God’s Rules

“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.  This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.”
                                                                                                – 1 John 4:16-17

You did what?  Seriously, you did that?  Man, you better say your prayers tonight and hope God forgives you.

Sound familiar.  Many people look at God as this strict father in heaven just waiting for His children to mess up so He can banish them to hell.  He put rules in place thousands of years ago and if we break one of those or step across the line we are damned.  This is how some people view Him, and often times the reason many turn away and give up on following Christ.

How sad is it that we truly don’t understand God the Father.  We approach Him as if He is waiting to chastise us, rather than approaching Him as if He is waiting to hug us and forgive us.  What does it say in 1 John 4:7-21 – “God is love and if we believe in Him, love is in us and we will love one another as He has loved us.” {paraphrased}  You see God is not a God of wrath, but a God of love.  Throughout all time people have looked at God as a vengeful, wrath filled God set on punishing those who deny Him.  Flip that around completely.  God is a loving God set on bringing all of His children (all mankind) home to heaven with Him for all of eternity.

Evil exists in this world.  Evil sets men’s heart to see the anger, the wrath and wrong doing in this world.  Mankind chooses evil over God and in doing so, separate themselves from His love.  He doesn’t stop loving you, in all honesty you stopped loving Him enough to sin against Him.  Sin is that which is against the commandments of the Lord.  We all sin, for we are all human.  But, when God is in you, the acknowledgement of sin becomes much more real, and we are told to repent and turn from it. 

God did not condemn you for sinning, God actually provided a blood sacrifice and atonement full knowing that you would sin.  This is truly love, not wrath.  He loved you so much and in His omnipotence and all-knowing authority He realizes that you needed a Savior to be sacrificed.  He came Himself, out of pure love for you, in the flesh form of Jesus Christ, to die for your sins.  A sacrifice for you to be granted eternal life.  He died on that cross, was buried and rose again on the third day to defeat death once and for all.  It is out of this love that God looks at you every day.  His child, making mistakes and learning from them; to be forgiven and granted eternal peace.  He only requires that you acknowledge His Son – Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and to repent and turn from the wickedness of the world.

Be Blessed,

Rich

 

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Chasing the Curve

“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”
                                                                                                – 2 Corinthians 11:13-14

I love baseball, and of course it’s even more special this year because the Houston Astro’s are in the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.  It’s amazing the amount of talent these players have and it reminds me that God has gifted each of us in a unique way.  As much as I love the game, and played as hard as I could for 30 + years, I don’t even come close to any one of the players on the field.  Can you imagine how many people there are in the world that can actually throw a baseball 100 miles per hour?  It’s definitely less than a few hundred, but more likely less than 50.  This is a gift.  This is not a learned talent or something that you can train your arm to do, you either have it or you don’t, and 99.99997% of us in this world don’t.

I was watching Clayton Kershaw the other night in game 1 of the World Series.  He is an amazing pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers and has won the Cy Young award multiple times (best pitcher), 7x All Star, MVP (2014) and a Golden Glove award winner.  He has taken Los Angeles to the playoffs for 7 of his first 10 years in professional baseball, and only this year to the World Series.  By far, he is considered one of the best pitchers ever in baseball.  Watching him though, I began thinking about how deceptive he is when he pitches.  The batter is nearly helpless to know what’s coming or where the ball will be when it actually crosses the plate, unless he is throwing heat right down the middle.

I watched him throw his curve ball on numerous Astro’s batters, and they had no clue where the ball was.  Some swung helplessly trying to find it, while most just stood there watching it drop 3-4 feet at the last second right across the plate for a strike.  This deception he uses has the batters thinking the pitch is way out of the strike zone, and then by the time they realize it’s a good pitch it’s too late to swing.  Or he throws it so it looks like an amazing strike and then when they do swing the ball has dropped into the ground, and is unhittable.

Similarly in life, we are all tempted by those things which look wonderful at first, and then when we reach for the prize, it’s actually not at all what we thought or it’s not there at all.  Satan hangs a curve out there that looks so sweet and tempting, and we know we can find success in the achievement.  Then he pulls it away at the last minute, leaving us broken and embarrassed, all alone.  Satan is the great deceiver in this world.  He is evil, often times disguised as goodness.  Once we commit, once we are hooked, only then do we really see it for who and what he really is. 

We serve a God that is truthful, honest, and just in all of His actions.  He will not deceive nor lead you down the wrong path.  When you see His works in your life, you know it is out of love for you, and not love for Himself.  This is the right path to pursue, so quit chasing the curve, only to be abandoned.

Be Blessed,

Rich

 

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Morning Cup of Joe

“Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.”
                                                                                                – Romans 12:11-12

The smell of coffee in the morning.  HMMMMMMMM…..Ahhhhhh.  There is just something about that rich smell that brings a smile to my face, a joy in my heart and a lift to my spirit.  Now, mind you, I don’t drink coffee; unless you count the chocolate, sweet cream, foo-foo Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha, but that’s not really coffee, is it?  Anyway, I just love the smell and I reckon most of you do to.

Have you ever thought about coffee from a biblical point of view?
Say you have a bag of coffee beans, not grounds, but beans.  Hard right, almost unbreakable.  When you want a cup of coffee, what must you first do with those beans?  Go to the cupboard, pull out your coffee grinder, pour in a cup of beans and wait for it to do it’s magic.  Got it, but what if you don’t have a grinder?  Go to the garage, grab your hammer, put the beans in a plastic bag, and after stepping out onto the porch start hammering away until the beans are crushed.  This is not going to get you fine grounds of coffee, but it will probably work in a jam.  The best way, in my opinion, is to take a sauce pan and fill it 2/3rds full of water, drop in a dozen or so coffee beans, bring the water to a boil.  Suddenly that oh so sweet smell starts filling the air around you.  Sure it takes longer, but the coffee is so much better (so I’m told).

The coffee beans change the water around them, rather than being changed by the boiling water.  They make the water better (for those who like coffee) after spending time submerged in it.  This chemical change, this improvement is evidenced when you pour out that first cup and taste of it’s richness and flavor.  It’s harder work than stopping at Starbucks, turning on your Keurig or Mr. Coffee brew machine in the morning.  It takes intent and patience to get that perfect cup, but it’s worth it.

Very much like that perfect cup of coffee, your work has the opportunity to influence those around you for good or for bad.  You are that coffee bean and your attitude, your words, your joy has an impact on everyone around you in the office, in the school, on the plane, or wherever your day takes you.  Working hard demonstrates your commitment to the work at hand you are demonstrating to those around you that we are to give 100% in all things.  We are paid for our work, it is actually stealing from your employer to give them anything less than 100% while they are paying you.  This is right and represents high integrity, which are righteous characteristics that others will see.

Let others see your dedication to the Lord through your work and in your work environment.  Do not be ashamed of the joy the Lord has placed upon your heart, and look for those opportunities to share it with others around you.  Living righteously, serving God and working for man is a strong testimony to influence those around you for the better.  Like the coffee bean, let the scent of the Lord fill the room around you, to increase their desire to likewise partake.

Be Blessed,

Rich

 

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Small Changes

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
                                                                – Matthew 28:18-20

 

Don’t over think it.  Many of us are all looking for some great cause to change the world, and make a difference in the lives of millions.  The reality is that we have a great influence right where we are that we overlook every day.  Perhaps we should become great at the small things, before we become good at the large.

Reflect for a moment on the disciples in the New Testament.
  Fishermen – Peter, Andrew, John (son of Zebedee), James (son of Zebedee)
  Tax Collector – Matthew (also called Levi)
  Other Disciples - Thomas, Philip, Judas (of Iscariot), Bartholomew (also called Nathanael), 
        Thaddaeus (also called Jude), Simon and James (son of Alphaeus)

Each of these men were called from very humble, simple lives.  None are documented as being from high positions in society or notoriety at that time.  What each of them have though is a personal calling from the Lord Jesus Christ on their lives.  Each, gave up their life and followed Him.  Were they strangers prior to their meeting with Christ, or had they seen Him walking the hillside and villages near the Sea of Galilee prior to Him calling them?  We don’t really know the answer, but we gather from scripture that when called, they obeyed, without knowing exactly where they were going or what they would be doing.

For nearly three years they followed Jesus through the countryside, around the Sea of Galilee and along the river Jordan.  They ate with Him, walked with Him, conversed and prayed with Him.  They saw Him perform miracles and heal people.  There were times when they tried to protect Him and guide Him, because they thought they knew what was best for Him.  They developed a relationship is what they did, and they did this through interaction and engagement with Him. 

Fast forward 2000 years, and here we are.  Are we so different than those original disciples, called by Jesus to “Follow Me”.  We want to follow Christ, we want to be more engaged with Him and know Him.  We see the good that He brings, we understand His history and teachings to the best of our knowledge.  We are not scholars, but humble men and women in search of a Savior from the depravity and perverse nature of this world.  We have the opportunity to build a relationship with the Son of God, the Holy One, the King of Kings and the Messiah; but are we fully committed to that relationship?

We see the difference that these men made in the world by spreading the gospel and truth following His death and resurrection.  We want to be as impactful, but is that really what is being asked of us.  Matthew 28:19 tells us to go to all the nations and make disciples, teaching them the ways of Jesus.  I propose that this great commission is the calling on all of our lives, if indeed we have given our life to Jesus.  Having said this though, we first need to have a deep relationship with Him so we can fulfil this command. 

This relationship is formed only through daily interactions, engagement and dialogue with God the Father.  Just as with everything that you are passionate about though, you must prepare, you must learn, you must start small and expand your horizons.  You didn’t get to where you are in this life immediately, but rather through pains, struggles and years of learning and growth.  So it is with serving the Lord.  You can start serving in your own home: prayers at the dinner table, praying with your kids, reading the scriptures together with your spouse and children, loving others like Christ loves you and helping your neighbors.  These small steps allow you to see Christ’s work in and around your life, just like the disciples did.  Then, you are ready to expand your territories and influence others around you.

Just like ripples, when a pebble drops into a lake, the concentric circles get bigger and bigger over time.  Your faith is strengthening each and every day you spend with the Lord, so don’t be impatient in serving Him.  Keep in mind, God doesn’t where a watch, and doesn’t think in minutes and hours, but in eternity.  The key is to start doing something though. 

Be Blessed,

Rich

 

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Everything from Nothing

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.”  Ephesians 6:11

 

Those of you who have followed me for some time know that I am involved in a ministry called RDOF (Rational Defence of Faith) with an awesome man, Daryl Youngblood.  In this ministry Daryl provides very practical information for the debate between Atheism and Christianity from a scientific point of view.  His father was a scientist, and Daryl is steep in knowledge and wisdom in the scientific field. 

Today, I’d like to share an excerpt from one of Daryl’s RDOF events, title “Fine Tuning from Nothing”.
   (the following is a transcript from his event © RDOF, 2017 )

Nothing: A Pronoun denoting the absence of anything

In my many years of doing this, I have found that many people who say that scientific evidence disproves the existence of God, don’t actually know the evidence.  … Many times they don’t know the deep scientific evidence which makes up the basis for their belief, (yet they still believe it) and so it’s more of an emotional foundation rather than a logical foundation.  This happens all the time in conversations that I have with people.  So, what we’re going to do is look at some of the evidence here.  We’re going to look at the fundamental forces of the universe.

Recently, scientists have found that the fundamental forces of the universe are perfectly set, or fine tuned to allow human life.  They are tuned to an exactness that defies comprehension.  Scientists call this, rightly, fine tuning of the universe.  The values of these forces are tuned so precisely, that if you change them by even an infinitesimal amount, you would not exist.  There are many of these (forces).

One example is gravity, or the gravitational constant.  If the value of gravity changed by even 1 part in 10 sextillion quintillion human life would be impossible.  Folks, that’s 1 with 40 zero’s after it [10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000].  To explain how incredibly small 1 part in sextillion-quintillion is, imagine all the grains of sand on a beach, now imagine all the grains of sand in all the beaches in all the world.  Ok, that’s about a quintillion grains of sand.  Now, take that number and multiply it by 10 sextillion.  Now, wrap your head around that amount of grains of sand. 

In this analogy, if all of these grains of sand represented the value of gravity, how many grains of sand would you have to add or subtract in order for human life to be impossible? {dramatic pause}  ONE.  That’s how precisely gravity alone has to be set in order for you to exist and be here tonight.  The chance, obviously, the chance that gravity would be set this precisely by accident or by chance alone would be less of a chance of you winning the lottery every second in human history.  And, it’s not just gravity.

There are many other forces that have to be fine tuned in just this way.  When you add them all up, the chances of this happening randomly or accidentally are so logically impossible that it just makes your mind boggle.  They are so astronomical that it really does make it logically impossible. … So the question is how could the forces of the universe be this fine tuned by just chance.  This demands an explanation, it demands an explanation. 

Well, atheist scientists have an explanation for this.  They have an explanation that they say has ruled out God.  Do you know what it is?  The multiverse, anybody heard of that?  Let me explain a multiverse to you.  They say that instead of a creator being responsible for the fine tuning of the universe, that instead our universe is just one in an infinite number of parallel universes going on right now just as real as ours.  And, in these universes every possible event of any kind is being played out, every possible event of any kind has occurred.  That means there’s one where I’m a wrestler named Dominant; there’s one where Pastor Reggie is a metal rock star {laughter}… Every possible of any kind has been played out in one of these universes. 

This is the logic, so they say that, by chance somewhere in one of these vast number of universes, our finely tuned universe just popped into existence.  That is the current explanation for the fine tuning of the universe.   If you’re here tonight and you believe that scientific evidence disproves a designer of the fine tuning of the universe, here’s your evidence.  This is the current presiding explanation.  Atheist theoretical physicist, Sean Carroll, believes “An infinite number of universes is more plausible than God.”  “…each potential state does not cease to exist…each potential state creates a new universe and is real in that new universe.”  “Carroll states that he believes that the number of alternate universes actually existing is actually infinite.”  (Evolution News, Aug 2, 2017)  That is how they explain away the fine tuning of gravity and all the other constants.  That’s the way they explain it.  There are an infinite number of universes where every possible event has occurred, we just happen to live in the one where this series of events occurred.  Is that enough for you?

There is a philosophical problem though that rears it’s ugly head here.  If anything is possible in these universes, than it’s quite possible that we’re in a universe where God exists.  So the logic shoots itself in the foot.

I am so blessed to be a part of Daryl’s ministry and teaching.  I learn from him every time I get the opportunity to meet.  I hope you don’t mind my sharing this one excerpt from his teaching, because I find it so valuable and practical in my daily walk.  The bible tells us to put on the armor of God and prepare for the battles each and every day.  This is just one of the many battles we are fighting in today’s world, and I am using RDOF as one of my many weapons.  I believe it could provide value in your walk as well.  If you’d like to look into Daryl’s latest, follow RDOF on Facebook or find his videos on WWW.VIMEO.COM .  I hope you have the opportunity to check out his teachings.

Be Blessed,

Rich

 

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There Will Come a Day

“And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” – Matthew 25:46

 

There is a rope stretching for as far as one’s eye can see.  Imagine it laid on a football field, with one end staked to the ground at the goal line at one end of the field and the rope extending straight down the center towards the other end.  It doesn’t stop at the other goal line, but continues straight out of the tunnel at the end, onto the parking lot, and then the street, the park, the subdivisions, the countryside and so on.  For miles and miles, the rope lays in a perfectly straight line over the horizon beyond your comprehensible vision.

A person walks up to you and hands you a single red pushpin and asks you to stick it into the rope at any point along the rope within the scope of your visible realm.  Taking 10 steps forward you press it into the rope and step back.  What did this mean?  What is the purpose of this silliness?  Consider that the red pushpin represents the entirety of your life on this earth, and the rope represents the entirety of the eternal kingdom.  The beginning; all of the history behind you all the way to the infinitely distant, immeasurable future. 

Where is your focus?  In today’s world we are so focused on the pushpin, the 70, 80 or even 100 years of our life on this earth and ignore the reality that there is an eternal  kingdom where we will spend 99.9999999999+ % of our existence.  Why is this so hard for mankind to comprehend?  Why are we so enamored with and addicted to this realm?  Are we so captured by what we see to believe that this is all there is, that we are so important in the cosmos that we can fathom the entirety of mankind’s existence?

Take a step back and look at your existence in the scope of all of humanity.  Whether you are a Christian, a Jew, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness, Wiccan, an Atheist, a Muslim, a Buddhist or none of these; you have a beginning and you will have an end, just like every other human that has walked upon this earth.  You must have an opinion on what will happen to you when the end comes.  You must have an opinion of what was here before you.  Our lives are shaped by our knowledge, our experiences and our environment; but if this is all there is and all there ever has been, then we must ask ourselves, why does anything we do have value?

Each day I make business decisions which impact the lives of those customers and companies that rely on our products.  I make decisions that impact the lives of employees that work for the company I work for.  If we make a profit or lose money this quarter, people’s livelihood is impacted and their families are impacted.  We make a difference in this world, but it is all temporary.  Today’s decisions impact tomorrow, but what about 10 years from now, 20 years, 50 years and so on.  What am I doing today that will impact the long term future of this world?  And if this is true, why should I care – I won’t be here.  Do I owe something to the future generations of this planet?  Why?  Why is it my responsibility to ensure they have a better life?  If I have not bigger perspective than my own existence on this rock, then all of a sudden, my social value system begins to crumble quickly.  I immediately only become interested in the comfort level of my own personal life while here, and find it very easy to blame others for impacting my comfortable life.

When I step back and consider the eternal picture of God’s Kingdom though, my attitude changes dramatically.  All of a sudden, my fellow man becomes more important.  I want them to be in heaven with me because I love them, and I am interested in more than my own salvation and future, but theirs as well.  All of a sudden, I’m more compassionate, more loving to my neighbor, more forgiving, more empathetic and far less selfish and greed stricken. 

I have a infinitely small window of opportunity (the red pushpin) to influence those around me for good, to experience God and His love and to share the gospel.  Once it is gone, that responsibility is passed on to others.  I could die tomorrow, so what am I doing while standing on this red pushpin on the timeline of eternity that will change the outcome of someone’s eternal well-being.  That is what I really get up for each morning, and why I am so driven to want to spread His word.  I hope you feel the same today and are willing to share this and spread His gospel along with me, for you see you have a pushpin of your own to work within.

Be Blessed,

Rich

 

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Judas in the 21st Century

Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.  Jesus replied, “Do what you came for, friend.”   – Matthew 26:48-49

The traitor, the betrayer and the evil one sitting at the table next to Jesus at the Last Supper.  We observe thousands of years later and still look upon him with disdain and accusation for what he did to our Savior Jesus Christ.  What was behind his motivation and decision to betray the Son of God?  Within the scriptures it clearly states in several passages that Satan had entered into Judas (of Iscariot), and therefore provides the real motivation behind his actions.  Judas had displayed worldly views throughout the writings of the Disciples.  Greed, selfishness, stealing, covetness and murder; just to name a few.  All of these are sins of this world, which led to Judas being prey to Satan’s control.

Jesus called Judas as a disciple though.  Because He was all God and all man, He must have known from the time of this calling that Judas would serve a purpose later in His life.  I propose that Judas, like many Jewish people at that time, was waiting for a King to come and save them from the persecution and oppression under Roman control at that time.  When Jesus came upon him and asked him to follow, his mind must have immediately jumped to the conclusion.  “This is it, this is the time we have been waiting for.  Our freedom is at hand after all of these years.” 

He acted as their treasurer, and condemned Mary’s use of expensive perfume to wash Jesus feet, and said “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” (John 12:5)  His interests were in material things, not things of the kingdom of God.  Based on his worldly view, I propose that Judas was looking for his self interest in being part of an overthrow of the Roman authority, and was excited to go along.  At some point over the few years he walked with Jesus though, he came to realize that Jesus intentions were not an overthrow of this world’s authority and he took things into his own hands (or shall I say Satan took control).  He negotiated a price for the head of Jesus Christ, with an intention of bringing the whole thing to an end.  Satan used Judas to exercise his will in this world and to murder Jesus once and for all.  For thirty pieces of silver, and with a kiss, Judas betrayed the Son of God.  Satan’s work had been done, Judas was no longer needed.  Regret sets in when Judas realizes what he has done.  He gives back the thirty pieces of silver, and hangs himself. 

Judas was called by the Son of God to follow Him.  He had every opportunity possible to live a life serving God and helping others come to know Jesus Christ.  But, he wanted the immediate satisfaction, the power himself, the fame and fortune that this world can bring.  I then have to ask the hard question: How different are we?

We are given every opportunity to live a life for and to serve the almighty God, but we let our lives, our desires, our greed, selfishness and lusts get in the way.  These sins of Judas, are they greater than our sins?  Does not every sin take us farther from Christ, who is sinless and perfect, and bring us closer to a worldly view?  Is Satan no longer alive in this realm and capable of turning a man’s heart away from God and towards the world?  Was Judas just a weak man, unable to resist the temptations, and we are so much stronger today that temptations of this world are of no concern? 

Perhaps, we are much more like Judas than we are like Jesus.  That should concern each and every one of you reading this today.  For you see, every sin, every temptation, every desire that draws you away from Christ, draws you closer to Satan.  Judas had a purpose in God’s plan of salvation for mankind.  He was to betray the Son of God, to set in motion the crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection of our Lord and Savior.  This was done once, so that our sins could be forgiven by His grace.  But, make no mistake about it, sin is still sin, and is still of the world and therefor of the devil.  Flee from it, resist temptation and turn toward the Lord, for we do not need another Judas.

Be Blessed,

Rich

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