Thoughts From 1John 2 - Part 2

7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them. 1John 2:7-11

        Here's where the epistle of John starts getting weird. God makes sure what the authors are writing is truth but He uses their personality to say it. For example, Paul says that he wishes those people who teach circumcision wouldn't stop cutting. (think eunuch or Reek in GOT) Here, John, probably 90 years old maybe starts rambling or waxes poetically but says things like "I'm not writing you a new command" followed by "I'm writing you a new command." What is He talking about? I think that he is talking about loving your neighbor which isn't necessarily mentioned in the 10 Commandments, but when Jesus summarizes the commandments into two - Love God and love your neighbor - we see it may not be in there but it's all throughout there.

       Going back to the previous verses, he says that the way to know that you are truly saved is to be obedient to what God is telling you. God is telling you to love people, even your enemies, and that's how Jesus lived His life too, so if we are truly believers, we need to be doing that. In the world where there is so much hate for Muslims, wokeness, Democrats, terrorists, illegals, Trump, Republicans, socialists, Fascists, ICE agents, racists, and the polarizing list goes on, we aren't supposed to join in on that. Yes, we are to hate the evil one who is behind all this hatred and division, but we are to love the people seeing them as unfortunate pawns in the devil's schemes.

      Our posts on social media should be loving seeking peace - not division but reconciliation. We should wake up thinking - who can I love today and seek ways to show that love. And what is love? Commitment of my will to your needs and best interests regardless of the cost. It's considering other's needs above my own. How does that play out in this hateful and divided world we live in? Let's see today!

Thoughts From 1John 2 - Part 1

   My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. 1John 2:1-6

            We are currently rewatching Survivor season 23. Some friends of ours are Survivor fans and we get together and work our way through them all starting at season 1 usually including dinner. I remember watching it the first time and loving it because one team lead by Coach, Brandon, and Rick always pray in Jesus' name before meals, challenges, after wins always giving God credit. Now I watch it knowing the history of these guys, none of whom have remained faithful to Jesus, one even serving time in prison and it's too painful to watch. What a mockery of the name of Jesus! People that truly are followers of Jesus will live in obedience to Him. We have so many politicians in the public eye like Pete Hegseth, JD Vance, Marco Rubio, Kristie Noem, Tallarico who claim to be Christians, but their lives tell us differently in a lot of cases. Who are we to believe?

          I think John would say, "Don't worry about them - you obey Jesus." If we say we know Jesus, every day gives us a choice - do I obey or do I not obey - and we say, "I'm following Jesus and I'm going to do it His way." He gives us His word to show us what is right and His Holy Spirit to alert us to those forks in the road and to help us choose rightly. And when we choose His way, we are demonstrating our love for Him because we chose God's way over our way.

       There is a young man at our church that recently got saved and baptized and the other day he was asking people if they knew of a place he could stay. People were concerned. "Are you homeless?" "Where have you been staying?" He replied that he has been living with his girlfriend and God has been telling him that he needs to move out because that's a sin. Isn't that interesting? He didn't clean up his act before getting saved, he got saved and now is walking in obedience to what the Holy Spirit is telling him. Now I don't know if 20 years from now he will be a Coach, Brandon, or Rick but I do know that currently he is on the right path.

     What about you? What about me? Are we going to choose to obey Jesus in everything today? I know with God's help, I am!

Thoughts From 1John 1 - Part 2

   And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. 1John 1:3-10

      This passage has always confused me. How does walking in the light cause fellowship with fellow believers and how is that related to the blood purifying our sins. It could be that walking in sin interferes with fellowshipping because the sin and guilt will be difficult to hide from real deep fellowship and therefore maybe the one in sin will confess to the group and be cleansed? That is deep fellowship. That is getting together and talking about spiritual things rather than getting together to watch the Super Bowl, having a pot-luck, or game night. It would be more like a small group coming over to your house for prayer and a Bible Study. Unfortunately, most of the time if a person is in sin, they will avoid coming because they aren't ready to be convicted or give it up.

      Here's a weird thought. I've never heard it before so it probably isn't right, but what if the "one another" is the trinity. In context that makes so much more sense. Verse three talks about our fellowship being with the Father and the Son. Verse 5 talks about God being light and in Him there is no darkness. We know that the glory of God shines light. Paul was blinded by it, Moses glowed from a glimpse of it, and Peter, James, and John saw it of it on the Mount of Transfiguration as Jesus briefly "unzipped" his flesh. Light can't coexist with dark, it wipes it out. This is why sinful man can't be in the presence of a pure God, we would be disintegrated like those who looked in the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

        So in context what if these verses are giving the gospel? We are walking in darkness or sin and we can't lie to ourselves and say we haven't sinned. All have sinned and are separated from the consuming purity of a righteous God. If we confess our sins and receive God's blood sacrifice of Jesus to atone for our sins by faith, the sin is cleansed and the darkness has been removed and turned to light. We can now have fellowship with the Father and the Son because we are light. Then we should walk in purity so we can continue to have fellowship with them. The Psalmist said, "if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord does not hear me." You see, sin separates our intimate relationship with God but if we get back on the righteous path and confess those sins, we can be back in fellowship with God and walk in His light.

       Either way, both interpretations would be consistent with the teachings of the Bible, but one thing is sure, we are created for relationships with God and people. Leave the loneliness of self in your cave and come out into the light.

Thoughts From 1John 1 - Part 1

  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing this that our joy may be complete. 1 John 1:1-4

          I once memorized the whole book of 1John, so I guess I never blogged on it because I figured what's left to know? Haha. As I read the first 4 verses, the first thing I notice, which I never noticed before, he doesn't say "I", he says "we" or "our" 13 times. Who is he with or including in his letter? By now he has outlived all the apostles and Mary, so it appears that he is writing on behalf of all those eyewitnesses like him who knew Jesus personally probably 50 years after Jesus' death. He's saying," this teaching doesn't come from me but from Jesus who not only I heard, touched, saw, lived with for 3 years but others did, too. There was Peter who was crucified upside down for preaching about the resurrected Jesus, who is no longer with us. Herod killed my brother John in Jerusalem by beheading him, but God avenged him as Herod died of worms eating him from the inside out. Andrew, Peter's brother, was crucified on an X shaped cross in Greece, Philip was crucified in Hierapolis and Simon the zealot sawn in half for testifying about Jesus. Matthias and James were stoned, Thomas was speared in India, Thaddeus killed by an axe, Matthew killed by a sword in Ethiopia and Bartholomew flayed alive all because they wouldn't deny that Jesus was God come in the flesh who died for our sins and rose from the dead. If it wasn't true at least one of them would have recanted but it was and I alone am left to boldly speak about Him." 

       I know I just put words in John's mouth, but he must be thinking, I must be alive for a purpose so I'm going to get this message out as long as I have breath left. Therefore, the epistles of John take on extreme importance to us as a summary of what he thought Jesus would want us to know from His closest friend speaking on behalf of all His other friends who are no longer with us.

       The first thing he wants us to know is He is life. He previously recounted in his gospel that Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life". He wasn't just alive on Earth, but He was alive in Heaven with the Father and sent down here as a human so we could get a glimpse of God without disintegrating. Not only was He alive here and previously in Heaven, but as God he is the source of life. The Achilles heel of evolution and secular biology is "how did life begin?" Since every effect has a cause, in order to have life there must be an uncaused cause that started it. That being would have to be eternal, thus God is life. He never had a beginning. He just is and even once, for which they took up stones to kill Him, said "I am." That's the cosmological argument for the existence of God and 2000 years ago, John is giving it and saying this person, Jesus, who we all lived with was and is that God.

       Christianity and the Bible is to be believed because it was given to us by eyewitnesses recorded by themselves, circulated in their lifetime and we have the manuscripts, in some cases, the first copy. These eyewitnesses died for their faith in brutal ways because they knew it was true. It gives eternal life to those who believe it, along with fellowship with God and fellow believers here on Earth and a joy to life that one can't experience without knowing Him. Are you in?

Thoughts From Ephesians 6 - Part 7

 Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.21 Now that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tych′icus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. 22 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.23 Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love undying.  Eph. 6:18-24

         So, I've been studying Ephesians for two months now, and I had no idea from any of the previous passages that he was in jail. He just never brought it up. I would have made mention in Chapter 1 verse 1 of the lack of food, coldness, lack of light, shortage of writing supplies, aches and pains from sitting and sleeping on a hard floor and asked for prayer especially for deliverance. What does he ask for? Pray that he would proclaim the gospel without fear. What is his concern? That the readers would be encouraged when they hear from him.

       I've been watching Young Sherlock recently and in episode one he finds himself in jail for contempt of court. When his influential brother gets him out, they discuss jail and why it didn't bother him. He states that only his body was in prison, but his mind wasn't. It seems to me that Paul has mastered this skill. As we will see in the next book he will say he has learned the secret to be content in all circumstances and this is it - to mentally be living in the Kingdom of God even though your body isn't. 

       As he finishes up on how to defeat the devil in spiritual warfare, he reminds us to pray constantly. Talking with God, who is in the spiritual realm, helps us get in the mindset that our battle is not against flesh and blood but powers and principalities. Praying without ceasing helps us to separate mind from body and live with a kingdom of God mindset. Talking with God is the key to overcoming and not succumbing and without it you can put on all the spiritual warfare garb you want but you will just be like Bill and Ted playing in suits of armor. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure-"Heavy Metal"

     Are you overwhelmed by life, stress, pain, temptations, bills, relationships? What kingdom are you living in? How's your devotional life? Are you practicing the presence of God throughout the day? If not then Satan is winning and has sidelined you. We need people in the battlefield not in the playground as A.W.Tozer would say. Today is the day to start.

Thoughts From Ephesians 6 - Part 6

 besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  Eph. 6:16,17

       This group of verses that I have been meditating on deals with our battle in this world is not with unbelievers but rather the power behind them. In Edge of Tomorrow, my favorite Tom Cruise movie, the world was battling drone aliens and losing badly, but thanks to the blood of an alpha being spilled on him as he was dying, the day kept being reset allowing Tom Cruise to become a better fighter and leading him eventually to the Omega alien, the controlling force behind the drones and alphas. His ultimate battle was against the Omega rather than all the others. The same principle was seen in Matrix 3 where if Neo defeated Agent Smith all the other robots would stop their invasion and also in Game of Thrones where if the Night King was defeated, all the white walkers would stop. You see, Hollywood understands this principle that there is an ultimate evil controlling force in this world and it is Satan and our fight is with him rather than people.

      Satan has several plans of attack. We saw previously that if he can get us to be quiet either by isolation or fear of being different, he has neutralized us and he can move on to other targets. If he can destroy us by ruining our righteousness or testimony by succumbing to his temptations to sin, we will become ineffective and our light goes out. If he gets us to believe we have our truth and they have theirs and lets just get along, he has wiped us out.

     In this passage, Satan wants us to lose our faith - to doubt our salvation. If he can do that we won't pray, we won't value the Word of God, we won't witness - in all, we won't be a problem for him. Do you have doubts about the truth of Christianity? Lately it seems teachers are encouraging us saying, "It's OK to doubt. Everyone doubts. Look at Jesus in Gethsemane. Look at Gideon's fleece. Look at the disciples going back to fishing and cowering in a room not believing the women's testimony. Look at the prayer meeting for Peter's release from prison. It's normal to doubt." I'd rather hear preachers quoting Jesus saying to Thomas, "Stop doubting and start believing!", and then addressing these doubts to melt doubts into shields. One original quote I have (to quote myself, ha-ha) "I'm 99% sure that the gospel and Bible are true but I'm 100% sure that the devil put that 1% of doubt in my mind." There is tons of internet content available to help you doubt your doubts from Mike Winger and the Bible Thinker to Cliff Knechtle and his son doing apologetics answering kids on college campuses shoot the same flaming arrows of the devil at them.

      Lastly, how well do you know your Bible? Did you know that Satan can destroy you with God's word? He succeeded with Eve and he failed with Jesus. With Eve he said, "Did God really say?" and he distorted God's words and she bit. With Jesus, he misquoted a Psalm and Jesus didn't fall for it. God's word has power to fight Satan. In the aforementioned Game of Thrones the Night King couldn't be hurt by anything except dragon glass. Everything else was ineffective. In the same way, the Bible is the only weapon that works. It's amazing how little we know it. Satan loves that and even tries to get us to lessen its value by doubting Genesis, authorship, translation errors, relevance of Old Testament, Paul expressing opinions vs. inspiration, etc. I even wonder if 90% of the body coming to Church without a physical Bible but having the App on their electronic device is devaluing the Bible. Am I just showing my age? Maybe - maybe not.

      Are you a force to be reckoned with or are you on the bench sidelined? We need warriors. pick up your Bible and let's go!

Thoughts From Ephesians 6 - Part 5

 Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; Eph.6:14,15

         A lot of seminars, youth conferences, even kid's figurines made by Christian companies trying to make a buck have dealt with the armor of God. I've always thought that they were making a whole lot of adieux about what was meant to be just an added and word picture emphasis to the previous passage about our battle is with the devil so be ready. As I look again at it, maybe there is more to it than that.

         First of all, we see that if you don't interact with people, if you don't put shoes on and go, you probably won't get attacked a lot. A spectator at a football game doesn't need equipment on. If you only hang out with Christians and don't interact with the world you are not in the game and the devil doesn't need to waste his time on you. If, however, you are interacting with unbelievers at work, on social media, in relationships, you need to put on some armor. Did you see that when you step out with those shoes the reason is to share the gospel. Do your coworkers and friends know you are a Christian. I'm always amazed by going to someone's Facebook profile (yes stalking them) who is supposed to be a Christian and finding nothing that would give me a hint that they are a believer. Are we building bridges in relationships keeping in mind our goal is to win them to Christ, or are we just playing undercover Christian in order to fit in?

          Secondly did you see that it is called the gospel of peace? At first I thought, well that means we don't need to rile people up but share in such a way that it's peaceful. That's not entirely true. Jesus said He came to bring division and a sword that cuts through even families. Currently I've shared with a lot of people in Memphis at the University Medical Center, but it's frankly been in a way that is peaceful and maybe not effective? It's like, "Here is what I believe", and comes across maybe as you do you and I'll do me and non-confrontational. It's not coming across as mine is true and yours is a lie which would definitely not bring peace. I'm not sure it is even making them question their beliefs. I'm praying that God would guide me through this. Maybe the "gospel of peace" means recognizing that no unbelievers are truly at peace but have restless souls as they struggle with meaning, purpose, mortality, anxiety, worth, insecurity, failure and all other issues that a relationship with Jesus would cure. Is it possible that we need to share the gospel as my Church would say "helping people find Christ at their point of need" which for everyone is the lack of peace. Maybe lead out, "Do you have peace in your life?" I don't know - maybe try it.

         Third, it's important to be righteous. We live in a time where so much garbage is coming out about Christians in the public eye. It's like when Jesus said, "You are the salt of the Earth. If the salt loses its saltiness, it's good for nothing but being trampled on as it's spread on the road." If you have obvious sins in your life, sharing the gospel may actually hurt the cause. Live a life that doesn't negate the gospel. Live a life where people see a difference and that it does make an effect, at least on you.

         Lastly, as I alluded to earlier, don't apologize - you have the truth. Be assured of that, know the truth, and share it as truth. Be prepared to share why it's true when people question it. Read some apologetics. Can you answer, "Why should I believe the Bible is true?", With all the religions in the world, why do you think yours is true?" We have the truth, lets put those gospel shoes on and get out there and live it and share it as something that will bring peace to a troubled soul.