Battle of the Gods
By Greg
Laurie
And Elisha prayed, and said, "Lord, I pray, open his eyes
that he may see." Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he
saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all
around Elisha. —2 Kings 6:17
I think
we would all agree there is a battle going on in the United States today. It's
a battle for our very souls, a battle for right and wrong, a battle over the
Bible, a battle over the family. Really, it is a battle over worldviews. And if
you want to simplify it even further, it is a battle of the gods.
In the
Bible there is only one God; it isn't multiple choice. God says, "I am the
Lord, and there is no other" (Isaiah 45:5). There is the true and living
God who is the God of Scripture and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is
the God who loved us so much that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die on the
cross.
Then
there are all the other gods. So the battle rages today—the battle of the gods
and the battle of the worldviews.
Sometimes
as followers of Jesus Christ and believers in the Bible, it feels like we are
losing ground everywhere we turn. In some ways, you might feel as though there
is no hope.
I'm
reminded of the story of Elisha and his servant when they were surrounded by
enemy forces. Elisha was so confident in the Lord that he took a nap. But his
servant woke him, alarmed as the enemy forces were closing in. So Elisha
prayed, "Lord, open his eyes." The Bible tells us, "Then the
Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was
full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha" (2 Kings 6:17).
In the
same way, there are more on our side than there are on the enemy's side. And we
need to remember that as the battle rages on every day.
Rod and Joni Parsley - Modern family vintage values
We have
lost many values in our families because of the world we live in. This
heart-to-heart message is filled with wisdom from Pastor Rod and Joni's life,
and it will help you as a parent to build a home that is built on the Word of
God, and train your children the way they should go.
The God Who Suffers
By Greg Laurie
He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief . . . Surely He has borne our grief and carried our
sorrows.
—Isaiah 53:3–4
When we think of God, we usually consider that fact that He is
righteous, holy, loving, and good. But here is something else to consider about
God: He is the God who has suffered. We don't tend to think that a perfect
Creator would experience such a human trait as human pain and suffering. After
all, why would you suffer if you did not have to?
But God has suffered, and more deeply than any of us could ever
imagine. In his book The
Cross of Christ, John Stott said, "Our God is a
suffering God." And I think he is right.
Listen to Isaiah's description of what Jesus (who was God) went
through at Calvary:
"He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief . . . Surely He has borne our grief and
carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and
afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our
iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we
are healed." (Isaiah 53:3-5)
"A man of suffering." That was Jesus. But why did God
suffer? Because He loved and loves. That means He also enters into our
suffering as well.
Hebrews 2:17-18 tells us:
"Therefore, it was necessary for him to be
made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be
our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a
sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Since he himself has
gone through suffering and temptation, he is able to help us when we are being
tempted" (NLT).
You are not alone in your suffering today. Jesus has been there and
walked in your shoes and He is here for you right now. Call out to Him.
Pastor Max Lucado Still Baffled Over Evangelical Trump Supporters
If
you've been following the presidential campaign, you have probably heard some
talk about the power of the evangelical vote.
Pastor
Max Lucado is a prominent evangelical pastor and a prolific best-selling writer
who almost never writes about politics. And that's one reason millions found a
recent essay of his so interesting.
Lucado took to his site to describe all the reasons he says
Republican frontrunner Donald Trump's tone and decorum fail the decency test in
a blog post titled "Decency For President."
He cites Trump's belittling of women and people with disabilities,
among other people, and his constant name-calling. He says such comments
"wouldn't be acceptable even for a middle school student body election ...
but for the oval office?" His essay, also published in the Washington Post, has
now been shared millions of times.
Interview Highlights
Michel Martin: What is it that made you want to weigh in here? Why
now?
Max
Lucado: Controversially so, I'm not involved, that troubles many people. Kind
of the bottom line for me, I don't think people come to the church where I
preach to hear my view on politics. I'd like to think I'm going up river in
talking about world view topics rather than particular political or
controversial topics. So I've just stayed away from it through the years, which
is funny because there was a time I wanted to go into politics. And so all of a
sudden here I am, I guess. I'm in the thick of it.
I would
not have said anything about Mr. Trump, never, I would never have said anything
if he didn't call himself a Christian. It'd be none of my business whatsoever
to make any comments about his language, his vulgarities, his slander of
people, but I was deeply troubled ... that here's a man who holds up a bible
one day, and calls a lady "bimbo" the next. Here's a man who calls
himself a Christian and yet just had the audacity to make fun of a lady's
menstrual cycle. ... He didn't just do this on occasion, but repeatedly,
unrepentantly. Somebody sent me a list of 64 people he's called loser. Just
this week it's continued.
It
deeply concerns me that somebody who knows little or nothing about the
Christian faith would hear Mr. Trump call himself a Christian and then make a
decision based on the Christian faith, based on his behavior. And so I just
felt like I should say something. I did not expect to stir up a dust storm that
this blog post has stirred up.
MM: Tell me what struck you about the reaction.
ML: We
were stunned by the response. ... It really struck a nerve. We had so many
responses, we had to quit publishing second generation responses because people
were beginning to argue with each other ... not what I intended for it to be.
... Most of it has been positive, many people have said "This is what I
was thinking, thanks for saying it on my behalf." But there are many
people who were just really ticked off that I would dare to suggest that this
behavior is inappropriate.
MM: One thing that you noted in your follow up post is there
seemed to be a deep undercurrent of worry.
ML:
There is and you could sense that, you could almost taste it. There's an angst
in the country, and I think there's a fear. I think there's a fear of we don't
know what's next. And I've tried, maybe you can help me, I've tried to put my
finger on the root of this fear. I feel like really we're better off than we
were eight years ago, 10 years ago in many ways. There's certainly things we
can do better at but the economy is somewhat stable. We're not engaged in the
level of international conflict that we've been involved, still you would think
we were. There's just a level of anxiety.
I'm
personally of course of the persuasion that all of our issues are spiritual
issues and that a disconnect with God creates a disconnect with our neighbors
and that leads to anxiety. ...
MM: Many people say in fact that they're puzzled about the appeal
of Donald Trump, especially to professing Christians. The fact is, he has
racked up many votes and endorsements from leaders. For example on Super
Tuesday, every state that Donald Trump won, he received the majority of the
evangelical vote. What do you think the appeal is?
ML: I'm
curious why we're giving him a free pass on this behavior. Typically,
evangelicals have tried to hold our leaders up if they call themselves
Christians to a standard consistent with the faith and then of course
consistent with whatever office they hold. But it seems like we're more than
willing to give Mr. Trump a free pass. The classic one was in Iowa when he was
asked, "Do you ever ask for forgiveness of sins?" and he said,
"No, I don't need to." I nearly fell out of my chair. That's right at
the heart and core of the Christian faith, that we're all sinners, we all need
forgiveness of sins. I do not have an answer for your question. I've asked
people who support Mr. Trump, "How do you reconcile the disconnect between
what he claims to be and what he says?" ... I'm as baffled as anyone as to
why. ...
If
President Obama had used the language and spoken with the same disrespect that
Trump has, and identified himself with a Christian, there is no doubt in my
mind that I would've expressed the same concern. ...
We just
have to hold ourselves to a higher standard if we're going to be leaders and if
we're going to be Christians. I do believe that leaders have to be held to a
higher standard, especially Christian leaders. I put myself in that camp.
MM: What would you say to people who are fed up with the
government and think that it's gone too far on social issues like same-sex
marriage and abortion, and feel that Donald Trump is the only candidate that is
willing to do to something about it?
ML: My
concern is that somebody would make a decision against Christianity because of
Mr. Trump's behavior. And that's my high concern here. And to that person I
would say, the way he speaks about people is not the way our master, our savior
has taught us to speak, it's not the way our scriptures urge us to speak. The
bible urges us to be respectful to all people, especially people with whom we
have disagreements, to never libel people, to never label people. Now this is a
huge deal in scripture, and so I would encourage that person, and the reason
I've gone so verbal and vocal with this is because I'm protective of the
reputation of Christ and the church, and I would ask that person not to
interpret the Christian faith through the words of Mr. Trump.
The "Crown Jewel" of Scriptures
By Greg Laurie
"For God so loved the world that He gave His
only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life." —John 3:16
One of the greatest verses in all of the Bible is John 3:16. It gives us the gospel in a nutshell.
Let's break it down:
"For God so loved . . ."
Many
picture God as some kind of "cosmic killjoy" out to ruin our lives.
But the reality is that God loves you! He misses you. He wants a relationship
with you. Look at the Lord in the garden after Adam's fall, calling,
"Adam, where are you?" (Genesis 3:9).
". . . the world . . ."
The
world? That includes dictators and criminals. It includes adulterers, cheats,
liars, even murderers.
The
thief on the cross was probably a murderer or terrorist, but Jesus extended His
loving forgiveness to him.
". . . He gave . . ."
We can talk about love all day long, but God demonstrated His love
for us in a tangible way. Romans 5:8 says," But God demonstrates His own
love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us,"
and Romans 6:23 tells us that
"the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Jesus
came to this world not to come down on people, but to reach out to people.
While religion tells us what we must do to reach up to heaven, God reaches down
from heaven in sending Jesus and pulling us out of quicksand.
". . . His only begotten Son . . ."
This
does not mean "one of many," as in "So-and-so begat
So-and-so." A better translation is "His one and only Son" or
"the only Son of His kind or class, unique in kind."
". . . that whosoever believes . . ."
To "believe" does not merely mean you intellectually
accept something to be true. The Bible says, "Even the demons believe—and
tremble!" (James 2:19 NKJV). To believe is to "adhere to,
commit to, have faith in, rely upon, trust in." The choice is ours as to
what we will do with this wonderful gift of God. We can gladly accept it, or
reject it. If someone offers you a gift, you either take it or you don't. You
can't say, "I'm neutral on this. I can't decide."
". . . should not perish . . ."
Revelation 20:15
says, "Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into
the lake of fire" (KJV).
If you are included in the "whosoever" of John 3:16, you won't be included in the
"whosoever" of Revelation 20:15.
". . . but have everlasting life."
Not "hope to have," but "have." It becomes the
immediate possession of the child of God. 1 John 5:13 says, "These things have I written unto you that believe on
the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life and
that you may believe on the name of the Son of God" (NKJV).
Jesus will receive and reveal Himself to any person who will come to
Him honestly, heart to heart. Jesus said, "He that comes to me I will in
no way cast out" (see John 6:37).
Zika Foretold in 2011 by Dr. Paul Dhinakaran
Zika Virus -
"The physical structure of the children that are going to be born will see
some significant changes in the days to come". Prophecy given by Dr. Paul
Dhinakaran fulfilled.
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