HONEST DOUBT OR STUBBORN UNBELIEF? (Part #1)

"THE FACTS OF THE MATTER"

"A weekly letter of encouragement to business and professional men and women"

April 07, 2010

Good Morning!

HONEST DOUBT OR STUBBORN UNBELIEF?  (Part #1)

The other day, a young, newly minted PhD philosophy professor sat in my living room, expressing with angst doubts he harbors concerning the veracity of the Biblical accounts.  It is obvious that his blue chip education is crashing head on with his faith in Jesus.

Tell me, do you ever have moments of doubt?  Ever wonder if the whole Christian thing is a charade?  Ever fear that God won’t show up in your time of crisis?  How do you think God views our struggles with doubt?  Is it ok to doubt?  Is there a difference between  honest doubt and unbelief?  

The Scripture seem to divide honest doubt into three categories.

#1  Weak Faith: Remember the father whose son Jesus delivered from an evil spirit?  Said the father, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us,” to which Jesus replied, “Everything is possible for him who believes.” Said the man in response, “Lord I believe…help my weakness of faith.” (Mk. 9:23 – Amp, 24).  My guess is that what this father meant in his heart of hearts was, “Lord, it is useless to hide this unbelief that still struggles in my heart. I wrestle with it and cry out for your help against it.” Obviously, the Lord had compassion on him.  After all, he healed his son.

The disciples on the Road to Emmaus after the crucifixion said, “We thought [Jesus] was the Messiah,” to which the Master replied, “O foolish ones [sluggish in mind, dull in perception] and of heart to believe.”  (Lk. 24:25 Amp.)  Commentator Adam Clarke writes of these men:  They were “slow of heart – backward, not easy to be persuaded of the truth, always giving way to doubtfulness and distrust.”  Yet, it was these very men Jesus commissioned to take the Gospel to the ends of the world.  We know from history that most of them were martyred for their faith.

#2  Wavering Faith:  John the Baptist, languishing in prison while awaiting execution - after powerfully heralding the coming of Christ – wavers in his faith, sending an emissary to Jesus, asking, “Are you the Christ, or do we seek another?”  And Jesus’ response?  Castigation?  Angry disappointment?  No, exoneration.  ”I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.”   (Matt. 11:3, 11)

Remember the account of the disciples observing Jesus walking on the water?  Peter asked if he could walk to Christ.  “But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’"  That is, Why did you “waver?”  (Matt. 14:30, 31)  Yes, Peter wavered in his faith.  But he grew in faith to become the powerful leader of the 1^st Century church.  Years later, he wrote this powerful statement on faith: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”  (I Pet. 1:6, 7)  Some years later Peter was martyred for his faith.

After the resurrection, Jesus met the eleven on the mountain where he commissioned them to take the Gospel to the world.  Yet, ^“When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.”  (Matt. 28:17)  That is, they wavered in their faith.  Had this been my training program, I probably would have said, “Hey guys.  Time out.  Let’s take another year or so and go back over this issue of faith..  Given your shaky belief system, I’m not quite ready to entrust the future of Christianity into your hands.”   Not Jesus.  He went with what he had, knowing, as history has proven,  that their wavering faith would mature into stable, strong convictions.

Next week we will conclude our discussion with “Perplexed Faith,” and “Stubborn unbelief.” 

My prayer is that you are having a great week!

R. Dwight Hill

Managing Money God's Way by Benny Ho

John Wesley: Gain all you can; Save all you can; Give all you can.

3 'theology' on money: Poverty theology --- Stewardship theology --- Prosperity theology


Stewardship theology: God is the owner and controller of all things. What we possess as Christians is a privilege rather than a right. We are simply stewards entrusted with resources, which include our time, talents, treasures and territory. Our ultimate goal is to be able to give an account for all that He has given to us. In the end, true measure of godly success is not based on the amount of wealth we can accumulate but how faithfully we have been minitering with wisdom what God has given to us; be it little or much.

Materialism can never be satisfied. The more you get, the more you want.

MONEY can buy a bed, but not sleep;
MONEY can buy books, but not wisdom;
MONEY can buy food, but not appetite;
MONEY can buy companions, but not friends;
MONEY can buy medicine, but not health;
MONEY can buy finery, but not real beauty;
MONEY can buy a house, but not a home;
MONEY can buy marriage, but not love;
MONEY can buy a good life, but not eternity;

Hold every blessing that God gives with an open palm. Enjoy blessings while you have them without desiring to possess them. Then, if God should choose to take them away, He need not pull your fingers apart!

TITHE
1) A recognition of God's sovereignity
Lev 27:30-32 - A tithe is of everything from the land, whether from the soil or livestock

A tithe simple belongs to the sovereign Lord who owns everything
Therefore we don't 'give' our tithes to the Lord since it doesn't belong to us in the first place, but we 'bring' our tithes to Him.

2) An expression of worship
Prov 3:9-10: Honor the Lord with your wealth & your firstfruits
Honoring is an act of worship

3) A means of sanctification
Rom 11:6 - Unrighteous dough or mammon made holy by us offer back the tithes. When we offer the first 10%, the rest of the 90% is sanctified. 90% with God's blessing is better than 100% without.

4) It is part of God's economy
Numbers 18:24 - Like Old Testament times, tithes are for the upkeep of the Church and its' workers. (cf 1 Tim 5:17-18)

5) An act of sowing
2 Cor 9:6-7 - Each time we give in faith, we are sowing a seed.
If we sow in faith, we can expect the promise in the following verse to come to pass: 2 Cor 9:10-11
We cannot say "Lord prosper me, then I promise to tithe". God's economy does not work this way. We don't reap before we sow. Just like a bank that pays interest only after we deposit money, so we must sow first before God's blessings will flow.

Phil 4:16-18: We do not sow from a harvest, but we sow towards a harvest.

God blesses obedience and not methods. We tithe not to be prosperous. We tithe because we believe it pleases God and we simply want to obey and bring pleasure to His heart. God will bless us and we expect to be bless but we are not motivated by the blessings we will bring us. We are motivated by the pleasure we are bringing Him.

Just as the great patriarch Abraham gave a tithe to King Melkezedek (Heb 7:4, 6-8), when we tithe, we recognise the greatness of King Jesus. Tithing is not about the needs of the church. It is not to avoid a curse. It is not to keep a law. It is bringing the King a portion due to Him.

Under the Law during Old Testament times, tithing 10% was the ceiling. But now, tithing is the floor. God has given us much. So we give 10% out of obedience & gratitude and the other 90% out of love. 1 Cor 13:3: Under New Testament grace, we are compelled to give out of love.

There is nothing wrong with money. It is amoral. Bible didn't say money is root of all evils, but the LOVE of money is the root of all evils (1 Tim 6:10)

To much to reproduce or summarise, but Benny shares on:
1) Principle of Proportion
Give the Lord as He prospers you. To whom much is given, much is required. Luke 21:1-4
2) Principle of Priority
3) Principle of Purpose
Give purposefully as an act of worship. Prepare your tithes & offerings before hand.
4) Principle of privilege
2 Cor 9:7: Give cheerfully what you have decided. Giving will then no longer be a sacrifice but a joy.
5) Principle of Profit
2 cor 9:6 & Luke 6:38, Prov 11:24-25

Danger of Greed
Fable: The man with the goose that laid a golden egg every day and he became rich. Because of greed, he killed the goose and lost the source of the golden eggs.

Charateristics of Greed: Based on Story of Gehazi in 2 Kings 5
1) Greed is hidden: Gehazi "said to himself" (vs 20)
2) Greed rationalises (vs. 20)
3) Greed is compulsive: Gehazi 'ran' after Naaman. Gehazi 'hurried' after Naaman and Naaman saw Gehazi 'running' (vs 20 & 21). Gehazi was running, getting and hurrying after material pursuits.
Greed is idolatry in god's eyes (Colossians 3:5-6)
4) Greed is deceptive: Gehazi was so overcome by greed he lied to both Naaman and Elisha.
5) Greed distorts: For one talent of gold and 2 sets of branded clothes, Gehazi was prepared to betray his master, Elisha. For about $2,000, Gehazi sold himself.
6) Greed destroys: Ironically, what Naaman lost, Gehzi ended up having - leprosy! Gehazi was greedy and he schemed and his body ended up corrupted. (1 Tim 6:9)

What's the alternative? Using the story of the Golden Goose, we are all at different stages of our lives and may fit into the following categories:
1) More golden eggs: Some of us have reached the stage of being able to share some golden eggs with others. Perhaps, God is challenging us to increase the number of golden eggs we are giving away.
2) Some golden eggs: There may be some God is challenging to confront materialism and greed. The best way to dethrone greed is to be generous and go in the opposite spirit.
3) The golden goose: For some, God may be placing a greater demand and asking us to surrender our golden goose. In other words, surrender our wealth and future income through our career by serving Him full-time in ministry.
--> Whatever God is asking you to do, do not fear because you will be surrendering your resources to the ONE who gave them to you in the first place.

How Do You Want To Live?
1) Live above your means: "Buy the things they do not need with the money they do not have just to impress the people they do not know"
2) Live with your means: The life philosophy of "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die"  - spending all we have by the end of the month and always waiting for next pay cheque. Can be a very stressful way to live.
3) Live within your means
Living with some wisdom. Making sure they have something set aside for a rainy day. Have given though to things like insurance and investments.
4) Live below your means
People who are skilled in spiritual discipline of simplicity come to the point where, even though they can well afford something, they choose to do without it so that they have more to share with others. They have learnt to say "Enough is enough".They are people who have found a place of contentment in God.

PRINCIPLES OF EVANGALISM FROM THE LIFE OF JESUS

"THE FACTS OF THE MATTER"

"A weekly letter of encouragement to business and professional men and women"

March 10, 2010

Good Morning!

PRINCIPLES OF EVANGALISM FROM THE LIFE OF JESUS

Personally, winning people to Christ is about the most challenging thing in my life.  How do you approach someone?  How long do you wait before you bring up the person of Christ?   One of the maddening things about Christ’s style of evangelism is that he never used the same approach twice.  Each encounter was tailor-made.  Jesus called us to be spiritual fishermen (Matt. 4:19 , 20).  Perhaps there is something to be learned in the fact that fishermen use “lures” rather than dynamite to catch fish.

The account of Jesus winning the Samaritan woman to himself in John 4 furnishes us with important principles of evangelism.  They include the following:

Don’t wait until it is convenient to share Christ.  Two observations:  (1) Jesus was tired from his journey, (2) In the Samaritan culture men did not converse in public with strange women: ^”Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Will you give me a drink?’"  (Jn. 4:6, 7)  (See Ecc. 11:4-6; 2 Tim. 4:2)

Obligate yourself to the person.  In this case, Jesus asked a favor.  ”When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Will you give me a drink?’" (Jn. 4:7)

Create curiosity by introducing a spiritual element into the conversation that addresses a need.  “Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.’" (Jn. 4:10)

Avoid argumentation by addressing the person’s real need: In this woman’s case, she possessed a need for spiritual fulfillment.   ^“Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."  (Jn. 4:13, 14)

Reveal who Christ is when you detect spiritual interest.  ^“The woman said, ‘I know that Messiah’ (called Christ) ‘is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’  Then Jesus declared, ‘I who speak to you am he.’" (Jn. 4:25, 26)

Ask God to give you a passion for his work. “He said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you know nothing about.’ Then his disciples said to each other, Could someone have brought him food?’  ‘My food,’ said Jesus, ‘is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.’”  (Jn. 4:32-34)

Recognize that the harvest is over-ripe for evangelism/reaping.  Jesus:  “Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.’”  (Jn. 4:35)

Understand that sowing and reaping is a joint effort, and mutual cause for rejoicing. “Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true.” (Jn. 4:36, 37)

Know that your reaping may be the result of others’ hard work of planting. ^”I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”  (Jn. 4:38) (See 1 Cor. 3:6,7)

PRAYER – “Lord, would you grant me the compassion to care enough for those outside of Christ to lovingly involve myself in their lives as an instrument of your grace.  Would you grant me the privilege of participating with you in the  noble work of sowing and reaping.  Amen.”

My prayer is that you are having a great week!

R. Dwight Hill

Stretching the Truth

Monday, March 08, 2010

Today's Text: Proverbs 4:24

Stretching the Truth

“Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you.” Proverbs 4:24
I worked for a carpenter one summer between college semesters. Being the inexperienced apprentice, occasionally I would cut a board too short. Seeing that I had wasted a good board, my frustrated boss would reply: “Get the wood stretcher!”
His point? Wood doesn’t stretch.
Neither does the truth. Once stretched, it is no longer the truth. It is “crooked, devious talk.”
But let’s face it. Stretching the truth now and then can be a handy option, especially if we are in trouble or trying to gain some advantage. But if you think that twisting or slightly adjusting the truth isn’t damaging, think again. When Satan spoke to Eve in Genesis 3, he exaggerated God’s command—“Don’t eat of this one tree”—asking her if God had really said, “You shall not eat from every tree.” Due to his clever mismanagement of true truth, Eve no longer felt that God was generous and good but rather stingy and restrictive. This distortion of the truth planted seeds of doubt and distrust in Eve’s mind that blossomed into disastrous disobedience—a disobedience that has significantly damaged each of us as well.
Every day there are plenty of opportunities to fall to the temptation of mismanaging the truth for our own advantage. Sins of the tongue like flattery, boasting, gossip, and slander are all easily committed when we lose a high regard for the truth.
But under the surface, distorting the truth is a sign of some serious internal problems. Anger is a fertile spawning ground for exaggerating someone’s faults in order to wound them when they have hurt or crossed us.
If your life is committed to “me first” and to making sure you are on top of the pile, your twisted truth words will quickly betray your addiction to yourself.
Pride will lead you to embellish the truth to help you feel better about yourself or to make you look better than others. Seductive thoughts will lead you to flattery and alluring twists of the truth. A greedy heart will hide the true faults of a product and embellish its virtues just to make a sale.
But beware, stretching the truth for your personal advantage ultimately backfires. It’s our character that suffers as landmark virtues like trust and credibility, two building blocks of successful relationships, get slain on the battlefield of our self-serving twisting of the truth. Turning anger to patience and forgiveness; turning self-serving instincts to loving others; turning pride to true humility and greed to generosity will enable you to have the courage to experience the joy of telling it like it really is—which, believe it or not, will ultimately produce better outcomes than stressing yourself out by always twisting and turning the truth to your own gain. As the poet Sir Walter Scott said, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!”
 YOUR JOURNEY…

• In what kind of situations do you tend to distort the truth? Choose the most prevalent one and make a plan to tell the truth regardless.
• Think through the kinds of internal problems that tempt you to stretch and twist the truth. What steps could you take to transition your sinful attitude to a truth-telling attitude?
• Make a plan now to take at least one opportunity to tell the truth clearly as a blessing to someone else before this day is done!

Joy of Loving Jesus

Just realised from the devotion I read this morning that Rev 3:20 is actually written for Christians in the church of Laodicia although we always quote it for unbelievers. Yes, Jesus always desires for us to open the door and welcome Him into our heart to fellowship with Him. Let's not be lukewarm but hot for the Lord.

Joy of Loving Jesus

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

We’ve all done the “Knock, knock! Who’s there?” routine. But what would you do if Jesus was knocking at your door and it was not really a “knock, knock” joke at all?

Well, that’s exactly the setting in Christ’s letter to the church in Laodicea.  Out of the seven letters in Revelation to the churches of Asia, the Laodiceans have the distinct honor of the strongest reproof. And that’s saying something since some of the other churches were entertaining heresy in their teaching and encouraging sexual immorality! Jesus lets the Laodiceans know in no uncertain terms how He feels, when He writes, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16). Which is a nice way of saying, “You make me sick, and I feel like vomiting!” Really. That’s how strong the language is.

I don’t ever want Jesus to say that about me. Do I have a witness?

So what’s the problem? Jesus explains that He is deeply offended by them because, as He says, “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (v. 17). Their affluence had not only blinded them to the true condition of their hearts but had inflicted them with the sin of self-sufficiency. Because they had all they needed, they felt like they had need of nothing—not even Christ. When we forget how desperately we really need Jesus, it bothers Him, and it should! We easily forget that every good thing we have comes from God (James 1:17). None of us would have a dime to our name or clothes on our back if it weren’t for the grace of God in our lives, providing everything we need in abundance. How can we get so consumed with all the gifts that we forget the giver? Thinking we have it made without needing Him just may be life’s most fatal spiritual mistake.

Where does it leave Jesus when we are caught up in our self-sufficient world? It leaves Him on the outside! Toward the end of His comments to the Laodiceans, He says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me” (v.20). I love the fact that Jesus, though offended by our sense of flagrant independence, still wants us! He still longs for the intimate fellowship that occurred around the dinner tables of the ancient world. And don’t think you are off the hook just because you think that the knocking on the door metaphor is about non-Christians accepting Christ. Don’t miss the point! In this text, Jesus is talking to Christians. To people like you and me who because of our God-supplied abundance no longer sing the old song, “I need Thee, O I need Thee; every hour I need Thee . . .”
He calls us to repent (v. 19) and to open the door of our hearts to let Him in. He calls us to pursue the riches of fellowship with Him and to covet the things that money can’t buy but that He can supply—the real wealth of character, purity, and wisdom (v.18). Imagine the “dining room” of your life filled with an attitude of gratitude for what you have (which beats attitudes of greed and grumpiness), contentment with what you have (which beats being out of breath trying to get your hands on the next best thing), and humility that you have been given anything at all (which beats thinking that you really deserve all of the stuff)!

Knock, knock! Who’s there? It’s Jesus! Welcome Him in today.

Your Journey . . .

• Read Revelation 3:14-22 as if Jesus were speaking directly to you. Specifically jot down how His words to His followers in Laodicea apply to you. What will you do to reprioritize your life and turn from the sin of self-sufficiency to a fresh sense of daily reliance on Jesus?
• Take a look around you, and let all your material stuff serve as reminders that God has been generous beyond what you deserve!  What if it all were lost? Would you feel that He really is all you need?
• Write a prayer responding to the Lord’s statements in Revelation 3. Invite Him to come in. Repent of the self-sufficiency that has blocked the reality of how desperately you need Him.

Heaven - This Way

Heaven - This Way

“You know the way to the place where I am going.” John 14:4

The classic World War II movie The Longest Day portrays one of the clever military strategies of the German army. After the Allies had taken the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, their orders were to assemble in the town of St. Mere-Eglise in France. When they saw the sign for St. Mere-Eglise, naturally they proceeded in that direction. There was only one problem: The Germans had turned the sign to point in the opposite direction.
Unknowingly, the Allied forces confidently followed the sign and started marching toward the German trap. The hero of the Allied forces, played by John Wayne, showed up just in time to rescue them from certain destruction. One glance at his compass told him they were heading for disaster. “Hey, where’s everybody going?” he shouted. “Am I the only one here with a compass? It’s east; it’s east. Somebody moved the sign!”
It’s an old trick, but in our spiritual lives Satan continues to use it against us with great success. He turns the signs pointing to ultimate victory and a great final destiny toward the defeating attitudes of fear, despair, and hopelessness. Jesus, on the eve of His death, wanted to prepare His friends for the battle ahead. He knew that the disciples would be confused and disoriented by the enemy, so He lovingly assured them of victory and pointed them toward their final destination, heaven. He’s done the same for us. He assures us that regardless of the forces that might come against us today, heaven is just ahead and the victory is ours!
Jesus won the victory on “D-Day” when He died on the cross for you! At that point it was His intention to set your heart on heaven. Keeping our eyes on heaven means that regardless of what we face, we know where we are headed. Heavenward travelers proceed with the confidence that all the difficulties of the journey are merely temporary and well worth the pain in light of the ultimate and eternal joy of our destination. But beware! Satan wants nothing more than to distract and disorient your heart. He craftily points the sign toward feelings of inadequacy and defeat. He masks the signs pointing to guilt and regret with slick invitations to seduction and compromise. In fact, many of his distractions claim that heaven is really the here and now if only you will engage in a little out-of-bounds pleasure or in living to increase your stacks of stuff. When we think we’ve got heaven here, the enemy has won the day. But it’s not too late to get back on track. Jesus holds the compass, and He knows that to follow Satan’s clever shifting of the sign is to walk right into the trap of Satan’s destruction. He knows the territory well and is calling us to follow Him all the way to heaven—the ultimate destination of eternal fulfillment and joy!

Hear Him shouting to your heart: “Hey, you’re going the wrong way! Follow me!”

 YOUR JOURNEY…

• What earth-side stuff has gotten you off the heaven-bound way with Jesus lately? Is it an attitude, an emotion, an action, or a temptation that you consistently fall prey to? How would a clear view of your destination help you to rearrange your priorities and to turn your back on the destructive failures of going in the wrong direction? Be specific.
• If you knew that it was Satan who was beckoning you to go in the wrong direction, would it make any difference? Read 1 Peter 5:8. What steps can you take to get your life back on the road toward heaven?

I Surrender All

by: Jessica Heikoop
Romans 12:1-2 Present your bodies as a living sacrifice. (v. 1)


The congregation was enthusiastically singing I Surrender All.

Our pastor once observed that if we were being honest, most of us would have to change the words a bit and sing “I surrender most” or even “I surrender some.” Unfortunately he was right. God does not call us to surrender only part of ourselves to him. He calls for complete surrender.

Another way to look at this idea of full surrender is through Paul’s words in the passage we read today. The term “living sacrifice” is a powerful appeal and somewhat of an ominous expression at first glance. As Nancy Leigh DeMoss explains, though, it simply means to offer our bodies as a “complete presentation of ourselves to God.” It means that we devote ourselves to him with all willingness.


This encompasses every aspect of our lives. It is rendering to God all that we are and all that we have. True surrender doesn’t just pick and choose those parts of ourselves that we feel like giving him. He wants all of us, not just a portion of our lives, not a small fragment of our time, not merely a fraction of our possessions.
Selective surrender isn’t real surrender. If you want to be a living sacrifice, you can’t say, “Lord, you can have my heart but not my head, my voice but not my hands and feet.” You can only say, “Lord, I surrender all.”

************************

One of my previous churches stopped singing this hymn after a visiting speaker remarked that when we sang it, how many of us really meant what we were singing.........