Roots by the River

There are several types of spiritual ignorance that keep people in darkness. 1. They are natural men. They do not have the Spirit of God. They are normal. “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:14 2. The enemy of our souls has blinded them. “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:4 3. He chooses to remain ignorant of the will of God. “If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” John 7:17 4. They love darkness because they do evil. “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into ...

Before this series of expressed thoughts are over we will touch on things like profession, location, whether we should marry, if so to whom, when and where. Before we get to these, there are more important things. They are more important and they also make the secondary things easier and more likely to happen. They are: 1)our salvation 2)our holiness First, our salvation is the will of God. “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.” 1 Timothy 2:3-6 Do we want the will of God? “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:30, 31 Do we want t...

“Inappropriate” is a word that has been around for about 200 years. It has become a very popular word in the last few years, something like “awesome.” And, like “awesome,” its meaning has become broadened and inflated so much it means less. Its basic meaning is “unsuitable” or “not appropriate.” The correct use would be to describe a situation using a wrong word. If the sky was overclouded with slate gray it would be inappropriate to use the word “fluffy” to describe the clouds. In modern parlance we use the word to describe behavior. It can be a scathing rebuke. “Your conduct at the party was inappropriate.” The difficulty is that it is a politically correct word to describe everything from children’s table manners to gross sins. It now describes a wide range of cultural sins, many of which are undefined. Flirting with another man’s wife is inappropriate. Committing adultery is a fact of life and of being in love. The word’s definitions are relative, they float. Inappropriate is based...

East Asian Tsunamis, Pakistan earthquakes, Gulf state hurricanes are noted for the vast destruction and loss of life in the thousands. In addition to that, we have had in this last century what we call holocaust and genocide. This would include Germany, Ruanda, Russia, China, Iraq, Darfur, Bosnia, and Turkey. A euphemism for this genocide is “ethnic cleansing.” Most of the above nations’ genocides were based on difference in race, tribe or religion. Notice how nice the words “ethnic cleansing” sound. To cleanse is to get rid of the dirty and the bad. We are not concerned about a single person being killed unless the person is related to us or from our home town. Although we would not participate in any one person or mass murder we can hear of 30 million Chinese being killed by Mao and think, “What’s 30 million Chinese?” We have other types of human slaughter that we pay no attention to because of the use of nice sounding words and the laws of the land. The words are “alcoholic” or “add...

A few weeks ago I commented that the expression “Intelligent Design” was the understatement of the ages. I realized then, that there are educators, courts, and legislatures in the country that think the expression is an over statement or absolutely false. In any case, the concept is not allowed to be taught. Further reflection has caused me to think of the alternatives to Intelligent Design. 1. No design at all, Chaos, disorder, cacophony. 2. Design, but obviously not intelligent, sort of like a preschooler’s scribbling. 3. Apparently intelligent, but no design. Sort of like an astrophysicist playing with legos that do not fit with each other. 4. Neither intelligent nor designed. Time plus chance plus nothing. Sort of like 6 billion people (all of us) winning 6 billion different lotteries, each with a probability of 1 billion to one. There are probably other alternatives then these mentioned, but being a man of little f...

Many years ago I went to a house meeting in Annapolis, Maryland. The speaker was a clergyman in the Episcopal Church. However, his present job was as an editor for Playboy magazine. The talk was not edifying. When it came time for questions I asked him how he applied Matthew 5:27-28 to his present position. "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matthew 5:27-28 His reply was clear and simple. He said, “I don’t believe Jesus said that.” That is the best way to try to get out of obeying God’s commands, say they do not exist. However, saying it, does not make it so. Many years earlier, when I was eighteen, in the Navy, in a strange city, I was shown some dirty pictures. One of them is still on file in my head. I was guilty then and can be guilty again at any given instant. “He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean. Fo...

Jerusalem: Tens of thousands of new Christians were in Jerusalem. They all left except for the apostles. “And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria .” Acts 8:1 and “ Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went .” Acts 8:4 Antioch, in Syria after Rome and Alexandria was the third largest city in the Empire. “Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he a...

Recently, I was looking at Davis Wilson's blog, Effable . He was quoting an article by Michael Uto in the New York Times of Feb. 26. There were two things that caught my eye in the article. One was simply true and strategical. The other was ironically true and tactical. The article was on the effectiveness of an inner city church. 1. "Dr. Keller has grasped the strategic importance of the city." The destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in 2002 proved the strategic importance of the city. This attack affected the whole nation. So it is with the gospel. (See tomorrow's blog on strategic cities). This importance was known by Al Qaeda before the attack. It helps to know the strategic importance before we act. 2. "Teach pastors to love the city" This is true, but why do we evangelical pastors need to be taught this basic Christian truth? We Christian pastors are fearful of the city, whether it is ...

A few days ago I heard a happy female voice on the radio selling the Washington State lottery. She was saying how happy the two women who won over $600,000 were. It is very simple. A little money means little happiness, more money, more happiness, much money much happiness, most money, most happiness. No, that is close, but not exactly right. This money also has to be free, sudden, and a lot in order to generate this kind of happiness. It is called the lottery. What are the chances? Very slim. The odds are great. Of course, that’s what makes the payoff so big. We want a lot of free return from a very small investment. If the odds were 2-1 that means you might get $4.00 for your $2.00 bet. On the other hand, you might lose your $2.00. Do you know what God calls it? Coveting! There are three kinds of coveting in the Bible. The first is found in the Ten Commandments. "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or ma...

“I can keep a confidence. It’s the people I tell it to who can’t.”—Unknown Origin In case you do not know I never (hardly ever) promise to keep a confidence before I hear the story. I may promise to keep a confidence after I hear the story. And I do keep confidence. I determine which ones I keep, not the persons who share it with me. This lack of promise on my part is not the same as gossip, although it could be gossip. We have requirement to tell something to the assembled believers if someone is unrepentant. The assembled believers are then to take action on this unrepentant believer (Matthew 18). If I have promised to keep the information secret I have hobbled myself so that I cannot obey God and tell the church. Many years ago a professional person came to see me. I did not know him although I knew of him. He wished to tell me something awful about a common friend but first I must promise to keep it confidential. I told him that I did not make those kinds of promises. He was astoun...

There seems to be an atmosphere of defeat in the Christian Church, and an easy acceptance of this atmosphere. There seems to be no awareness that this atmosphere is poisonous. This noxious environment has its own euphemistic vocabulary. The phrascology sounds spiritual unless you are listening, hoping for something biblical. Here are a few examples: "I've been struggling lately." It sounds like a warrior in the fight. However it means, "I am putting up a slight effort in a losing battle with my favorite sin." "It was a learning experience." It's nice to learn something. However it means, "I sinned all last summer" and "I don't know how to keep from repeating it next summer." "I'm only human" means "I do not want to be godly." "Everyone makes mistakes" means "We are all incompetant but not immoral." The Bible speaks of "struggle" but with winning in mind. "Finally, be...

You may or may not know that I have been in a personal/literature ministry full time for the last 49 years. Before that, while on active duty in the U.S. Navy, I was in a literature ministry for 6 years. This was a side line to my Navy duties. This is a preamble to tell you of books which have had a major influence in my life. When I recommend a book it does not mean I agree with everything the author says or with a biography of everything that the person did. It does mean that what I learned affected my life to be more like the Lord Jesus. Today's recommendation is, The Calvary Road or The Way of the Cross , by Roy Hession. Roy Hession was an evangelist in England in the 1940's. He had lost the joy of his salvation. He was taught and influenced by men who were products of the Revival in East Africa which had been continuous from about 1935 to 1950. He got back his joy and then wrote the book. I received the book from a missionary in Susiba,Japan in the Winter-Spring of 1951. ...

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” 1 John 5:13 This is wonderful! We find out why the apostle John wrote the five chapters of 1 John. It is possible to know , in this present life, that we have eternal life . That is for those of us who believe in the name of the Son of God. As you read these five chapters, look for, and underline every occurrence of the word know . Notice how we can know . Do these sentences describe you? If so, thank God for your eternal salvation.