What do you allow into your house?
A while ago someone gave me a book by a well known and respected Afrikaans author as a gift. I know that he meant well, but the problem is that the book contains a collection of ghost stories. I realise that someone is probably going to read this statement and think: “How narrow-minded can you be to have a problem with an innocent book containing ghost stories?”. Well, I’ve put a lot of thought into why this book makes me uncomfortable and why I’m not willing to read it, and this is what I think:
What are ghost stories all about? In the end it boils down to stories about evil spirits tormenting humans. Does that sound like something God wants you to spend your time reading? Is it really OK to fantasize about the enemy tormenting people created in God’s image? I believe that when it comes to evil forces, we should follow the advice given in the Word of God:
Jas 4:7 Therefore submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
This brings me to another issue: The movies we watch. Is it really OK to watch movies that glorify adultery (often containing explicit sex scenes)? Should you sit through a movie where God is being mocked and His Name taken in vain, or should you take a stand and walk out of the theatre or stop the DVD player?
Have a look at what the Word says in Ephesians:
Eph 5:11-12 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.
Have you ever looked critically at the movies your children watch? These days many of the popular children’s movies portray wizards or witches as heroes, and often show creatures that can only be described as demons. I believe it is time to take the same approach as the early church:
Act 19:19 Also many of those practicing the curious arts, bringing together the books, burned them before all. And they counted the prices of them and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.
Do not allow satan to put stuff representing him and his works in your home. Get rid of what represents the enemy and fill your house and your life with the Lord.
A slave of God
Rom 6:22 But now, being made free from sin, and having become slaves to God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Bill Bright was the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, an organisation that works in more than 190 countries and has reached many millions of people with the Word of God. It is estimated that through their Jesus film project, more than 6 billion people have been exposed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Bill was a man who deeply loved the Lord. After surrendering his life to the Lord, Bill drew up a contract stating that he would serve God, and signed it “Bill Bright, a slave of Jesus Christ”. I believe that his success can be linked to this simple act of totally surrendering his will to the One who created him, and bought him back with His blood.
What does it mean to be a slave of Jesus Christ? I believe that it does not mean that you have to see yourself as of little worth. See what the Word says about us:
Psa 8:4-5 what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man, that You visit him? For You have made him lack a little from God, and have crowned him with glory and honor.
God has made us in His image, but we were made to His glory. Being a servant of Christ means the following to me: If God tells me to jump, my only question is “How high?”. I am to seek His will for my life and not make my own decisions. I should submit to Him in everything that I do, because that is the only way for me to ensure that I can fulfill the purpose that I was created for.
So, as for me:
I will seek His will for my life.
I will not choose to ignore Him if He tells me to do something.
I will testify of His love and grace and the fact that Jesus Christ died for our sins and conquered death so that we might live.
I will testify to the fact that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father.
I will love Him with all of my heart.
Johan Lombaard, a slave of Jesus Christ
A Sunday morning at the theatre
While talking to my friend Coenraad during the last couple of days, it became apparent that we are both at a point where we are thinking critically about what the church is supposed to be vs what it has become. You can read his thoughts at Unsafe Challenge. Here are mine:
Acts 2 and 4 tell us a bit about how the early church worked:
- They continued steadfastly in the doctrine of the apostles
- They ate together
- They prayed together
- Many wonders and miracles took place
- They shared their belongings with those who were in need
- The Lord added people to the church daily
Throughout the book of Acts we see that the church was a close-knit community with everyone contributing whatever they could, both physically and spiritually. I don’t know about you, but I rarely see most of what happened in the early church today.
Why aren’t we sharing our possessions with each other, eating together in simplicity and see people added to the congregation on a daily basis? I think that part of the answer is the fact that the church has moved from being a community to being an entertainment centre. This might sound a bit harsh, but let me sketch the following (exaggerated, I admit) scenario:
On a Sunday morning you and your family get into your car and you drive to church. You are a bit late so you struggle to find a parking space and you complain to your spouse that the planning committee really messed up with the layout of the grounds. Clearly there isn’t enough parking space for everybody who is attending the service. You get out of your car and rush to the church building. On your way you pass the caretaker who is preparing everything for the after service tea. You don’t have time to say hello, and even if you had time, you don’t know his name anyway. Rushing into the church you realise that you have another problem: the building is packed. An usher shows you to some seats in the section normally reserved for mothers with babies. The worship has already started and after saying a quick prayer, asking the Lord to speak to you through the service, you join in the song. Immediately you realise that the guy standing behind you has been blessed with an awesome amount of volume in his voice, but unfortunately he is totally tone deaf. Your irritation is increased by the fact that one of the lead singers clearly should have rather been a mime. After what feels like hours, the worship leader ends the last song. Here comes the good part. The pastor really knows his stuff so you’re looking forward to listening to one of his famous sermons. The worship leader announces that the pastor is not there, and that the preacher will be a young man from the congregation who doing his final year at the theological seminary. A couple of minutes into the sermon, you realise that this is going to be a long, boring one. You have no idea what he is actually trying to say, and you wished that you had some way of sneaking out without someone noticing it. Eventually the student finishes his sermon. You notice the worship team getting up and moving to the stage, and you know that you’re going to have to endure mister megaphone behind your for another couple of minutes. In the end you feel relief rushing over you. It’s time to go home. You almost run to your car (you’re not in the mood for chit-chat today), and make your way out of the parking area as quick as you can. On your way home, you discuss your frustrations with your family and you all agree that you have wasted your time going to church that day. And why shouldn’t you complain? You pay good money to the church every month to ensure that they hire decent pastors and provide a comfortable environment for the members of the congregation.
Can you see the difference between this experience and what they had in the early church? Can you see yourself in this picture? The guy in this scenario did not go to church. He went to the theatre and didn’t get value for his money. He paid an organisation and expected them to provide parking space, a building, comfortable seats, an eloquent speaker and good music. And then he didn’t get what he paid for!
I think it is time that we get rid of this consumer mentality. We need to learn that we are supposed to serve and not be served. We are not supposed to go to church to receive. We should go there to worship God and serve the congregation with the gifts that the Lord has entrusted to us.
I also believe that the theatre-mentality isn’t only the fault of the church-goers. It is very easy for pastors and other full-time staff to fall into the trap of trying to provide the “best environment” for the congregation. If the chairs in your church are uncomfortable you need to make a plan to replace them before the people discover the nice seats at the church down the road. And so we try to keep up with pastor Jones, while he tries to keep up with us, and in the process we forget about true worship and reaching the world out there.
Reading the Word
It seems to me that there is a trend among Christians today to let other people digest the Word of God for them, rather than consuming it in its natural, undiluted form. What I’m trying to say with this statement is that a lot of people seem to prefer to read what others say about the Word of God, rather than reading it for themselves.
Now I don’t think that it is wrong to read Christian books (I have read many books that blessed me and helped me understand things better), but I want us to consider these questions:
- What is the ratio of time spent between reading books about God and His Word, and reading the Letter that He wrote to you Himself ? His Word is owner’s manual for man. If you want to know how something should work, you read the manual that was written by the person who created it. We have the added benefit that our Creator is still willing and available to clarify the Manual for us.
- Can you trust the person who wrote the book you are reading ? What is his / her background ? Is what is being said in the book wholesome, undiluted truth, or is it the personal opinion of another human ?
- Do you want a human to explain God’s plan for you, or are you willing to dig deep and trust the Holy spirit for revelation ? I agree that it is scary and difficult in the beginning, but the rewards are awesome.
Smith Wigglesworth was a great man of God. He loved the Word so much, and felt so strongly about constantly having it close, that he even offered a reward for anyone who could catch him without his Bible.
The challenge that I feel, and that I want to pass on to you, is the following: Read the books of people you can trust if you want to, but make sure that God’s Word is your primary source for knowing His character and His will.
Letting God decide
In John 11 we read about Jesus’ friend Lazarus who was extremely ill. His sisters sent a message to Jesus to come to him, because they knew that He could heal their brother.
Joh 11:4 When Jesus heard, He said, This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God might be glorified by it.
Reading those words, we expect Jesus to immediately rush to Lazarus to heal him, but He remained where He was for another two days before going to Bethany. To us it might seem that Jesus, despite His promise of healing, did not care much. It seems that Martha was upset with Jesus because she made the comment that if He had been there earlier, their brother would not have died.
But Jesus had another plan. Instead of just healing Lazarus, He raised him from the dead. Through this miracle He proved that He was truly the Son of God.
Joh 11:42 And I know that You hear Me always, but because of the people who stand by I said it, so that they may believe that You have sent Me.
So many times in my life I thought that God ignored my prayers, only to find out later that He was planning something better. It’s a very difficult lesson to learn, because it means trusting Him even though the evidence that we see points to Him not listening.
May we grow in our relationship with our Father to the point where we KNOW that He intends the best for us and hears all our prayers.
Who killed Jesus?
The Word tells us about a couple of incidents where the religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus, but failed. In the end, they succeeded and had Him crucified … or that’s what they thought anyway.
Mat 26:53-54 Do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?
Joh 10:15 Even as the Father knows Me, I also know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep.
Satan must have been very impressed with himself for managing to get the people to kill the Messiah. But, in fact, Jesus’ plan all along was to give his life as a sacrifice for our sins. He is the Son of God. Nobody can pick a fight with Him and walk away unscathed.
Instead of being murdered, He decided to give His life
For your spouse
For the guy who jumped the queue in the store yesterday
For your boss who refuses to pay you a fair salary
For the politician whom you call things your mother taught you not to call people
For the beggar on the street corner
For the girl who stands next to the road looking for customers
For the man who picks her up and breaks his wedding vows
For the guy who murdered someone to get some of his possessions
For me
For you
What God told me over the weekend
As I mentioned before, I attended the Mighty Men Conference near Greytown over the weekend, together with some friends. While I was there, the Lord told me a couple of things. I decided to take time to digest some of it before sharing it. This post contains stuff that was meant for me personally, but I am writing it here in the hope that it might bless someone who reads it.
My friend Danie prayed before the conference for each man in our camp, and asked to the Lord for a word for each. On Friday he told me that the message for me was Psalm 23. God will protect me and look after me. This was spot on because I’ve been worried about a couple of issues lately.
During Saturday morning’s worship time, I felt that I wanted to sit down and just spend some private time with God. I spent some time reading the Word and praying with the praise and worship all around me. I went to the conference feeling sad and frustrated about how I was being treated by a fellow believer, and this was the time God chose to deal with it. During this time, the Lord told me the following:
- I should make sure that I focus on Him alone.
- I should not worry. If I put my trust in Him, He will fight for me and sort it out.
When I stood up to join in the worship, I looked up at the sky and saw a cloud in the perfect shape of a heart. I felt overwhelmed. The God who created the universe loves me so much that He decided to draw a heart in the sky for me!
At this point I felt like I’ve received much more than I came for.
While we were packing up the following day, one of the guys who camped with us (I haven’t met him before the conference) pulled me aside and said that the Lord told him to give me a message: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life, and you shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Again Psalm 23! He did not hear what Danie told me earlier.
I didn’t go to the conference without expecting the Lord to speak to me, but I didn’t expect all of this. He delights in giving us much more that we could ever ask for.
How many chances do you have left?
During the weekend I attended the Mighty Men Conference in Greytown together with some friends (more about this later). During the conference a large number of men gave their lives to the Lord. It was awesome to see all these men stand up to publicly confess their new-found faith in Christ.
This morning I read an article about one of these men in the newspaper. On his way back home (just outside Greytown) he died in a motorcycle accident. The opportunity that he decided to use during the conference was his last.
This made me think about the fact the we never know when our lives will end. It is stupid to keep on postponing accepting Jesus, because every opportunity might be your last. It also makes our responsibility to witness to others so much greater because we never know whether we would be the last believer to speak to them.
Let us live each day as if it was our last, and let us use every opportunity to be witnesses for our King.
Inspecting the Lamb
1Pe 1:18, 19 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot
Jesus gave himself as the perfect offering for our sins. He was the Lamb without any flaws, and He paid for all our sins once and for all.
If you lived in the time of the Old Testament, you needed to bring a lamb as a sin offering. The lamb had to be without any flaws, and the priest would inspect it before the offering to ensure that it was perfect. Note that the priest did not inspect the person who brought the lamb, but the lamb itself. No matter what the person did, the perfect lamb was sufficient payment before the Lord.
Unfortunately we tend to this the other way round. We love to scrutinize other Christians and point out their faults. I think it is time we start looking at the Lamb who paid the price for each person. If we look at the Lamb, we will see fellow believers as God sees them: without blemish.
The faith of a child
Mar 10:15 Truly I say to you, Whoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter into it.
The weekend has been a bit tough on us. Our baby boy was admitted to hospital on Saturday because he picked up the RS-virus. While driving to hospital today with my daughter (3), the following dialog took place:
Me: Are you going to pray for your bother when we get there?
She: No
Me: Why not?
She: Because I prayed for him yesterday
Me: Don’t you want to pray for him again today?
She: No, Jesus is already healing him.
Me: —stunned silence—
I want that kind of faith!
I want to know that when I pray, the Lord hears me, and will provide me with what I need.
My prayer for my daughter is that she will never pick up the “wisdom” that comes with growing up, but will keep the innocent faith that she has now.