Happy Birthday, America! and MFG Part II

Happy Birthday America!!!

As we celebrate our nation’s birthday, I think you will enjoy our national anthem!

http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=1317169864#!/video/video.php?v=74136331072&ref=share. (I hope you can access through this link. You may need to copy and paste.)

The Star Spangled Banner like you've never heard it! This was at a Texas Tech University Basketball game . . . .The National Anthem is sung by five young ladies. You have never heard it performed better than this! An entire arena remains completely silent throughout the song. You could hear a pin drop. Take a moment to listen to this...you will not regret it. The two young girls on the right are six years old. The two in the middle are seven and the one on the left is eight. Wow! The girls in this video are known as The Cactus Cuties!


My Father’s Genes – Part II

Is being born again easier to understand if we first understand being born at all? What similarities, if any, exist between the two that might help our understanding? We will explore these and other important questions in a multi-part series over the next weeks and perhaps months.

Biblical Background and Foundation (Continued from Part I)

The Psalmist has declared “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5) This and other references in both the Old and New Testaments proclaim what has become known as the “doctrine of original sin”. J. I. Packer says: “Scripture diagnoses sin as a universal deformity of human nature, found at every point in every person (1 Kings 8:46; Rom. 3:9-23; 7:18; 1 John 1:8-10).”1 There are a number of other scriptures in support as well, such as John 9:34, Romans 5:12-13, and Galatians 3:22.

Further elaboration on this doctrine is provided by Paul P. Enns:
“Definition. Original sin may be defined as ‘the sinful state and condition in which men are born.’ It is so designated because: (1) ‘it is derived from the original root of the human race (Adam), (2) it is present in the life of every individual from the time of his birth, and (3) it is the inward root of all the actual sins that defile the life of man.’ Simply stated it refers to ‘the corruption of our whole nature.’

“Results. First, man is totally depraved. ‘Total depravity does not mean that everyone is as thoroughly depraved in his actions as he could possibly be, nor that everyone will indulge in every form of sin, nor that a person cannot appreciate and even do acts of goodness; but it does mean that the corruption of sin extends to all men and to all parts of all men so that there is nothing within the natural man that can give him merit in God’s sight.’

“Second, man has an innate sin nature. ‘The sin nature is the capacity to do all those things (good or bad) that can in no way commend us to God.’ Every part of man is affected: intellect (2 Cor. 4:4); conscience (1 Tim. 4:2); will (Rom. 1:28); heart (Eph. 4:18); and the total being (Rom. 1:18–3:20).”2

Therefore, I conclude that the ungodly spiritual nature is with us from birth (and perhaps even from conception, as Psalm 51:5 could be read). This suggests that there is some ungodly DNA present in our first birth that can only be dealt with by a miracle of God’s power in regeneration or being born again. John the Apostle records the great insight of John the Baptist: “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!' ” (John 1:29)

Human birth is the result of a God-created process resulting in human conception. The miracle of conception occurs not because we believe it will, but because God has provided a plan and a process for it to occur. Mental agreement with the plan doesn’t make it happen. Sperm penetrating egg makes it happen because that’s how God created it. Mental agreement may promote exercise of the plan, but exercising the plan is the only way to accomplishment.

Human conception is a marvelous and profound initiation of a human life. The more one understands about this miracle called life, the deeper one respects how precious life is. And that’s just on a human level! Consider spiritual life. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways…” (Isaiah 55:9 NIV) And thus we begin to understand when John quotes Jesus as saying that “flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”

Since Jesus seemed to link the two types of birth in the scripture above, is there anything we can learn from human genetics that could be applied to spiritual genetics?



1 Concise Theology: A Guide To Historic Christian Beliefs by J. I. Packer, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois
2 Moody Handbook of Theology by Paul P. Enns, Moody Press, Chicago, Illinois

(Stay tuned for the next exciting episode!)

My Father's Genes

My Father’s Genes – Part I

I have been intrigued for some time by the science of DNA from a layman’s perspective, particularly in how it and the human conception and birth process work together.

Is being born again easier to understand if we first understand being born at all? What similarities, if any, exist between the two that might help our understanding? We will explore these and other important questions in a multi-part series over the next weeks and perhaps months.

Biblical Background and Foundation

“But, that’s impossible!” Nick vehemently protested. “Can a man enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born?” (my paraphrase)

Jesus had just given His famous response to Nicodemus, found in John chapter 3, verse 3 (NIV): “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” This verse has arguably been the launching pad and foundation stone for all Christian evangelical preaching ever since.

Jesus says something else at this point: “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” (verses 5 and 6, emphasis added) Verse 6 in other translations reads: “Human life comes from human parents, but spiritual life comes from the Spirit.” (New Century Version), and: “Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven.” (New Living Translation)

Still, the question begs: Why is a second birth necessary? In the spiritual realm, does that imply the absence of a spiritual nature in humans before being born again, or is mankind originally born with an ungodly spiritual nature? Is it easier for God to fill the vacuum of no spiritual nature with one of His choosing, or to replace an existing ungodly spiritual nature with His own?

We will begin answering these questions in our next posting.

Whatever Happened to SIN?

Whatever Happened to SIN?

Have you noticed that at the center of SIN is I?

Have you also noticed that SIN is an acrostic for Self Indulgent Nature?

The good and encouraging news is that if you insert a picture of Jesus with His arms outstretched in the place of the I, He and His blood will cover you and be the cure for sin and the provider of victorious life! Who else can you or will you trust with your life?

Free To Love

Dennis Kinlaw, former president of Asbury College, and now retired, has written extensively about holiness and the deeper Christian life. His writings are rich in practical applications in living out that deeper, passionate, all-surpassing love to which Christ calls us.

He recounts the story in one of his writings of a man who was saved and then filled with God's perfect love. Some time later his church received a new pastor. For the new pastor's first service, the man selected his very best ham from his storage room so he could present it to the new pastor as a love gift. During the service there was a testimony time and the man told how he was converted and then how the Spirit of God came and cleansed him from self-interest. In the middle of his testimony, the preacher stood up and said, "Sit down, Mr. 'Blank'. That is fanaticism, and as long as I am pastor, we will not have any talk of that kind."

After the service, Mr. 'Blank' surprised his family by going to his vehicle, retrieving the ham, taking it to the pastor, and saying "Pastor, we are so glad you are here. ... We love you, and if we can help you, let us know."

The next morning an unfamiliar vehicle pulled into Mr. 'Blank's' drive and it was the new pastor. He said "I have come to apologize. If there is anything you want to witness to in one of my prayer meetings, go right ahead, because it is obvious that you have found something that I know nothing about. Blessings on you."

Dr. Kinlaw concludes with the observation that "there is a power that comes when we are free from ourselves and free to love."

What a challenge!

Square Gears

Have you ever seen square gears? I have a small set of three square gears on my desk and they actually mesh and work! You see, when the gears go around, the corners are actually going in a circle. If the gears are properly positioned in relation to each other the corners will intersect at their neighbor’s flat sides and they will mesh and work fine.

Have you ever wondered if you were a square gear in a round gear world? Or looked at others and figured them to be in that category? Who is the final arbiter of whether round or square gears are normal? As a Christian, have you ever felt outnumbered or had difficulty meshing in secular society or business?

As Americans, we are schooled in the principles of a democratic republic and taught early-on that the majority rules. And that’s well and good in our political system. But we are then prone to extrapolate that principle into our culture and allow the culture to decide too many other questions of life. Culture seems to decide there should be ever-decreasing standards of decency, language and education with the foolish notion that this will produce ever-increasing standards of living. Our politicians have taught us that “to get along we must go along”; that for our system to work we must learn “the art of compromise”. In our headlong rush to achieve social inclusion of every person or idea or religion, what we are actually achieving is not a seamless society but the balkanization of society. More and more laws are passed to erase the seams but all they do is create more seams.

This is nothing new. The Bible is replete with account after account of God’s chosen people being seduced into thinking that their neighbors’ culture or religion was the true normal or “round gear” system, losing sight of God’s values just because from the world’s view they appeared to be “square gears”. And isn’t that what the world thinks – that the Christian way is all “square gears” and will never work? But Christians have learned the secret that when we get in line with God (mesh correctly with Him), suddenly everything works like God designed for it to and what once appeared unworkable now works marvelously. Have we checked how we’re meshing lately?

My prayer is that we will all be encouraged to be so immersed in God’s values and system that we will see them as the norm, and not what the world would try to make us believe is the norm. This will happen as we spend more and more time in prayer and God’s word and other Christian resources. Will we do it?

TODAY'S PERSONAL PARAPHRASE

Psalm 23:4
Even though my "to do" list has been taken over by events, I will stick with you, Lord, for you are with me. Your discipline and your promises are a great strength to me.

PREAMBLE TO RE-LAUNCH

For the past couple of years I have been privileged to facilitate a class at our church examining the personal disciplines that would be helpful to Christians as they grow deeper in their Christian life.

As a part of the class, we began a blog designed to provide a ready reference for the ideas discussed in class. Our primary text book (other than the Bible, of course) was originally designed as a devotional book containing 52 chapters to be covered in a one year period. (Disciplines For The Inner Life by Bob Benson, Sr. and Michael W. Benson) Our class decided to not be bound by the one year constraint. The result was an unhurried study where we dove deeply into about 80% of the chapters over the two year period.

Various events and circumstances then interrupted our ability to meet regularly. People’s desire to deepen their spiritual lives continues, however, prompting the reorganization and re-launch of the blog mentioned above. This new version of the blog, now named Deeper Life Encouragement, will cast an even broader net in finding resources to help us all deepen our spiritual lives.

We will not post on a hard and fast schedule, but more on a “what is worthwhile” schedule – i.e. intermittent. There is a place on the blog to subscribe, so that you can receive automatic notification when a new posting occurs. I would encourage you to subscribe. You can always unsubscribe if you so desire.

So here we go! Your feedback and constructive criticism is always welcome. And I sincerely hope and trust it provides some spiritual food for all of us!

KEEP ON WALKING!

Today the Lord seems to be telling me to “keep on walking”. Do I need the exercise? Yes, but He’s talking about walking in trust with Him when it seems like things aren’t happening according to the schedule I expected when I started out on the latest assignment He’s given me.

The Lord showed me that most of His followers in the Bible had to walk by faith daily (and sometimes for years!) without knowing His schedule, so why should I be any different?! I haven’t been exactly sitting around, but in spite of some very legitimate activities I feel like in some respects I’ve just been treading water. The Lord helping me, I’m going to refocus on what I need to do to be more obedient to His assignment.

It’s time to Keep On Walking!

ENCOURAGEMENT EQUALS HOPE; HOPE EQUALS ENCOURAGEMENT

Dr. Warren W. Wiersbe, in his book Pause For Power (Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Publishing, 1998, p. 361), suggests that from his study of First Peter there are three themes - suffering, grace, and glory - which unite to form an encouraging message for believers who are experiencing times of trial and perhaps even persecution. He goes on to quote H. L. Mencken, whom he describes as a “cynical editor and writer”, defining hope as “a pathological belief in the occurrence of the impossible.”

Dr. Wiersbe then comments:
“But that definition does not agree with the New Testament meaning of the word. True Christian hope is more than ‘hope so.’ It is confident assurance of future glory and blessing.

“This confident hope gives us the encouragement and enablement we need for daily living. It does not put us in a rocking chair where we complacently await the return of Jesus Christ. Instead, it puts us in the marketplace, on the battlefield, where we keep on going when the burdens are heavy and the battles are hard. Hope is not a sedative; it is a shot of adrenalin, a blood transfusion. Like an anchor, our hope in Christ stabilizes us in the storms of life (Heb. 6:18-19), but unlike an anchor, our hope moves us forward, it does not hold us back.”

Well, I hope that encourages us all today. We find great encouragement not only in the Bible, but also in communicating with each other. I know enough about some of you to know that you actively seek daily opportunities to encourage others. Some of us may be a little more passive, waiting for those opportunities to present themselves even while we’re watching for them so we can then use them. This pattern is not absolute, as we probably all do both from time to time. But we have learned that encouraging others also encourages us.

I have also known people (though none of you, of course) who seem not to have a single bone of encouragement in their bodies. But those bones can be grown because they are mental, not physical! It all starts with attitude. And attitude may be the only thing in our lives over which we have absolute personal control. Let’s all encourage the growth of those bones in ourselves and in others! If encouragement equals hope and hope equals encouragement, then we can all take strength from Dr. Wiersbe’s statement that “Hope is not a sedative; it is a shot of adrenalin, a blood transfusion.”

“Keep On Walking!”

Chapter 38 - The Mind of Christ

Chapter 38 amplified our understanding on The Mind of Christ using 7 Bible passages, as follows:

1 Corinthians 2:6-16
Philippians 2:1-11
Hebrews 5:11-6:3
Isaiah 11:1-5
1 Peter 4:1-6
Romans 8:5-11
Matthew 13:10-17

(Note: If you would like to look up these passages online, there are many online Bibles you could use. Here is one link: http://www.studylight.org/.)

Invocation:

“You, O Christ, who were tempted in all points like as I am, yet without sin, make me strong to overcome the desire to be wise and to be reputed wise by others as ignorant as myself. I turn from my wisdom as well as from my folly and flee to You, the wisdom of God and the power of God. Amen.” (A. W. Tozer in The Knowledge of the Holy)

Hymn:

The hymn for Chapter 38 was “I Want to Be Like Jesus” by Thomas Chisholm. (If you are not familiar with the song, just Google the hymn name and you will get multiple sources to read and/or hear it, as well as its history.)

Benediction:

“O Christ, I want the Spirit within me to duplicate nothing – nothing except You. For I want no manifestation that doesn’t manifest You – manifest You in Your sanctity and Your sanity. For You are life. Amen.” (E. Stanley Jones in The Way to Power and Poise)

Meditation Selections:

The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Oswald Chambers, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Charles R. Erdman, William F. Orr and James Arthur Walther, H. Orton Wiley, W. Paul Jones, Karl Rahner, Gayle D. Erwin, and Alec Motyer. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)

Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:

· “By sanctification the Son of God is formed in me, then I have to transform my natural life into a spiritual life by obedience to Him. …When He begins to check, do not confer with flesh and blood, cleanse yourself at once. Keep yourself cleansed in your daily walk. I have to cleanse myself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit… Is the mind of my spirit in perfect agreement with the life of the Son of God…? Am I forming the mind of Christ? …by degrees Jesus lifts me up to where He lived – in perfect consecration to His Father’s will.”
· “We have to learn to maintain an unimpaired state of character up to the last notch revealed in the vision of Jesus Christ. …To be unspiritual means that other things have a growing fascination for you.”
· “God never gives us discernment in order that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.”
· “The gift which the Holy Spirit creates in us is not uncertainty, but assurance and discernment. Thus we are enabled to walk in the Spirit and to walk in assurance.”
· Facilitator’s question: Is the mind of Christ the metric we should use for every spiritual issue?
· “Paul proposed that there should be no censorship nor obstruction to the systematic search for truth. This implies that the spiritual man is capable of evaluating properly the good and evil he confronts…”
· “Christ Jesus … made himself nothing. He made himself nothing, emptied himself – the great kenosis. He made himself no reputation, no image. …Reputation is so important to me. …But Jesus made himself of no reputation.”
· “If a friend does something which puzzles us, we might ask what it was that he ‘had in mind’ in doing it. …There is great stress (in Philippians 2) that the great change (from God to man) came about by voluntary decision. Verse 7 says he emptied himself, and verse 8, he humbled himself. In each case the reflexive expression points to personal decision and action.”

What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 38 not quoted) mean to you? Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).

Thanks for your participation.
John