the Fathers love for us? It never fails.........

The First Temptation

The First Temptation
Genesis 3

J. R. Miller


The story of the first temptation is intensely interesting. We do not need to perplex ourselves with its form. There is enough in it that is plain and simple and of practical value, and we should not let our minds be confused by its mystery. Whatever the broader meaning of this first temptation may have been, everyone must meet a like personal experience, and hence this Genesis story has for us a most vital interest.

Everyone must be tempted. Untried life is not yet established. We must be tested and proved. It is the man who endures temptation, who is blessed. Our first parents did not endure.

It was in the garden of Eden, with beauty and happiness on every side. But even into this lovely home, came the tempter! He came stealthily. The serpent is a remarkable illustration of temptation: subtle, fascinating, approaching noiselessly and with an appearance of harmlessness which throws us off our guard.

The tempter began his temptation in a way which gave no alarm to the woman. He asked her, "Has God said—You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?" The question indicated surprise that God should make such a prohibition. The tempter's wish was, in a quiet and insinuating way, to impeach the goodness of God and make Eve think of Him as severe and harsh. His purpose was to put doubt of God's goodness into the woman's mind. "If God loved you—would He deny you anything so good?"

The tempter still practices the same deep cunning. He wants to make people think that God is severe, that His restraints are unreasonable. He tries to make the young man think that his father is too stern with him; the young girl that her mother is too rigid. He seeks to get people to think themselves oppressed by the Divine requirements. That is usually the first step in temptation, and when one has begun to think of God as too exacting, he is ready for the next downward step.

Everything depends upon the way a person meets temptation. Parleying is always unsafe. Eve's first mistake was in answering the tempter at all. She ought to have turned instantly away, refusing to listen. When there comes to us a wrong suggestion of any kind, the only wise and safe thing for us—is immediately to shut the door of our heart in its face. To dally is usually to be lost. Our decision should be instant and absolute, when temptation offers. The poet gave a fine test of character when he said he would not take for a friend, the man who needlessly sets his foot upon a worm. With still greater positiveness should we refuse to accept as a friend, one who seeks to throw doubt on God's goodness and love.

When the tempter finds a ready ear for his first approach—he is encouraged to go on. In this case, having raised suspicion of the Divine goodness, he went on to question God's veracity. "The serpent said unto the woman—You shall not surely die!" He would not have said this at the first, for the woman would not have listened then to such an accusation against God. But one doubt makes way for another. She listened now, and was not shocked when the tempter went farther and charged God with insincerity.

The tempter still follows the same course with those he would draw away from God. He tells them that what God says about the consequences of disobedience is not true. He tries to make people believe that the soul that sins—shall not die. He is still going about casting doubt upon God's words and suggesting changes in the reading of the Bible. He even tried to tempt our Savior by misquoting and perverting Scripture! He sought to get Him to trust a Divine promise—when He had no Divine command to do the thing suggested. We need to be sure of the character of the people we admit into our lives as friends, advisers, or teachers. Jesus tells us that His sheep know His voice. They know the voice of strangers, too, and will not listen to them, because they will not trust the words of strangers.

The tempter now goes a step farther with the woman. "God does know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as God, knowing good and evil." Instead of dying, as God had said they should, if they ate the forbidden fruit—the devil said the eating of this fruit would open their eyes and make them wondrously wise, even something like God Himself!

The tempter talks in just the same way in these modern days. He tells the boys and young men, that doing certain things will make them smart and happy. He taunts them also with the ignorance of simple innocence, and suggests to them that they ought to see and experience the world. It will make men of them and give them power, influence and happiness. There is a great deal of this sort of temptation. A good many people cannot stand the taunt of being 'religious' or of being afraid to do certain things.

The temptation was successful. "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it." She listened to the cunning words of the tempter. Curiosity, ambition, and desire—all awoke in her. The one prohibited thing in the garden, began to shine in such alluring colors that she forgot all the good things which were permitted to her. It all seemed dull and poor, compared with the imagined sweetness of the fruit they were not allowed to eat. The commandment of God faded out of her mind—as she stood listening to the tempter and looking at the forbidden fruit before her. Then, fatal moment! She reached out her hand and took the fruit—and the doleful deed was done! We never know what a floodgate of evil and sorrow—one little thought or word or act may open—what a river of harm and ruin may flow from it!

When one has yielded to temptation, the next step ofttimes is the tempting of others. "She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it!" Milton suggests that it was because of his love for Eve that Adam accepted the fruit from her hand. Since she had fallen, he wished to perish with her. Whatever the reason was for Adam's yielding, we know that the common story is—the tempted and fallen—become tempters of others! The corrupted become corrupters of others. One of the blessings of companionship should be mutual help. Mountain climbers tie themselves together with ropes that the one may support the other. But sometimes one slips and drags the other with him down to death. Companionship may bring ruin, instead of blessing!

However pleasant sin may be, when it has been committed, a dark shadow falls over the soul. "The man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees." The first thing after sinning is remorse, and then comes the desire to hide from God!

There is a story of a young man who entered the house of one who had been his friend, to steal costly jewels which he knew to be in a certain place. He made his way quietly into the room, found the trunk in which the jewels were kept, and opened it. Then glancing up he saw a portrait hanging on the wall—the face of one he had known in years gone, in this house—but who was now dead. The calm, deep eyes of his old companion looking down upon him, witnessing his dark deed, made him tremble. He tried to keep his back to the picture—but he could not hold his gaze away from it. Yet he could not go on with his robbery. The steady looking of the eyes down upon him, maddened him. At length he took a knife and cut the eyes from the portrait and then finished his crime. If even human eyes looking down upon us make it impossible for us to commit sins—how much more terrible is the eye of God to the guilty soul!

But it is impossible ever to get away from the presence of God. While the man and his wife were thus trying to hide, they heard God's voice saying, "Where are you?" It was not in anger but in love, that the Father thus followed His erring children. He sought them—that He might save them. It is ever so. God is not to be dreaded—even if we have done wrong. We never should flee from Him. He follows us—but it is that He may find us and save us. Conscience is not an enemy, but a friend—the voice of God speaking in love. People sometimes wish they could get away altogether from God, could silence His voice; but if this were possible, it would be unto the darkness of hopeless ruin!

It is pitiful to read in the narrative how, when asked regarding their sin, the man sought to put the blame on the woman. "The woman You put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." That is the way ofttimes—when a man has done wrong, he blames somebody else. A drunkard said it was his wife's fault, for she was not sociable at home and he went out evenings to find somebody to talk with. A young man fell into sin—and said it was the fault of his companion who had tempted him. No doubt a share of guilt lies on the tempter of innocence and inexperience. It is a fearful thing to influence another to do wrong. Yet temptation does not excuse sin. We should learn that no sin of others in tempting us—will ever excuse our sin in yielding. No one can compel us to do wrong. Our sin is always our own!

At once upon the dark cloud—breaks the light! No sooner had man fallen, than God's thought of redemption appears. "So the LORD God said to the serpent—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." This fifteenth verse is the gospel, the first promise of a Savior. It is very dim and indistinct, a mere glimmering of light, on the edge of the darkness. But it was a gospel of hope to our first parents, in their sorrow and shame. We understand now its full meaning. It is a star-word as it shines here. A star is but a dim point of light as we see it in the heavens—but we understand that it is really a vast world, or center of a system of worlds. This promise holds in obscure dimness—all the glory of all the after-revealings of the Messiah. As we read on in the Old Testament, we continually find new unfoldings, fuller revelations, until at length we have the promise fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ!

This story of the first temptation and fall, is not the record of one isolated failure at the beginning of the world's history merely—it is a record which may be written into every human biography. It tells us of the fearful danger of sin, and then of sin's dreadful cost. What a joy it is that on the edge of this story of falling—we have the promise of one who would overcome! Now we have the story of one who has overcome, "strong Son of God," who also was tempted—but who did not yield, and now is the Mighty Deliverer. He overcame the world. And in Him we have peace and salvation!

Contrasting the Two Trees

The following is not meant to be a theological exposition but rather, thoughts that came during my time in the Word.

From reading Romans 5:12-21
I have been thinking of how it was necessary for Jesus, in His humanity, to retrace the steps taken by the first Adam from the beginning. Just what does that look like in scripture? What are some of the parallels? Lets start at the beginning.

I would like to start by examining the parallel of the trees.
In the garden after Adam sinned by eating the fruit offered by Eve they hid themselves (so they thought) behind the trees. (Gen 3:7-8) So the story goes today as man attempts to hide himself from the presence of God. We go from Adam hiding behind a tree to Christ being crucified on a tree. Bookends, if you will, in redemptive history. From the first Adams willingness to sin and hide behind some"thing". That "thing" being a living tree to the second Adam being nailed and left naked for all to see. Nailed to the front of a dead tree. As Adam and Eve fashioned loin cloths from fig leaves in an attempt to cover the sin and shame that rightfully belonged to them to our Lord having no sin of His own , yet covered with the weight and wrath of sin that belonged to us. God came searching for the first Adam as he hid himself behind the trees (Gen3:9) to God turning His back on the second Adam. (Mark 15:34)
Adam ate the fruit of the tree that was desirable and pleasing to the eyes (Gen3:6) and that was the beginning of the bondage of sin for humanity.
Jesus drank the gall (sour vinegar) which was on a sponge attached to a branch of a hyssop tree. After He received this He said it was finished. In Christ there is an end to the bondage of sin.
In the life of the first Adam, there was a problem with a tree and in the life and death of the second Adam there was a solution to be found on a tree.
Adam ate-Christ drank- bookends.

How much of the world?

I have been thinking a lot lately about how much like the world I still am even while being so different. Worldly ideas and worldly thinking are so deeply ingrained into my thought pattern that its seems it will truly take this lifetime to be rid of it. (at the time of glorification!)
What areas do I struggle with the most in worldly thinking? Educating my children? Do I set out each day to raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord or do I think that, pray for that and then proceed to our academic lessons just to find at the end of the day the teaching I did was not that much different from any teacher of the world? The setting was different, that individual attention give was different but did I teach them Christ today? More than just the Bible lesson that I hope I got around to? Do I have educational goals that are different from this world? Do I care more for their spiritual life than their visible, earthly life?

What about my desire to have them fit in with the kids in our new neighborhood? I found myself hoping they would be accepted and liked by all the kids outside playing. What a jolt when I heard the language that came from one young mans mouth. Did I really just sit there and hope that they would fit in and be accepted into that world? How then am I teaching them to be holy and set apart? I should instead be praying that the Lord would use them and protect them in this situation. But for a moment I wanted them to be liked and accepted by man.....

How about for myself? How many activities do I engage in that are not spiritually profitable? Am I "allowed" to do so? YES! There are books I can read, shows I can watch, and songs that I can sing that would not be sin for me to partake of. Does that mean that I should? I think sometimes we spend so much time defending what we are allowed to do that we don't stop to think of how these things affect our walk with Christ. Does it grow me spiritually? Is it profitable to my walk, my relationship with the Lord? Am I using it in a way to serve Christ thru it? I believe these are questions I should ask myself before engaging in these activities.

That said, do I think that these questions should be asked by all Christians? I hesitate to say yes because I know they aren't being asked by all who know Christ. Who am I to say that another believer should cultivate their relationship with the Lord in the same way that I would? If I have been convicted in certain areas by the Holy Spirit and if He has changed my thinking on things then am I to say that He is wrong for not having done so in another's heart and mind?
Sometimes we want so badly to think that every christian must be the same in every way that when others are not where we are we judge them wrongly and sometimes harshly. Some names that come to mind are: legalist, liberal, lost, carnal, a pharisee, a fundamentalist and on and on....Yes, there are people that legitimately fit in these categories. But how careful we must be before we judge harshly and critically. This growth and sanctification is the Spirits work in our life and its for Him to produce in us and us to bear. Who are we to judge another's servant in areas that belong to him and the Lord?
How do we know the sovereignty of God and the work of the Holy Spirit and still dare judge another that may slightly disagree with us ?

I know I am guilty of all of it......its called sin and thats why we do it. There is no other excuse, no justification.......its sin.

Melissa