I always get teary-eyed during baptisms at church. It's so incredible to hear the stories of how God is moving in the lives of His children, and to see them take that step of obedience. And to realize it is a picture of our flesh being buried with Christ and raised to a new life... it truly is awesome.
I love the way our church does baptisms, because it is such a celebration. After each person is raised out of the water, the congregation claps and cheers. I think it is entirely appropriate to express that kind of joy when a fellow believer publicly proclaims his or her faith in Christ and identification with Him in that way.
I also love the way our church's pastoral team encourages us to build relationships with non-believers so that we can share the love of Christ with them - and to see our pastors' families model that in their own lives.
Not long ago, our lead pastor's wife met a man who many Christians wouldn't have taken the time to get to know. He is a former general in Saddam Hussein's army, and he speaks very little English. Yet she reached out to him, introduced her family to him, and they spent time with him.
Throughout this experience, they learned that, as a general in Hussein's army, he had refused to go into Kuwait where he would have been forced to kill innocent women and children. As a result, he was tortured and imprisoned. When he was finally released, he sought refuge in America.
Our pastor had an opportunity to talk to him about his beliefs and convictions, and to share with him the truth that Jesus had died for him. With the help of an Iraqi believer named Mohammed, our pastor led this man to accept Christ as his Savior.
On Sunday, we all listened to Mohammed translate as this man gave his testimony, then watched as he baptized him. It was not possible to witness that without being deeply touched by it.
This is what the church of Christ should be doing! If we are not reaching out to those who are lost and sharing Jesus with them, then we are failing miserably.
There is a mission field outside our doors. My boys play with neighbor kids who don't know much, if anything, about Jesus. We wave at the other people in our neighborhood and engage in friendly conversations with them. But I am challenged to do more. It is time to build relationships that make a way for me to share Christ.
It's time for all of us, because time is short!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
The Glory He Deserves
This morning, as I began my morning routine with the knowledge that Osama bin Laden had been killed by the United States military, I admittedly had mixed emotions about it.
There is a part of me that grieves over another soul in hell. I believe it deeply grieves the heart of God when one of His children rejects the truth and dies in unbelief. I also believe that, had bin Laden repented and embraced the gift of salvation, God would have offered forgiveness. That's grace. That's God.
Yet, bin Laden did not repent or turn from his wicked ways. Over and over again he unleashed his attacks against innocent people. His actions and words rose up in bold defiance of God's Word and oppression of His people.
Our holy God does not - cannot - tolerate this. Even the children of Israel, God's chosen people, suffered the wrath of God when they turned their hearts away from Him.
Through Isaiah and other prophets, God declared the punishment and restoration that would be received by the people of Israel:
Isaiah 30:1 - “Woe to the obstinate children,”
declares the LORD,
“to those who carry out plans that are not mine,
forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit,
heaping sin upon sin."
Isaiah 30:18 - Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!
Isaiah 30: 27-32 - See, the Name of the LORD comes from afar,
with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke;
his lips are full of wrath,
and his tongue is a consuming fire.
His breath is like a rushing torrent,
rising up to the neck.
He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction;
he places in the jaws of the peoples
a bit that leads them astray.
And you will sing
as on the night you celebrate a holy festival;
your hearts will rejoice
as when people playing pipes go up
to the mountain of the LORD,
to the Rock of Israel.
The LORD will cause people to hear his majestic voice
and will make them see his arm coming down
with raging anger and consuming fire,
with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.
The voice of the LORD will shatter Assyria;
with his rod he will strike them down.
Every stroke the LORD lays on them
with his punishing club
will be to the music of timbrels and harps,
as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.
Isaiah 59:19 - From the west, people will fear the name of the LORD,
and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory.
For he will come like a pent-up flood
that the breath of the LORD drives along.
I find it interesting that the verse in chapter 59 specifically references the west. Could it be that God used the United States military to accomplish His purpose in this? To reveal His glory and justice?
In this victory against terrorism, let's not forget that our God is a loving, gracious God, and that He is grieved when hearts refuse to turn to Him. Yet let's also not forget that He is a just God who has moved His mighty hand to strike down those who have blasphemed His name and oppressed His people throughout the course of human history.
This is more than a U.S. military victory. I believe this is God moving to deliver His people from a defiant and evil man. His purpose is to reveal His glory to all nations. Let's make sure we give Him the glory He deserves!
There is a part of me that grieves over another soul in hell. I believe it deeply grieves the heart of God when one of His children rejects the truth and dies in unbelief. I also believe that, had bin Laden repented and embraced the gift of salvation, God would have offered forgiveness. That's grace. That's God.
Yet, bin Laden did not repent or turn from his wicked ways. Over and over again he unleashed his attacks against innocent people. His actions and words rose up in bold defiance of God's Word and oppression of His people.
Our holy God does not - cannot - tolerate this. Even the children of Israel, God's chosen people, suffered the wrath of God when they turned their hearts away from Him.
Through Isaiah and other prophets, God declared the punishment and restoration that would be received by the people of Israel:
Isaiah 30:1 - “Woe to the obstinate children,”
declares the LORD,
“to those who carry out plans that are not mine,
forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit,
heaping sin upon sin."
Isaiah 30:18 - Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!
Isaiah 30: 27-32 - See, the Name of the LORD comes from afar,
with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke;
his lips are full of wrath,
and his tongue is a consuming fire.
His breath is like a rushing torrent,
rising up to the neck.
He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction;
he places in the jaws of the peoples
a bit that leads them astray.
And you will sing
as on the night you celebrate a holy festival;
your hearts will rejoice
as when people playing pipes go up
to the mountain of the LORD,
to the Rock of Israel.
The LORD will cause people to hear his majestic voice
and will make them see his arm coming down
with raging anger and consuming fire,
with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.
The voice of the LORD will shatter Assyria;
with his rod he will strike them down.
Every stroke the LORD lays on them
with his punishing club
will be to the music of timbrels and harps,
as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.
Isaiah 59:19 - From the west, people will fear the name of the LORD,
and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory.
For he will come like a pent-up flood
that the breath of the LORD drives along.
I find it interesting that the verse in chapter 59 specifically references the west. Could it be that God used the United States military to accomplish His purpose in this? To reveal His glory and justice?
In this victory against terrorism, let's not forget that our God is a loving, gracious God, and that He is grieved when hearts refuse to turn to Him. Yet let's also not forget that He is a just God who has moved His mighty hand to strike down those who have blasphemed His name and oppressed His people throughout the course of human history.
This is more than a U.S. military victory. I believe this is God moving to deliver His people from a defiant and evil man. His purpose is to reveal His glory to all nations. Let's make sure we give Him the glory He deserves!
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