You and Liberty 04/04/2012
"God is love" (1 John 4:16) made political freedom an inevitability. The nature of God Himself assures that political freedom will emerge as the Gospel makes headway. Love requires choice; choice requires personal liberty; and personal liberty will birth political freedom. That our nation emerged from a Christian moral ethos is a matter of record. In fact, it was a 2000 year journey from the Cross of Christ to the birth of a Christian Republic. This reality has great significance to you and I: Over the long haul, how we live our lives has more to do with maintaining liberty in the United States than how the politicians and their institutions frame laws. As the debate rages about how to maintain liberty in our beloved nation, we must remember that an irreligious and immoral people simply cannot sustain political freedom. "Happy is the people whose God is the Lord" (Psalm 144:15) is a truism today just as it was when the Psalm was written. So, too, it's corollary in Proverbs 29:2: "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn." We must never forget that our governing documents and institutions emerged from a general Christian culture, not the other way around. These United States are governed by we the people; and we have no option for blaming corrupt politicians for the state of our liberty. Our leaders are merely a reflection we the people, and of the emergence of a new moral culture. That new culture will birth new political institutions over time. Saving our nation using political means is a thing which cannot be done! A nation born from the bottom up can't be fixed from the top down! Whenever and wherever the Gospel exerts a strong influence in the culture, prospects for personal freedom brighten. When the Gospel influence wanes, the light of liberty dims. What does that mean for you and me? Simply this: the surest way to preserve a nation birthed in liberty is to give ourselves whole-heartedly to the Lord. Be a revivalist first in your own heart. Then spread that inner revival to your home, your neighborhood, your community, etc. Clean corruption out of Washington by first cleaning it out of yourself! This is not a platitude; it is a practical strategy. There is strong encouragement in Scripture. The "sure word of prophecy" promises that, though it may happen very gradually, sooner or later the Gospel will triumph; and, when it does, mankind will be truly free. Isaiah prophesied, "...the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). When the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth, liberty will as well, for, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:17) Add Comment Love And Suffering 08/28/2011
 I stared at the screen as atheist debater Christopher Hitchens argued, "I cannot believe or serve a God who tolerates suffering. Such a God cannot be loving." On the surface, he raises a perplexing question: How can a God of love allow suffering? A complex and difficult subject, to be sure. At the time, my reaction was intuitive... and immediate: "I could serve no other God. Any God who does not tolerate suffering cannot know, give or receive love." The inner voice scarcely seemed to be my own and I pondered it for a while. My thought process went something like this:
The God, Who is love, freely chose to create man in His Own image and invite him into a love relationship. The purpose of creation was that man and his God would enjoy mutual love. (An amazing idea!) The Creator placed man in a garden that included divine fellowship, eternal life and an environment of bliss. These conditions were extensions of His nature and were spiritual, genetic and natural realities. But God did not create Adam and Eve to be puppets or slaves, even to Love itself, because there is no way for love to be mutually satisfying without mutual choice. So God invited mankind into a relationship of genuine choices. To complete the love relationship, Adam and Eve, as representative heads of the family of man, had to choose to remain in it. They were given a real choice; they chose to not love. They chose to leave the relationship. They chose broken fellowship, eternal death and a world of suffering. These became the new spiritual, genetic and natural realities. The real choice, freely made, had proportionate consequences. As their children we inherited the consequences of their choice just as we would have inherited the consequences of a different choice. The God Who is love made another free choice: He gave His only Son to redeem mankind. The choice for us is the same; but instead of starting from a place of bliss with a potential for suffering, we start from a place of suffering with a potential for bliss. The choice is not made to us as representative heads; but as individuals. This was the plan all along! God wants a love relationship with each of us individually! Make a choice today. Leave the dreary treadmill of Hitchen's cynical rebellion. Enter a relationship of love and be immersed in Love Itself. Run with abandon toward the passionate embrace of a Loving God who offers eternal life and eternal bliss: "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." 5 Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful." (Rev 21:4-5) Love and Liberty 08/27/2011
"There is risk in freedom; but I believe in you." Simple yet significant, the words seemed to hang in the air for a moment. A young man wanted to be told what to do. We could feel his mindset: life and "being good" (or at least appearing so) would be so easy if someone would just give him the rules. He was told, "I can't give you a law. Go to the Spirit of God. Give Him your passion, and He will guide you. There is risk in freedom; but I believe in you!" The words sounded as if they came from the heart of the Father. God, the fountainhead of true love, was willing to do away with the law and bring us liberty. But liberty is risky business. Why would God do this? First, the law did not, could not, bring us life for it attempts to control only the outward man; and, as we see from both civil and ecclesiastical history, law doesn't do a very good job in either sphere! And The Father could not be satisfied with sorry attempts to control behavior when the heart was not in it. More importantly, a life controlled by rules cannot demonstrate love. Devotion is the condition of a heart that follows God from a position of freedom. True devotion is motivated by passion. While no law can restrain a heart that is passionate for something other than God, no law is needed to direct a heart that is passionate for the ways of God. As St Augustine observed, "Love God, and then do as you please." The God-lover's passion is to please the Father. In that case, by all means, follow your passion. The purpose of Christian freedom is not to do what we want; but to love Whom we ought. Follow God with passion, not rules. Rise in the morning because you can't start the day without Him. Read the Bible because you must; not because you have to. Pray because your heart takes you there. Evangelize because your love for God overflows the banks of your heart. Come to church to worship, hear God's word and fellowship because it brings joy to your life. Sacrifice because you are zealous for more of your Lord. When you are cold and hard, seek a place of repentance because you have offended the One Who is the heartbeat of your life and you simply must find Him again.. This is true Christianity. Forever Genesis 08/27/2011
Genesis means beginning. If we are hungering for more of God we will always feel like we are beginning. The nature of God-seeking is somewhat like living in a forever genesis. We seek Him, and just as we reach a new plateau, a whole new horizon appears. When I met the Lord at 22 years old, I thought, "Maybe I should have waited. It'll be boring when I get older." How naive I was! Presently I'm 64 and I feel like I'm setting out on a completely new path. I'm beginning again, living a new genesis. I am filled with wonder as I set out to discover some new aspect of the inexhaustible glory of my God. So don't feel discouraged if you feel like you're just beginning [again]! Tomorrow is a new day, his tender mercies are new every morning. Whether you have been walking in faithfulness or in foolishness, tomorrow is a new beginning. This is what you do This is what you do You make me come alive I feel like I'm living for the first time Finally living for the first time!* The beauty is this: we never begin again from the same place. God is progressive; He is a builder. Although each new day is a genesis for us, the Father builds on everything that has gone on before. We start fresh, but we start further down the road. Those who have walked in faithfulness need fresh grace for new challenges and revelations. Those who have fallen into folly also need fresh grace for the new day dawning. Whatever brokenness may have entered your life, the moment you bring the shattered pieces to the Lord, you have a new beginning, a fresh genesis. Whatever side-road you have taken, as soon as you get back to the path God has laid out for you, you begin anew. Have you been trapped jn sin? The instant you return to Him, a new day dawns. But His amazing grace has not been completely dormant while you were broken, wandering or trapped. When you begin again, you will find that you are starting from a different place, and God will use your past to enrich your future if you will allow Him to do so. So be encouraged. Welcome to the God-chasers' world! Let his grace pour into you today. Begin this new day with anticipation. God has great things in store for you! *Words from the song, "Come Alive" by Matt Stinton 2011 Bethel Live Publishing A Noble Spirit 08/27/2011
I always marvel at the spiritual quality of gentleness. It so ennobles the human soul, especially in warlike times. Daniel displays the kind of gentleness to which I'm referring. The prophet had been the focus of a direct spiritual and political plot. Spellbound by scheming soothsayers who appealed to his pride, king Darius issued a foolish decree. Though he saw his own mistake, the king had no choice. Daniel was judged and cast into a lions' den. Darius spent the night fasting and pacing, and in the early morning hours he hurried toward his friend. To his delight and amazement, Daniel had been spared. Daniel's deliverance was a miracle. The exchange between Darius and Daniel, though not a miracle, is certainly a wonder, for it reveals the condition of Daniel's heart. _"...the king spake and said to Daniel, 'O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?' Then said Daniel unto the king, 'O king, live for ever. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt' "_ Daniel 6:20-22. What an amazing display of a gentle spirit in a time of war: "O king, live forever!" Though cursed unto death, Daniel blessed unto life. He neither railed nor accused. He did not attack his enemies. These were not in his spirit. Daniel's response was dictated by visceral spiritual convictions. He exalted his God, declared his innocence before the throne of heaven, and proclaimed his loyalty to the king. Daniel had passionately lived toward God in his spiritual life; and he had conscientiously served the king in his civil life. From the moment of his introduction to us in the Bible, Daniel's purpose had been to remain pure and simple in his walk with God and man. In his spirit, he was gentle, even in the midst of spiritual and political war. We live in a time of great upheaval. The cultural war in our nation is raging. Vitriol flows like a polluted river. Popular combative news commentary is filled with conflict and debate. Harsh confrontation is the order of the day. Whoever yells the loudest and interrupts the most appears the victor. In such a contest, everyone is the loser and wisdom is trampled in the arena. In stark contrast, the book of James instructs us about the true wisdom: "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy" (James 3:17). Daniel, one man, elevated himself above the culture of his day, affected the hearts of three kings and impacted the culture of his time by living in the noble spirit of gentleness. He was ten times wiser than anyone else, and the consummate culture warrior. Today, purpose to be a Daniel. Take a deep breath. Exhale bitterness, anger, railing, accusation. Inhale the wisdom that is from above with all its attributes. Not money, nor political intrigue, nor victory in a railing debate will save the nation. What we need is, first of all pure and peaceable, then gentle and easy to be entreated. It is full of mercy and good fruits. It is without partiality, and without hypocrisy. It is wisdom from above. Heaven's Seed 08/27/2011
In His sacrificial death and burial, Jesus became the sown seed of a new culture; Heaven had been planted in Earth! Through the resurrection, ascension and coming of the Holy Spirit, the seed sprouted and became fruit-bearing in the lives of whole-hearted believers. Jesus sent His disciples into the world; and immediately He breathed on them, saying, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit." He commissioned them and breathed heaven's atmosphere into them. Today the Air of Heaven continues the process of changing the very atmoshpere of earth. The Father's goal is total enculturation: Heaven's will and ways done on earth. Let us love the world as the Father did; but not live as the world lives. It is self evident that to effect radical change, we believers must showcase a radically different culture. We need not condemn the world's culture; for we cannot save what we have condemned. But neither can we save what we have not been saved from: a drowning man cannot save another drowning man. We must learn to love the world without being in love with it. Let us be in the world, wrestling with its real problems; but not be of it, using its means and ethics. Jesus did not pray that the Father would take His disciples out of the world; but He did pray that the Father would keep them from the evil. In essence, He prayed, "Father, don't take them out of the world; but take the world out of them." As Jesus' prayed, it defined the the Holy Spirit's mission. As His church, will we allow the Holy Spirit to bring the culture of heaven into our hearts? Only then can we be genuine culture warriors. In every arena of life, the culture is to be transformed by our involvement. How will the world be different because we have been in it? How will our friends' lives be changed because they crossed paths with us? How will our families be bettered by our presence? Start changing the world today: Allow the Holy Spirit to change the culture of your own heart by bringing the air of heaven into the atmosphere of your spirit. A Voice or an Echo? 08/27/2011
God save us from the terrible fate of being an echo. An echo isn't a thing. It has no existence of it's own. It is wholly dependent: It grows weaker and more feeble with each repetition. Eventually an echo simply disappears. God save us from an echo's future. Jesus Christ was the incarnate voice of God: every action, every word, every miracle declaring to the culture Who the Father really is. Christianity is more than an echo of Christ because Jesus declared that He Himself would inhabit the heart of the believer. When you become a believer, the Voice enters your life and speaks again through you. The Word of God living in you is the ever-new Voice for today's world! "Greater things than these shall ye do." An echo weakens and fades away; but the Voice of God becomes louder and more authoritative as time passes. As an infant in the manger, Christ cooed; as the teacher of Israel, He spoke with authority; and by the time John saw Christ in the midst of the churches, the Voice sounded like the roar of a million waterfalls! That is not an echo, but the sound of a God's voice roaring with original clarity from tens of millions of believers' lives. The burning question for believers of today is this: _Will you be a voice or an echo? Will you live differently enough to be heard? Will your words and ways be a voice that declares the culture of heaven into earth; or will your actions merely feed back to earth's culture what it is already saying. Will Christ live in you and your generations, the Voice of His Presence becoming louder and louder as time passes; or will you be a repetitive, fading echo of the culture until, somewhere down in your generations there is nothing left of the Voice at all? Heavenly Father, please save us from the fate of an echo! A Better Heart 08/11/2011
The Holy Spirit has been speaking to me about Jonah: “I want my prophetic people to beware of the Jonah attitude.” Jonah was the prophet the Lord sent to Nineveh with a word of judgment. But he ran the opposite direction because Jonah, being prophetic in nature, was locked into what Nineveh deserved instead of being filled with the heart of God. The idea that a nation so deserving of swift retribution would actually receive mercy just galled him! When the nation repented and God relented, Jonah was really angry! Scripture records his complaint: “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the LORD, and said, "Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish, for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness, One who relents from doing harm. Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!" Then the LORD said, "Is it right for you to be angry?" Amazing, huh? Jonah did not run from the Lord because he was afraid but because God’s mercy offended his sense of justice (or vengeance)! The “Jonah attitude,” as I call it, takes offense at the injustice of God’s loving-kindness. It's a fact: God's mercy is scandalous! Will it gall your sense of justice if the Lord has a “mercy surprise” for the United States? Or will you rejoice? As God’s prophetic people, let us deeply engraft and regularly pray God’s principle of justice: “Father, may neighbors and nations receive from your hand not what they deserve, but what Jesus paid for!” What did Jesus pay for? The Psalmist wrote, "I will declare the decree: the Lord has said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You' " Psalm 2:7-8. 8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession.” Pray with me: Father, America belongs to Jesus. He paid the price. Let the winds of Heaven blow across our land. Let righteousness fill our hearts, laughter be heard in our homes, dancing be seen in our streets, peace be felt in our cities, and Jesus be glorified in our nation. And may all these things reflect the wonder of the cross and the majesty of Your throne. Amen. The Power Of One? 08/11/2011
The Lord has been dealing with me about generating a spirit of unity to overcome divisiveness. The voices that spew divisive language are heard in politics, pulpits, media and magazines. There is a flood-tide of finger-pointing criticism swirling within, toward, and out from virtually every ethnic, social, religious and political group. This divisiveness is a more deadly pandemic than financial irresponsibility or any other crisis we face. A people united can do anything (Genesis 11:6); but a house divided will be devastated (Mat 12:25). Finger-pointing is an airborne infection that creates a deadly atmosphere. Once we inhale it, the divisive spirit can permeate the air surrounding our personal lives, our marriages and our friendships as well. One of the most important ways the people of God can respond is to silence these voices in their own hearts. The prophet Isaiah wrote, “Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ _If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness”_ Isa 58:9. Here is a powerful step you can take toward easing our national crisis: whatever your race, color or ethnic background, purge hateful and divisive thoughts from your heart. If you are listening to news that encourages division or spews hatred (whether it is on the left or the right) _turn it off!_ If your favorite radio personality regularly stirs up your spirit with anger, bitterness or a vengeful spirit, _turn him off!_ If you watch TV news, comedy routines, read magazines or internet blogs and you find them filled with little barbs toward some group or other... if they stir up a spirit of divisiveness... _turn them off_. All these programs are driven by ratings. When the ratings go down, the atmosphere will change. You may find the addiction to the poison of division doesn't fade quickly. You'll miss it. You'll feel like you're not informed. You'll feel anxious. These emotions are the hook the divisive spirit uses to keep you attached to its infectious malice. Instead, tune your heart into the Spirit of God; listen to His Voice. Plead, _"Holy Spirit, give me your heart. I don't want the heart of this mocking, hateful or divisive man. I want your heart toward those I have been turning against. I reject fear, division and hatred and open my spirit wide to your heart of love."_ Don't hide from or gloss over the place where your heart turns cold or angry. Instead run directly there. Face yourself and repent before God. Ask for a change of heart. This country will be divided only if we the people allow it. To the degree that we allow the Spirit of God to blow a new spirit of unity and love through us, we become the solution to a broken nation. We cannot afford to hate the hater. We can’t let someone else’s anger infect us with its poison. The Father can resolve the financial issues; but the Father is _Love_; and Love comes where Love is welcome. The greatest way we can loose the power of heaven into our neighborhoods and our nation is to silence the harsh voices of division and accusation. This creates an atmosphere the Lord can invade with practical solutions. | ArchivesSpectrum...... a broad range of varied but related ideas or objects, the individual features of which tend to overlap so as to form a continuous series or sequence: the spectrum of political beliefs."
...an array of entities, as light waves or particles, ordered according to a common physical property. ... the band of colors produced when sunlight is passed through a prism.  About the AuthorTim Robinson co-pastors |
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