The second reason we go through seasons of change is to transform us into the image of God’s Son Jesus Christ. One of the greatest examples of a transforming change in the Bible is the conversion of Saul of Tarsus to Apostle Paul. His “blinded by the light” experience was the catalyst to launch him into a new season of his life.
Growing up in a Jewish family meant that Paul was well trained in the Jewish scriptures and tradition. At an early age he entered the synagogue day school. Paul eventually went to Jerusalem to study under the best Jewish rabbi, the famous Gamaliel.
As a Pharisee, Paul became very zealous for the traditions and teachings of his people.This zealous commitment to the study of the Old Testament laws and traditions is the background of Paul’s persecution of his Jewish brothers who believed Jesus was the Messiah.
While traveling to Damascus to arrest Jewish people who had accepted Jesus as the Messiah, a startling light forced him to the ground. Then a voice asked, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me”, and identified the speaker as Jesus. Paul was struck blind and was led into the city. Ananias met Paul and told him that he had been chosen by God as a messenger for the Gentiles. After Paul received his sight, like other believers before him, he was baptized (Acts 9:1-19).
In this conversion experience, Paul accepted the claims of Jesus and the church, the very thing he was seeking to destroy. Both his conversion and call are reflected in Paul’s letters. In 2 Corinthians 3:18 he writes, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
His conversion brought a complete change in the inner controlling power of his life. It was like dying and receiving new life (Galatians 2:20) or being created anew (2 Corinthians 5:17-20). This experience of radical change and call to the Gentiles provided the motivation to travel throughout the Roman world preaching the gospel of Christ. Apostle Paul embraced his season of change and went from chief church persecutor to chief church planter.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Monday, October 16, 2006
Embracing Your Season of Change: The Purpose of Change
One of the greatest examples of going through a season of change is the story of the exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt. The angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in flames of fire from within a bush. The Lord revealed many things to Moses in that conversation including the reason he ultimately wanted to bring the Israelites out of slavery. In Exodus 3:12, God says, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
The first reason God brings us through seasons of change is to bring us to a greater place of worship. We should idolize (worship, venerate, love excessively) God.
As I was having lunch the other day with a very successful businessman, he made a very interesting comment to me while I ate my order of onion rings. This gentleman, before retiring, had worked thirty one years with the same company. In today’s marketplace, not many people work that long for one company. He commented on how his longevity with his company gave him a unique ability to look back on his life and identify his seasons of significant change. He then told me that one of the keys to success is being able to recognize your seasons of change and make the right decisions as you evaluate what is taking place in your life. He also commented on how so many people ignore these seasons of change, and how it later comes back to hurt them in some major way.
Many times, a certain event in our lives can springboard us into a major season of change. Events of change can include marriages, births, deaths, job or career changes, church changes, graduations, salvations, divorces, moves and new relationships. I call these events “God moments” because I believe God uses them to get our attention.
God used the incident of death to get the attention of Moses. When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites. During his visit, he saw one of the Israelites being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and killed the Egyptian. Moses thought that this event would cause the Israelites to recognize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. The following day, Moses came upon two Israelites fighting and tried to reconcile them. But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Do you plan to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?” When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons. (Acts 7:23-29).
Forty years went by before Moses had his burning bush experience in the desert near Mount Sinai. Wow, what a season of change! In a moment, God uses an event of death to trigger Moses’ refining process. While in the desert, Moses learned that God would not use the strength of man to deliver his people. As a wanderer, he learned humility. As the adopted son of privilege of pharaoh’s daughter, he became a foreigner so he could find a new sense of identity from God. While in the desert, he had two sons to learn how to lead the Israelites as a loving father.
As the angel of the Lord spoke to Moses in the burning bush, he was afraid to look and trembled with fear. Then the angel of the Lord told Moses to take off his sandals because the place he was standing, which was in God’s presence, was holy ground. Trembling with fear and taking off sandals are two signs of worship. It was the beginning of a relationship where Moses would learn to speak with God face to face as if talking to a close friend. As God initiated change in Moses’ life, it all began with teaching him how to worship. God would only use a man of worship to lead his people to the place of worship.
The first reason God brings us through seasons of change is to bring us to a greater place of worship. We should idolize (worship, venerate, love excessively) God.
As I was having lunch the other day with a very successful businessman, he made a very interesting comment to me while I ate my order of onion rings. This gentleman, before retiring, had worked thirty one years with the same company. In today’s marketplace, not many people work that long for one company. He commented on how his longevity with his company gave him a unique ability to look back on his life and identify his seasons of significant change. He then told me that one of the keys to success is being able to recognize your seasons of change and make the right decisions as you evaluate what is taking place in your life. He also commented on how so many people ignore these seasons of change, and how it later comes back to hurt them in some major way.
Many times, a certain event in our lives can springboard us into a major season of change. Events of change can include marriages, births, deaths, job or career changes, church changes, graduations, salvations, divorces, moves and new relationships. I call these events “God moments” because I believe God uses them to get our attention.
God used the incident of death to get the attention of Moses. When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites. During his visit, he saw one of the Israelites being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and killed the Egyptian. Moses thought that this event would cause the Israelites to recognize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. The following day, Moses came upon two Israelites fighting and tried to reconcile them. But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Do you plan to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?” When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons. (Acts 7:23-29).
Forty years went by before Moses had his burning bush experience in the desert near Mount Sinai. Wow, what a season of change! In a moment, God uses an event of death to trigger Moses’ refining process. While in the desert, Moses learned that God would not use the strength of man to deliver his people. As a wanderer, he learned humility. As the adopted son of privilege of pharaoh’s daughter, he became a foreigner so he could find a new sense of identity from God. While in the desert, he had two sons to learn how to lead the Israelites as a loving father.
As the angel of the Lord spoke to Moses in the burning bush, he was afraid to look and trembled with fear. Then the angel of the Lord told Moses to take off his sandals because the place he was standing, which was in God’s presence, was holy ground. Trembling with fear and taking off sandals are two signs of worship. It was the beginning of a relationship where Moses would learn to speak with God face to face as if talking to a close friend. As God initiated change in Moses’ life, it all began with teaching him how to worship. God would only use a man of worship to lead his people to the place of worship.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Embracing Your Season of Change
We are always in the process of change. It’s been said the only constant in life is change. God uses transitions to take us out of one situation, and bring us into a new and better one. Walking efficiently into our new season is the key to knowing God better and serving him more effectively.
Scripture Reference:
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forevermore. Hebrews 13:8
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17
Point: God doesn’t change, so we must in order to become more like him.
Two types of change:
1. The change we initiate due to our unbelief, impatience, lack of perspective or bad attitudes. This turns into nothing more than aimless wandering.
2. The change that God initiates to bring us into a closer relationship with him, and out of that, a greater ability to accomplish his will for our lives.
Psalm 1:1-3 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.
Point: The way we embrace our seasons of change today, will determine our fruitfulness/effectiveness in the future.
Living on planet earth, there are two things I have learned about God as our Creator by observing His creation. God is a God of order and change. Genesis 8:22 says, "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
Think about it, you probably have an appointment scheduled tomorrow at a specific time in the day. You are able to set an appointment to accomplish a specific purpose based upon the fact that our days have order. The sun will come up the same tomorrow as it did today.
However, in the midst of all this order, there is constant change. No two days are exactly the same. God gave us climatic change, such as summer and winter, as an example of the constant change of seasons we experience as humans. Jesus is immutable, but his seasons of change for our lives never cease until we see him face to face.
Over the next few months, I want to focus on embracing our seasons of change properly. We will look at the purpose of change, the process of change, possessing the proper perspective in change, and the product of change. Stay tuned for the purpose of change.
Scripture Reference:
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forevermore. Hebrews 13:8
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17
Point: God doesn’t change, so we must in order to become more like him.
Two types of change:
1. The change we initiate due to our unbelief, impatience, lack of perspective or bad attitudes. This turns into nothing more than aimless wandering.
2. The change that God initiates to bring us into a closer relationship with him, and out of that, a greater ability to accomplish his will for our lives.
Psalm 1:1-3 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.
Point: The way we embrace our seasons of change today, will determine our fruitfulness/effectiveness in the future.
Living on planet earth, there are two things I have learned about God as our Creator by observing His creation. God is a God of order and change. Genesis 8:22 says, "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
Think about it, you probably have an appointment scheduled tomorrow at a specific time in the day. You are able to set an appointment to accomplish a specific purpose based upon the fact that our days have order. The sun will come up the same tomorrow as it did today.
However, in the midst of all this order, there is constant change. No two days are exactly the same. God gave us climatic change, such as summer and winter, as an example of the constant change of seasons we experience as humans. Jesus is immutable, but his seasons of change for our lives never cease until we see him face to face.
Over the next few months, I want to focus on embracing our seasons of change properly. We will look at the purpose of change, the process of change, possessing the proper perspective in change, and the product of change. Stay tuned for the purpose of change.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Lessons from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (Part Two)
According to World Magazine, “Authorities say Roberts left a handwritten note to his wife of nine years, saying he was “angry at God” over the death of their infant daughter in 1997.” This desperate note couldn’t explain Roberts’ depraved actions to the Amish community. Thank God the Bible can as it correctly identifies the sinful condition of man. 2 Timothy 3:1 says, “But mark this; “There will be terrible times in the last days.” This passage of scripture goes on to describe the actions of men in these terrible times as brutal.
2 Timothy 2:20 says, “ In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some for noble purposes and some for ignoble. (21) If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument (vessel) for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master (God) and prepared to do any good work.” Human beings are instruments (vessels) that will be used for good or evil. Just as God does his good work through people, the devil (Satan) also does his evil work through humanity. For this reason, it is so important we fill ourselves with God’s spirit. What is filling your vessel?
World Magazine reported, “The Amish community abhors violence and zealously attempts to isolate itself from the world’s spiritual and physical dangers. Their peaceful schoolhouse seemed the last place on earth this brutal shooting would occur. But the hard truth is settling over Lancaster County, Pa., that rings true for the rest of the world: Ignoring evil won’t keep it at bay.”
“It just goes to show you there’s no safe place….There’s really no such thing,” Bob Allen, a bookstore clerk in a neighboring town, told the Associated Press. Sam Smucker, pastor of The Worship Center in Lancaster, has a particularly strong connection to the Amish community. He told Word Magazine, “It’s really an indescribable jolt,” and then said he doubted most Amish, “ever thought they’d need security.”
In John 16:33 Jesus says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
The second lesson is one of mission. Apostle Paul faced the corrupted state of man in the “terrible times” he was living in, and gave a charge to Timothy concerning what his proper response should be. He said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1-2, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: (2) Preach the Word.”
As followers of Jesus Christ, we are supposed to be proactive in spreading our Lord’s message and conquering evil. The Amish school shooting is a reminder to all that there is no neutral ground. No people group, no matter what type of culture they try to create, can escape the evil that is in the world today. The devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for people to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Six little Amish girls were his latest victims.
Jesus has given us salvation and a message to overcome evil with good: It is our duty, and therefore, our responsibility to aggressively preach God’s word. The Parable of the Talents teaches us that doing nothing with what God has given us is just as erroneous as doing wrong (Matthew 25:14-30). Instead of withdrawing from society, we are commanded and commissioned to engage culture with the good news of Jesus, and make disciples of all people (Matthew 28:18-20).
Who knows, as we actively share God’s word, He might use the power of our witness to transform a heart, and prevent the next person from killing his neighbor.
2 Timothy 2:20 says, “ In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some for noble purposes and some for ignoble. (21) If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument (vessel) for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master (God) and prepared to do any good work.” Human beings are instruments (vessels) that will be used for good or evil. Just as God does his good work through people, the devil (Satan) also does his evil work through humanity. For this reason, it is so important we fill ourselves with God’s spirit. What is filling your vessel?
World Magazine reported, “The Amish community abhors violence and zealously attempts to isolate itself from the world’s spiritual and physical dangers. Their peaceful schoolhouse seemed the last place on earth this brutal shooting would occur. But the hard truth is settling over Lancaster County, Pa., that rings true for the rest of the world: Ignoring evil won’t keep it at bay.”
“It just goes to show you there’s no safe place….There’s really no such thing,” Bob Allen, a bookstore clerk in a neighboring town, told the Associated Press. Sam Smucker, pastor of The Worship Center in Lancaster, has a particularly strong connection to the Amish community. He told Word Magazine, “It’s really an indescribable jolt,” and then said he doubted most Amish, “ever thought they’d need security.”
In John 16:33 Jesus says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
The second lesson is one of mission. Apostle Paul faced the corrupted state of man in the “terrible times” he was living in, and gave a charge to Timothy concerning what his proper response should be. He said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1-2, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: (2) Preach the Word.”
As followers of Jesus Christ, we are supposed to be proactive in spreading our Lord’s message and conquering evil. The Amish school shooting is a reminder to all that there is no neutral ground. No people group, no matter what type of culture they try to create, can escape the evil that is in the world today. The devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for people to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Six little Amish girls were his latest victims.
Jesus has given us salvation and a message to overcome evil with good: It is our duty, and therefore, our responsibility to aggressively preach God’s word. The Parable of the Talents teaches us that doing nothing with what God has given us is just as erroneous as doing wrong (Matthew 25:14-30). Instead of withdrawing from society, we are commanded and commissioned to engage culture with the good news of Jesus, and make disciples of all people (Matthew 28:18-20).
Who knows, as we actively share God’s word, He might use the power of our witness to transform a heart, and prevent the next person from killing his neighbor.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Is Radical Christianity Threatening?
Rosie O’Donnell, the new host of "The View," made an interesting comment comparing Christianity and Islam. On the September 12 edition, in response to fellow co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s comment that militant Islam is a grave threat, O’Donnell stated that "radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America."
Is radical Christianity just as threatening as radical Islam? I do agree that when both religions are practiced by their devoted followers, they have a threatening component to them.
Islam is threatening because its devoted followers live by the instructions of their prophet Muhammad to advance their religious beliefs by the sword. Anyone who would oppose or disagree with Islam is a target for death, whether by sword, bombs, or flying airplanes into buildings. Radical Islam is threatening to Rosie because a bomb might blow up the very building where she is employed.
Christianity is threatening because it holds up a standard of righteousness. For example, it clearly defines that immorality, impurity and greed are wrong. It also teaches that those who practice these behaviors will go to hell when they die. The thought of going to hell for sinful behavior is very threatening. Radical Christianity is threatening to Rosie because her immoral lifestyle leads to the eternal consequence of hell.
So, I do agree with Rosie’s comment that both religions are threatening. However, I totally disagree with her attempt to make the nature of their threats equal. Please allow me to explain.
It is true that Islam and Christianity both promote death. The instrument of death promoted by Islam is the sword. The instrument of death promoted by Christianity is the cross. Radical followers of Islam and Christianity both are willing to die for their beliefs. One teaches its disciples to “take up the sword”, and the other teaches its disciples to “take up the cross”.
Radical Islam teaches its followers to kill others in the name of Allah. Islamists use the “sword of man” to advance their agenda. For example, the world witnessed radical Islam on September 11, 2001 as planes crashed into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. The radical application of Islam leads to the death of many people.
Radical Christianity teaches that love is dying for another person so they can be saved and free. For God so loved the world he gave Jesus to die on a cross, so that whoever would believe in him would not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). Christians advance God’s kingdom by the sword of their message or words. They preach the Bible even to the point of death. They don’t kill people for not believing, but are often killed by those who disagree with them. The radical application of Christianity leads to the salvation and freedom of many people.
One final thought, prior to Christian influence in the world, a woman’s life was very cheap. Find me one nation where Islam is practiced, and women in that society have equal status to men. History has proven that only nations influenced by Christianity have liberated women.
In ancient Rome and Greece, the opinion of women was not very favorable. Plato taught that if a man lived a cowardly life, he would be reincarnated as a woman. Aristotle said that a woman was somewhere between a free man and a slave.
Take India as another example. Prior to Christian influences in India, widows were voluntarily or involuntarily burned on their husbands funeral pyres—a grisly practice known as suttee (which means “good woman”). Hindus believed it was a good woman who followed her husband into death.
In the Middle East, women have been observed laboring in fields yoked with animals to a plow. It was the teachings of Christianity that elevated women to an equal status with men. Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
How ironic that women like Rosie O’Donnell do not give credit to Christ or Christianity; in fact, they say it has oppressed women. In reality, it took people with a radical commitment to Christianity, to elevate the value of women enormously. Without Christianity’s influence in the world, Rosie O’Donnell would never have the freedom, or the setting, to criticize the very belief system that helped liberate her status, as a woman, in society. Without Jesus, instead of talking freely on television to millions of people, she would probably be bound by silence to her thoughts, while living under a veil today.
Is radical Christianity just as threatening as radical Islam? I do agree that when both religions are practiced by their devoted followers, they have a threatening component to them.
Islam is threatening because its devoted followers live by the instructions of their prophet Muhammad to advance their religious beliefs by the sword. Anyone who would oppose or disagree with Islam is a target for death, whether by sword, bombs, or flying airplanes into buildings. Radical Islam is threatening to Rosie because a bomb might blow up the very building where she is employed.
Christianity is threatening because it holds up a standard of righteousness. For example, it clearly defines that immorality, impurity and greed are wrong. It also teaches that those who practice these behaviors will go to hell when they die. The thought of going to hell for sinful behavior is very threatening. Radical Christianity is threatening to Rosie because her immoral lifestyle leads to the eternal consequence of hell.
So, I do agree with Rosie’s comment that both religions are threatening. However, I totally disagree with her attempt to make the nature of their threats equal. Please allow me to explain.
It is true that Islam and Christianity both promote death. The instrument of death promoted by Islam is the sword. The instrument of death promoted by Christianity is the cross. Radical followers of Islam and Christianity both are willing to die for their beliefs. One teaches its disciples to “take up the sword”, and the other teaches its disciples to “take up the cross”.
Radical Islam teaches its followers to kill others in the name of Allah. Islamists use the “sword of man” to advance their agenda. For example, the world witnessed radical Islam on September 11, 2001 as planes crashed into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. The radical application of Islam leads to the death of many people.
Radical Christianity teaches that love is dying for another person so they can be saved and free. For God so loved the world he gave Jesus to die on a cross, so that whoever would believe in him would not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). Christians advance God’s kingdom by the sword of their message or words. They preach the Bible even to the point of death. They don’t kill people for not believing, but are often killed by those who disagree with them. The radical application of Christianity leads to the salvation and freedom of many people.
One final thought, prior to Christian influence in the world, a woman’s life was very cheap. Find me one nation where Islam is practiced, and women in that society have equal status to men. History has proven that only nations influenced by Christianity have liberated women.
In ancient Rome and Greece, the opinion of women was not very favorable. Plato taught that if a man lived a cowardly life, he would be reincarnated as a woman. Aristotle said that a woman was somewhere between a free man and a slave.
Take India as another example. Prior to Christian influences in India, widows were voluntarily or involuntarily burned on their husbands funeral pyres—a grisly practice known as suttee (which means “good woman”). Hindus believed it was a good woman who followed her husband into death.
In the Middle East, women have been observed laboring in fields yoked with animals to a plow. It was the teachings of Christianity that elevated women to an equal status with men. Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
How ironic that women like Rosie O’Donnell do not give credit to Christ or Christianity; in fact, they say it has oppressed women. In reality, it took people with a radical commitment to Christianity, to elevate the value of women enormously. Without Christianity’s influence in the world, Rosie O’Donnell would never have the freedom, or the setting, to criticize the very belief system that helped liberate her status, as a woman, in society. Without Jesus, instead of talking freely on television to millions of people, she would probably be bound by silence to her thoughts, while living under a veil today.
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