Advancing the Kingdom

Absentee Christians Rob Us

2011-03-23T17:19:00.001-07:00

If you put modern Christians and Paul in a room, they would differ on many topics. One of them is spiritual gifts. Paul’s idea was that everyone had a spiritual gift and they were supposed to use it every time the saints gathered. Modern Christians love to be told their giftings. They fill out surveys to discover their giftings. They listen to teachers describe their giftings. They basically say, “Oh, tell me I have the gift of discernment. Tell me I have the gift of encouragement. Tell me I have the gift of mercy. But don’t tell me to be at every service and every prayer meeting to use them.” Unfortunately that’s exactly what Paul would have done. If you had the gift of encouragement, he would say, “Good, show up at every gathering and encourage others.” If you had the gift of discernment, he would say, “Good, show up at every gathering and discern for us.”
As it is, saints have gifts that produce little fruit because those saints don’t show up enough. Even with giftings like prophecy, or revelation in dreams, those saints rarely make an impact because they don’t gather with the church and they don’t know what’s going on. They are receiving utterances from God in a vacuum.
Some saints get offended if you tell them to gather with the church as much as they can. They say, “Don’t tell me that, because God didn’t tell me that.” Paul wouldn’t have cared what you thought God told you. For him, there was one Body, one Spirit, and one loaf to eat of.
Paul said, “I long to come and impart some spiritual gift… that you…may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” (Romans 1:11-12) I don’t think most people grasp what he’s saying. Paul’s idea of spiritual gifts was “show up with it.”
[Contact us at tnt5@jobe.net or www.roaministries.org]

By Pastor Tim O’Brien
Rock of Ages

Healing Amputees

2011-03-02T08:45:00.000-08:00

People have been asking me why, if Jesus heals, aren’t amputees getting their limbs back. My answer: I believe that we will see dramatic healings like amputees growing limbs back, the dead being raised even after mortification, and other seemingly astounding miracles, but there are a number of things to consider as the Church moves toward those types of signs and wonders.
Firstly, miraculous SIGNS are just that: SIGNS! They point toward something. When dramatic miracles happen, people will normally flock to the source. They will fill the church or the meetings where the miracles occurred, sometimes following in large numbers the people attributed with the faith the miracles needed. The character and integrity and holiness of the Church has to be commensurate with the miracle. God does not want people drawn to a Church of miracles without the character of Jesus. The Church must continue to excel not just in faith, but in love and purity and holiness.
Secondly, the Church is walking into the spiritual “technology” needed to see greater miracles. What does this mean? It means that the knowledge of the glory of God lost after the Fall is coming back to man. It means that we are rediscovering how to walk in faith as sons of God.
Take for example the laws of atomic energy? Did those laws exist before we built nuclear reactors? Of course. The same is true of spiritual laws. They have been written in the Universe since the beginning of time. We are pioneers. Do we treat a scientist or doctor disdainfully because he has not yet found a cure for a disease? Do we discount all of medical science because certain diseases are not treatable yet? Of course not. In the same way, the Church is continuing to exercise its faith to see greater and greater miracles.

By Pastor Tim O'Brien
Rock of Ages Ministries

Guilty, but Empowered

2011-03-02T08:44:00.000-08:00

Can I say something that might really help you? You’re guilty. That’s right. Guilty. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That includes you and me. You don’t have to struggle anymore with whether you’re innocent or guilty. The verdict is in: you’re guilty.
Now, that can be very freeing. Why? Because, listen, the gospel is not about making guilty people innocent. When you get saved, you’re verdict doesn’t change. You’re still guilty. The gospel is not about changing the verdict; it’s about guilty people getting to experience God!
Some people believe that when they get saved, they become innocent. That causes problems. Watch. The “innocent” person walks away from the altar knowing they have a clean slate (which is true), but then almost as soon as they get out the door… a thought, a word, an image, and their clean slate is soiled again.
Then the person thinks, “I need another intense moment with God to get declared innocent again.” In the meantime, they don’t feel like they can experience God, they don’t feel qualified for His service, and the process is an endless cycle of distance from God, rather than nearness. The greatness of the gospel is that guilty ones get to experience God.
Now, I’m not minimizing sin or its affects. I’m simply saying that the gospel does not cleanse you from a guilty verdict. What it does do is cause you, who are guilty, to walk as if you are innocent!
So what does the gospel cleanse us of? A guilty conscience. Hebrews 10 declares: “let us draw near to God…having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience.” A guilty conscience is the state of always being aware of your sins and failures. They define who you are and dictate what you can and cannot do in the Kingdom of God. The Good News isn’t what does God do to make people innocent; it’s what God does with guilty people!

by Pastor Tim O’Brien
Rock of Ages Ministries
Contact the author at tnt5@jobe.net.

Prophecies Unfolding in Israel

2011-02-16T17:13:00.002-08:00

Ancient prophecies about Israel are coming true. Take, for example, the words of Jeremiah the prophet: “Men will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of EGYPT,’ but they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the NORTH.’” (capitals mine)
Russia is to the north of Israel. Today thousands of Russian Jews escaping persecution are immigrating to Israel! Reportedly, there are one million Russian Jews who have already done so.
One of the towns which has received over 7,000 Russian immigrants is the town of Ariel in the West Bank. The population is made up of 55% Russian immigrants. Hard working Russian immigrants have made Ariel the “Smart City” of Israel.
Ariel is a beacon of Israeli ingenuity. It is the most technologically advanced city in Israel. Every household is connected to the information systems of the city through a portal using internet and intra-net. Each resident has immediate access to municipal systems and education systems within the city. There is an outstanding university there.
Even with all these opportunities, however, the plight of the Russian immigrant is still daunting. Because anti-Semitism is so strong in Russia, Jews who relocate to their ancestral homeland can only take with them what they can carry. They cannot liquidate their assets! Homes, valuables, and real property are turned over to the state.
When these immigrants arrive in Israel they start with nothing. Yet the constant stream of immigrants is a testimony to their courage and their love for Israel. Everything unfolding in Israel is happening according to Biblical prediction. Read and watch!

By Tim O'Brien
Rock of Ages Ministries

Girl Kicked out of Church for Having an Abortion

2011-02-16T17:13:00.001-08:00

A young lady we met on the street shared that she had had an abortion. She was tore up about it and the circumstances around it. When her church found out about it, they wouldn’t let her come to church anymore.
Fortunately for this girl, a couple of people in our group were able to share the love of Jesus with her. They told her that Jesus was ready with open arms to forgive her and heal her. She readily accepted and gave her heart to Jesus right there on the street. There were many hugs and tears as the love of God overwhelmed her.
There is nothing that gets my blood boiling more than church stupidity. For some kind of perverted reason, this girl’s church thought they were doing right by cutting this girl off at her time of greatest need. How crazy. How cruel.
A youth leader shared with me that her youth group was being touched by God in youth services. The result was that some of the teens began to lift their hands during the regular church service and the music leader decided to do some songs that were more appealing to youth. In a short time, the old guard of the church shut down all this activity. No raising hands and no new songs were allowed.
Think about it. Teens excited about God. Wow! But all shut down because of religious selfishness.
The Church has a habit of hurting the hurting, disillusioning the disillusioned, and confusing the confused. Jesus accused the Pharisees of making their converts sons of hell. We are in danger of receiving the same accusation if we are not careful to protect love, grace, and truth in our midst.
Let’s give the world a break from our petty religious stuff. Let’s let them see Jesus for Who He really is.

By Tim O'Brien
Rock of Ages Ministries International

The Greatest Event in History has not Happened

2011-02-16T17:12:00.000-08:00

The author of Hebrews states that the prophets of the past “did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.” Since these heroes where all Old Testament figures (the New Testament hadn’t been written yet), one could assume that Jesus’ life on earth, his death and resurrection were the very things that they had been promised. But wait, we must look at other Scriptures too.
Acts 3:21 says, “[Jesus] must remain in Heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as He promised long ago through his holy prophets.” Since God has not restored everything yet, we know that what God promised the holy prophets was not completely fulfilled in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. There is still something else.
In fact, in Revelation 21:5, Jesus says, "I am making everything new!" Notice the word “making.” Everything is not yet made new or restored. This is what the holy prophets were looking for and what they are still looking for even as they gaze from Heaven.
As the author of Hebrews says, “Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” And, “God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”
Imagine! The holy prophets of old are still looking for something to happen in order for their own ministries to be fulfilled, for their work to come to perfection. What are these things that must happen in order for all things to be restored?
Let’s take a Scriptural sampling: 1) The knowledge of the glory of the Lord must cover the earth. (Hab 2:14), 2) All Israel must be saved. (Ro 11:26), 3) The Church must reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Eph 4:13). All these things must happen before Christ’s return! The greatest event in human history has not happened yet! It is what the prophets and the cross point toward. It is the glory of God inhabiting His people all over the earth and the Kingdom of God manifest to all Creation, and all this must happen before Jesus returns.

By Tim O'Brien
Rock of Ages Church

God is not Judging America

2011-01-19T14:46:00.000-08:00

I want to make it clear that I do not believe God is judging America. We do not believe that 9/11 or Katrina were judgments upon America. If God is doing any judging in America, it is the Church He is judging, not the nation.
The Church has no right to claim that God is judging America. The Church has no right to point fingers at Hollywood, abortionists, homosexuals, politicians, pornographers, or anyone else and pronounce God’s judgment upon them. God’s pattern is always to judge His people first.
If God is judging anyone in America, it is not the bar scene, the strip clubs, the heavy metal or the promiscuous. It is the Church that deserves judgment. It is the Church that has been weak, emaciated, compromising, lukewarm, sin-ridden, and a dishonor to God.
If we want to talk about what non-believing Americans deserve, it is only one thing: to have a chance to experience the presence and power of God. The Church can only deliver that when the Church is satisfied to live a dynamic life of uncompromising witness and fierce loyalty to Jesus. As it is now, even “Bible-believing” churches have gone astray into a form of godliness without power, services lacking the presence of God, and a type of self-righteousness that pushes people away.
This is not to say that God doesn’t have a remnant. He does. His remnant is made up of believers who have truly taken the destiny of this nation upon their shoulders. They don’t look to anyone else to impact the culture of this nation but themselves. They carry the presence of God and they view themselves as wholly responsible to deliver what the hungry masses are looking for.
Jesus never pointed his fingers at the Romans and blamed them for the problems in Israel. He pointed his finger at the religious system. The true Church is repentant first. We don’t point our finger at abortionists, rather we repent for how we have treated women. We don’t point our finger at homosexuals, rather we repent for not growing strong families. We don’t point our finger at Hollywood, rather we repent that we have not brought something to America more exciting than meaningless entertainment. We do not point our finger at government because it is not in the hands of politicians to rescue America.
Think about this. A neglectful mother fails to feed her toddler properly. When that child is dying of malnutrition, can she blame the child? Can she say, “Oh, I preached to that child about what is right and wrong. He should have eaten right.” The Church has been a neglectful mother. In order to have compassion again, the Church cannot blame others for America’s ills. She can only rise up and take her role. America, forgive us for pointing the finger at you.

By Pastor Tim O'Brien
Rock of Ages Church

Godly Heritage in the National Anthem

2011-01-19T14:45:00.000-08:00

The National Anthem of the United States has four stanzas in all. We commonly hear the first stanza sung at sporting events and ceremonies, but The Star-Spangled Banner is not complete without all four stanzas. All four stanzas are, in fact, the National Anthem.
My favorite stanza is the fourth. It goes, “Oh! Thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”
The Star-Spangled Banner, written during the War of 1812, demonstrates the attitude of early Americans. God was honored and respected as the chief cause of freedom and the blessings enjoyed by our land. This thought was readily found in the music and poetry of the time.
The song America (My Country ‘Tis of Thee), written by a Baptist minister, has as its fourth stanza, “Our father’s God, to Thee, Author of Liberty, To Thee we sing. Long may our land be bright with freedom’s holy light; Protect us by Thy might, Great God, our King!” It was first sung in Boston on July 4, 1821.
The song America, the Beautiful, was written in 1893 by Katharine Bates as she stood atop Pike’s Peak in Colorado. The sixth line of each stanza is God-centered, the most famous being “God shed His grace on thee.” Other sixth lines are, “God mend thine ev’ry flaw” and ,“May God thy gold refine” which is followed by the words, “Till all success be nobleness, and ev’ry gain divine.”
My heart is touched, as many Americans, by the singing of these songs. May they long be sung and may every stanza and line be remembered. In fact, I think it would be great to hear the fourth stanza of the National Anthem at a sporting event or ceremony. It would be a good reminder that there is more to the Anthem then we normally hear and what those words exactly are.

By Pastor Tim O’Brien
Rock of Ages Ministries
www.roaministries.org

Unless Your Righteousness Surpasses the Pharisees?

2011-01-06T09:23:00.001-08:00

Unless Your Righteousness Surpasses the Pharisees?

Jesus said, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Wow! The Pharisees were some of the most exacting keepers of the law! Was Jesus trying to say that we should be more exacting then them?
To understand what Jesus meant, it’s important to know that the word “tsedakah” (righteouness) had come to mean almsgiving (giving to the poor) in Jesus’ day, but this was not the full Scriptural meaning. The Pharisees and their followers practiced almsgiving regularly and had developed an internal culture of applauding the heroics of good almsgiving.
The problem caused by this thinking, however, was that the Pharisees were using these acts of tsedakah as a kind of righteousness created by man. Jesus knew that the righteousness of God could not be reduced to almsgiving or any other thing. It was bigger than that!
Jesus insisted that his followers’ righteousness surpassed that of the Pharisees. In other words, they had to live in a God-created righteousness, not a man-made righteousness. They had to have the God-righteousness declared in the Scriptures, not the watered-down version of the day.
Jesus refused membership into the kingdom of heaven unless one had the righteousness of God. Remember that biblically the kingdom of heaven is never a future event! In fact, Jesus’ ministry was known by the people of His day as the kingdom of heaven movement.
Jesus was therefore literally saying, “Unless you take on God-righteousness instead of man-made righteousness, you cannot join My movement.” To enter the kingdom of heaven means to become a follower and disciple of Jesus’ movement. It does not mean “to get to heaven.”
Jesus goes on in this passage of Scripture to denounce hypocritical fasting and prayer, the other two pillars of man-made righteousness. He elevates righteousness beyond rules. For instance, He says that adultery can be committed not just by an act, but by the thoughts!
Jesus places righteousness out of the reach of rules. He places it in the character of God. Unless I become infused with God’s “DNA” through spiritual rebirth as His child, I can never dwell in His righteousness.
So, Jesus was not saying we need to be more exacting that the Pharisees in the keeping of rules, but we have a far greater need, to become one with God through infusion of His life. The life of God in us will produce not only tsedakah in our actions, but in our very nature.

By Tim O'Brien
Rock of Ages Church

Don’t always turn the other cheek

2010-12-28T20:36:00.001-08:00

Paul chastised Christians for putting up with people who slapped them in the face. He said, “You even put up with anyone who…slaps you in the face.” This stands in contrast to Jesus saying, “turn the other cheek.” What was the difference in what they said? Jesus was, in fact, speaking of arguments between members of a common community. He was saying, “Be the peacemaker in a community. Don’t escalate a situation by returning insult for insult.” Paul, however, was talking about men who could deal real harm. He didn’t say turn the other cheek when they attacked. He said don’t put up with it!
The key here is in discerning what damage could be done by the assailant. In Jewish culture at the time, it was not uncommon for two men arguing on the street to slap one another. What harm could come to the believer who didn’t return the slap? None. And the situation could be diffused. In the case of Paul’s audience, however, real harm could come to the Christian who didn’t defend himself or his family.
When Jesus said, “turn the other cheek,” He wasn’t referring to terrorists. He wasn’t saying you should allow yourself or your family to be exploited or taken advantage of. The idea that Christianity is a pacifist, doormat-type lifestyle has resulted in much harm to the advancement of noble causes. Christianity, above all lifestyles, is for the fighting spirit. It is one that defends the home, the good, and the defenseless. “The LORD is a warrior; Jehovah is His name.” (II Cor 11:20; Luke 6:29; Exodus 15:3)

By Pastor Tim O’Brien
Rock of Ages Church

Jesus was not Poor, Part 3

2010-12-28T20:35:00.001-08:00

Religion over the centuries adopted the idea that Jesus was not interested in money. They claimed that anyone who is a serious follower of Him avoids money. Some still hold to these beliefs today. This attitude, however, does not make sense when the historical Jesus is studied. Historical evidence, for instance, shows that Jesus probably owned a house in Capernaum. He was not without possessions. Jesus made statements like, “use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves,” and, “if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” Jesus did not shy away from wealth, money, or prosperity. He believed it was a tool and a skill to be used wisely.
Beyond Jesus’ own life and words, the biblical text does not support a Jesus given to poverty either. The blessing of Abraham included prosperity. The New Testament declares that the blessings of Abraham come to those who believe. Poverty is not God’s gift to His children, but economic stability is. Paul even states, “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion.” “Every way” certainly means materially too. Not that being prosperous makes anyone more spiritual, but poverty certainly doesn’t either.
Sometimes I Tim 6:10 is mistranslated. Some translations say, “Money is the root of all evil.” A good look at the Greek text gives this translation: “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” That’s a big difference. Some church leaders over the years have used this wrong translation to justify anti-money doctrines. The bottom line is God wants us to desire to be like Jesus and poverty is not a Jesus mindset. (Contact author at tnt5@jobe.net)

By Tim O'Brien
Rock of Ages Church

Jesus was not Poor, Part 1

2010-12-08T17:41:00.000-08:00

Francis of Assisi, a sincere saint, taught his followers to beg for food because he believed Jesus and His disciples did the same thing. Francis, and many others, had misconceptions about Jesus’ financial condition and some of things He said. For instance, Francis thought Jesus was poor and homeless because He said, "the Son of Man has no place to lay His head." Jesus, however, was not saying He was unable to afford a home or that, somehow, being homeless was spiritual. He was commenting to potential followers that His was a traveling ministry by necessity. Jesus had to keep moving because: 1) there were those who wanted to make Him king by force, 2) there were those who wanted to kill Him, and 3) Jesus had to find rest from the crowds.
Another misconception arose from what Jesus said to the young rich ruler: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven. Then come, follow Me.” Many people think Jesus was asking this man to become poor and they therefore have associated poverty with spirituality. Notice that Jesus did not say, “sell your possessions and give them to the poor,” but rather, “sell your possessions and give to the poor.” His suggestion fits perfectly with how rabbis of Jesus’ time would take on disciples. Someone becoming a disciple of a rabbi would liquidate all their assets, give 1/3 to the poor, and keep the other 2/3 to live off of. No rabbi wanted followers who would be a financial burden to their ministry and just another mouth to feed.
It is probable that all of Jesus’ disciples supported themselves as they followed Jesus. None of them begged, to be sure, since begging was considered incompatible with the blessings of Abraham. It is not surprising that Jesus commanded Simon to cast out the nets for a miraculous catch of fish just as His public ministry started. This huge haul of fish, which almost sank their boats, was certainly sold on the market for a financial blessing that would have been useful to the disciples as they began to follow Jesus. Comments and questions may be sent to tnt5@jobe.net.

By Tim O'Brien
Rock of Ages Church

Jesus Was Not a Pacifist, Part 2

2010-11-28T17:53:00.001-08:00

The idea that Jesus was a pacifist (someone who believes war is never an option) was developed long after the first century. Some bad Bible translation has helped fan into flame this myth. One of these mistranslations is the King James translation of the Ten Commandments which says, “Thou shalt not kill.” The Hebrew word used there is “murder” (ratzach), and not “kill” (harag). In Hebrew there is a significant difference between these two words. Ratzach (murder) means unjust homicide, while harag (kill) includes capital punishment, self-defense, and killing enemy soldiers in war. The commandment specifically prohibits murder, but does not refer to killing in other categories that are justifiable. Modern translations rightly translate the commandment, “You shall not murder.”
The King James translators duplicated their mistake in the New Testament when Jesus quotes the same commandment (Mt 5:21). The Greek language also has separate words for “murder” and “kill,” and it is the Greek word for “murder” (not “kill”) which is used in the Greek text. The English translators should here have correctly translated “murder,” and not “kill.” Again, modern translations typically get it right.
It is easy to see how people could become confused about what God’s Word is saying when some key verses are mistranslated. Every translation of scripture has its strengths and weaknesses. We must always go back to the original languages and culture to see what was being said. Jesus did teach people to love their enemies, but He did not teach extreme pacifism. He was not suggesting, for instance, that someone lay down in the face of a murderous bandit or rapist. Some of Jesus’ disciples carried swords for protection. Jesus even told His disciples to purchase swords. We will continue this series next week. Comments may be sent to tnt5@jobe.net. [References: Exodus 20:13; Matthew 5:21; Luke 22:36-38; 22:35-36, 50]

By Tim O'Brien

Jesus Was Not a Pacifist, Part 1

2010-11-28T17:50:00.000-08:00

Pacifism is defined by the dictionary as “opposition to the use of force under any circumstances; refusal to participate in war or any military action.” The misconception that Jesus was a pacifist is the result of : 1) lack of knowledge of the Hebrew culture at the time of Jesus and, 2) some bad Bible translation of key verses. This series will help clarify the context in which Jesus spoke.
Perhaps the most quoted verse equating Jesus with pacifism is Jesus’ statement, “If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also.” The Jews listening to Him in the first century knew exactly what He was talking about. Back then a slap on the face by an angry neighbor was a public insult. Jesus was saying don’t slap back. Placate your angry neighbor. This was completely in line with the teachings found in the book of Proverbs. Jesus was not referring to someone trying to kill someone. Jesus was speaking in the context of the community and getting along.
Pacifism was never part of Jewish belief. The Talmud says, “If someone comes to kill you, anticipate him and kill him first.” (Sanhedrin 72a) In other words, self-defense is allowed. Jesus never countered this Jewish belief. When Jesus spoke of loving your enemies, he was speaking of those who had become enemies within the community. He was not speaking of foreign armies bent on destruction. This discussion is important in light of the war that our nation now finds itself in. [References: Proverbs 15:1; 29:8; Luke 6:29]

By Tim O'Brien
Rock of Ages Church

Federal Law Supports the Bible

2010-11-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

Public Law 97-280, signed October 4, 1982, describes the Bible as the Word of God! Specifically, this law states that “the Bible, the Word of God, has made a unique contribution in shaping the United States as a distinctive and blessed nation…” Furthermore, the law claims “biblical teachings inspired concepts of civil government that are contained in our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution...”

The law is correct. The Founding Fathers based much of their discussion of government on Scripture. The idea of separate powers (being the Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches) came from Isaiah: “For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king.” (Isaiah 33:22)

The literature of the Founding Fathers quotes the Bible more than any other source that they quote. And their other sources, such as Locke, often quoted Scripture themselves. In fact, the law books of our young nation were so full of Scripture that Charles Finney came to a saving knowledge of Jesus from reading the Scripture quotes in his law books!

Public Law 97-280 goes on to say, “Renewing our faith in God through Holy Scripture can strengthen us as a nation and a people.” The Bible agrees. It says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.” The word “LORD” there in the Hebrew is the personal name of God, often translated Jehovah. This is not just any God, but the God of the Bible as ultimately revealed through Jesus the Messiah.

By Tim O'Brien

Sheep Without a Shepherd

2010-10-20T07:15:00.000-07:00

Who said, “Like sheep without a shepherd, these people have no master”? At first guess, you might say Jesus, but actually it was a Jewish prophet named Micaiah (not Micah). In 897 B.C. Micaiah prophesied that the Israelites ought not to go to war because they were like sheep without a shepherd as recorded in the book of First Kings. Matthew and Mark remark that Jesus had compassion on the crowd because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Every Jew of the time would have thought of Micaiah when they heard that because Micaiah’s story was written in their Scriptures. They would have understood that Jesus’ compassion was not driven by the crowd’s poverty, or sicknesses, or even lack of knowledge, but by their lack of a leader.
The biggest need people have in society today is leadership. It’s also the one thing we have the biggest problem embracing. Especially in America, we are so bent on individualism and personal rights that it’s difficult for us to submit our daily actions to someone outside ourselves. There are some good reasons for this. Many leaders have taken advantage of people, made huge mistakes, or taken their position too lightly to be effective. This has caused skepticism.
But despite good reasons to doubt leaders, our biggest problem is still lack of leadership. That’s why the arrival of the true Master was an answer to Micaiah’s dismay. That leader has come. I need that leader. We need that leader.
A minister friend of mine pointed out that the message “Jesus loves you” is not the most important message people need. People believe that message, but it does not necessarily change their life. The most important message people need is “Jesus is the Lord.” This fact confronts the soul and demands a response. A life which is ruled by Jesus is a life that is truly saved from itself. My summation of the gospel is this: “He’s God, we’re not, bow.”

By Pastor Tim O’Brien

I Saw Death on the Ganges

2010-10-13T11:30:00.001-07:00

I have spent time on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India. The spot is considered by Hindus to be the most holy part of the 1500-mile-long river. What I saw was disgusting and revolting.
Hindus believe that if one dies and their body is deposited in the Ganges River at this point, they will have direct access to Nirvana.
On a daily basis, families come to the shore with their dead loved ones and half-burn their bodies and throw them in the water. Dozens of bodies are deposited in the river like this every day. The half-burned corpses litter the river. One such corpse floated by our boat. We witnessed about 9 others being burned.
It’s not just dead bodies floating and decaying in the water that is most sickening. It is what else goes on at the river in the same exact location.
Because Hindus believe the river is holy, no amount of trash, pollution or death can “stop her healing qualities.” So, as we witnessed dead bodies floating in the river, along with dead dogs and a decaying cow, we also witnessed people bathing, swimming, baptizing, washing, brushing teeth, fishing, and ceremonially drinking the “holy” water!
If all this death doesn’t make the river filthy enough, there is also chemical plants from upstream that make this one of the most polluted rivers in the world. We were aghast as our Hindu boat driver drank the scum-laden water freely and announced it was OK because Mother Ganga would take care of him. He said he was going blind at age 30, but he refused to associate it with the water. It was all madness.
Blindness and gastro-intestinal diseases have plagued thousands of people who have been in this water, but the ceremonies go on. We even witnessed educated Hindu businessmen bend down and drink the water during evening ceremonies.
If this river ceremony is the epitome of Hinduism, then I can understand why India is covered in darkness and poverty. Christians can take comfort. The road Jesus leads us down is life and blessing. The path of any other god is destruction.

By Tim O'Brien
Rock of Ages Church

Revival of Prayer a Reality

2010-09-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

“A revival of prayer.” That phrase has been pulsating in my mind. There is no doubt that the end-time move of God demands a revival of prayer. But what is even more invigorating is that it is happening.
God has placed in this generation a desire to pray. Teens, young adults and people of all walks of life are sensing a call to prayer. Twenty-four hour prayer centers are springing up all over the world.
Here in our community I am getting great feedback on an envisioned 24-hour Prayer/Ministry Center. This last week I found out that even more young people across our community were energized by this idea than I knew about. I also received calls from pastors and got great feedback from people who have stopped me “on the streets” about this.
Jesus is looking for a people who are addicted to prayer… addicted to worship… and addicted to His Presence. What great movements have been stirred by such addiction! What great changes have been wrought in communities by this kind of activity!
Friday night we met with some great musicians and singers from around the county and prayed and worshipped for about 3 hours. It was rapturous. And God’s anointing was evident.
Have you ever met someone who was newly saved and just needed to get saturated in the things of God every day? Did you ever see someone like that fall away because the world got its way with them between Sundays? Eventually they were numb to God again. Wouldn’t it be great to have a place for them to go every day while they built a strong relationship with God; a place of fellowship, prayer, and ministry to others?
[The above is reprinted from an article I wrote in 2008. This Prayer Center is now a reality. It’s call C-HOP and great prayer meetings are going on there. Visit us at www.c-hop.net. For a great, invigorating time of prayer, join us Mondays at 7pm.]

By Pastor Tim O’Brien

Is the Title “Christian” Spiritual?

2010-09-22T10:22:00.001-07:00

Some people say we are called “Christian” because we bear the name of Christ. The Bible, however, doesn’t make anything spiritual about being called “Christian.” We have to understand what the Bible means when it talked about “bearing the Name.”
The idea of God’s Name being placed on someone or something goes back to the dedication of the Temple. Of the Temple, God said, “My Name shall be there.” God filled the Temple with His presence and glory.
The presence, glory and power of God were to be characteristic of the Temple. The great Name of God placed upon the Temple would cause even foreigners to look toward the Temple for answers to prayer. When their prayers were answered, they would “know that place bears His Name.”
There is no Temple building now, but declared that His disciples would be the Temple of God. These disciples are not just anyone called “Christian.” These are people who bear His Name. They are characterized by God’s presence, glory and power, just like the Temple building was.
Much of what is called “Christian” today is really just morality, but it lacks the presence
of God. Much of it amounts to humanism because there is no power of God.
Again, there is nothing spiritual in the name “Christian.” The Apostle Paul would agree with me. In all thirteen of his letters, he never calls anyone a Christian and he never refers to himself as a Christian.
If you want to be a person who bears God’s Name, then you must surround yourself with people who are regularly experiencing God, His healing power, His voice and answers to prayer. Find that group of people (a Temple) that bear God’s Name in reality, not just because they’re called “Christian.”

[References: I Kings 8:10-11, 29, 41-43; I Cor 3:16; Eph 2:21]

By Tim O'Brien
Rock of Ages Church

The Essence of the New Covenant is not Forgiveness

2010-09-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

Many Christians view the New Covenant as “getting them off the hook.” They say the Old Covenant was “the Law” and the New Covenant is “the grace.” But hasn’t God always been a God of grace? Isn’t He the same yesterday, today and forever?
Let’s look at what God says about the Old and New Covenant. In Hebrews chapter 8, God says, “[The New Covenant] will not be like the [Old] Covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt…” So the essence of the Old Covenant is that God led them by the hand.
This is very important. God was leading Israel by the hand just like we lead children across the street by the hand. He used the Law and the regulations to help the people be safe. He guided them until they were mature enough to walk on their own.
In the very next verse God says, “This is the [New] Covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time… I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” So the essence of the New Covenant is that God’s people will act like Him without being led by the hand. They will carry His very nature.
Many believers see the New Covenant as their opportunity to treat sin lightly but God sees it as their opportunity to grow up. God never eliminated the Law. He simply wrote it on our heart. Even Jesus said, “I did not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it.”
The essence of the New Covenant is not “greasy grace,” but “grow up and be like Jesus.” Its goal is not forgiveness (although it does that), but producing children that look and act like their Father.

By Pastor Tim O’Brien
Rock of Ages

Christians Focused on the Wrong Destination

2010-09-08T09:43:00.001-07:00

Christians are often very Heaven focused. We talk about going to Heaven and how to get to Heaven. We sing songs about Heaven and imagine the day we will be there.
But God has always been focused on a different journey. His journey has always been about getting back to man. Ever since the Fall, God has been journeying back to man.
Through the Ark of the Covenant, the tabernacle and then the Temple, God was moving closer and closer to His people. Then He sent His Son and then His Spirit. All through history God has been working to come to earth in greater and greater measure.
The ancient prophets and Jewish teachers didn’t think so much about Heaven. They always believed God was coming to them in greater and greater measure to establish His Kingdom. While many Christians think about the ultimate destination being Heaven, God thinks about the ultimate destination being earth.
In fact, our churches often emphasize the personal journey of getting a person to Heaven. Our goal is to get people to say a prayer to establish their eternal destiny.
Now, that’s not all bad, but it doesn’t emphasize God’s journey, it emphasizes another journey. Churches that just prepare people to meet God in eternity rarely get around to meeting God now.
In fact, Jesus chastises the people of God in His day by telling them, “You did not recognize the time of God's coming to you." There are consequences to not seeing God as a God Who comes now. Those who relegate all the activity of God to a someday Heaven experience have missed the heart of God.
God says He will pour out His Spirit on all flesh! That happens on earth, not Heaven. God says they will all know God. That happens on earth, not Heaven. God says all Israel will be saved. That happens on earth, not Heaven. (Joel 2:28, Jer 31:34, Ro 11:26)

by Pastor Tim O’Brien
Rock of Ages Ministries

I Felt God in My Body

2010-09-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

If you say to a Christian, “I felt God in my heart while I was praying,” they will normally say, “Oh, that’s neat.” If you say, “I felt God in the sunrise,” they will normally say, “Oh, I’ve felt that too.” But if you say, “I felt God in my body,” most Christians will balk and think that to be strange. They will likely wonder if you are weird.
Why is it so strange to feel God in your body? Only because bad teaching in the Church has made Christians fear God working in their body. The idea that God touches our body, can be felt in our body, and that we can have bodily experiences of God was never thought strange before the Reformation. The Reformation fathers spoiled our bodily experiences of God by telling us that God doesn’t do that anymore, that a bodily experience isn’t desirable because it might be the devil, and that we should fear anything that isn’t mentally logical.
The Bible, however, has no problem with bodily experiences. In fact, many instances of God’s presence overcoming a person in the Bible include a description of what the person felt in his or her body. John fell like a dead man. Isaiah’s lips got touched. Jacob’s hip was wrenched. Zechariah went mute. Moses trembled. In fact, the Bible says, “I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh.” That word “flesh” means the body.
Unfortunately, our Christian religion has taken on too much Greek thought instead of Hebrew thought. The Bible was written by Hebrews with Hebrew thought, but the Reformation fathers preferred Greek thought. Greek thinking says that the material world and the body are undesirable and unspiritual. Greek thinking says that as long as spirituality stays in the head and heart, it’s OK, but once it affects the body, it’s not right. This is flat-out indefensible from a Biblical point of view, but none-the-less millions of Christians have been duped into thinking that God doesn’t move that way today. I experience God in my body on a regular basis and I encourage others to understand that God wants to touch you soul, spirit and body!

By Tim O’Brien
Rock of Ages

Scientists Say Universe Not a Mistake

2010-08-25T10:48:00.000-07:00

Scientists are discovering that the Universe seems to be tailored to support life reports Discover Magazine. In an interview with physicist Adrei Linde of Stanford University, Linde said, “We have a lot of really, really strange coincidences, and all of these coincidences are such that they make life possible.”
Linde sites a long list of coincidences. For example, life would be impossible if any of these conditions were true: protons were just 0.2 percent more massive; if the power of attraction between electrons and protons differed at all; or if gravity was just slightly more powerful.
The idea that the Universe was made just for us is known as the Anthropic Principle.
The Principle states that a purely random assortment of laws would have left the Universe dead and dark, and that life limits the values that physical constants can have.
Anthropic Principle has gained strength because the conventional theory of the Big Bang couldn’t explain a key puzzling fact about the Universe: uniformity. Amazingly, the temperature of outer space everywhere is exactly 2.7 degrees Celsius above absolute zero. The question is: how could different regions of the Universe, separated by such enormous distances, all have the same temperature? The Big Bang model doesn’t allow enough transfer of heat for this to happen.
Another recent discovery of uniformity is dark energy. It is energy, discovered by radiation studies, that is causing the Universe to expand. What has astonished scientists is the specific amount of dark energy in the Universe. It is just enough to allow for planets and stars to exist, yet not so much that the Universe would rip itself apart. Leonard Susskind, another physicist at Stanford, says, “It’s one of the greatest mysteries of physics. All we know is that if it were much bigger we wouldn’t be here to ask about it.” Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg, a physicist at the University of Texas, agrees: “This is the one fine-tuning that seems to be extreme, far beyond mere accident.”
Tim Folger of Discover Magazine says, “Physicists don’t like coincidences. They like even less the notion that life is somehow central to the Universe, and yet recent discoveries are forcing them to confront the very idea. Life, it seems, is not an incidental component of the Universe, burped up out of a random chemical brew on a lonely planet to endure for a few fleeting ticks of the cosmic clock. In some strange sense, it appears that we are not adapted to the Universe; the Universe is adapted to us.”

by Pastor Tim O’Brien
Rock of Ages
www.roaministries.org

More Hopeful Marriage

2010-08-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

One thing we have found in our years of ministry is that many people feel so desperate and overwhelmed by their marriage situation that they lose hope before hope is really lost. Sometimes as an objective third party we can see that there is more hope for this marriage than the participants can see. Why do we have a different perspective? Because we’ve seen so many marriages succeed with even worse circumstances! Sometimes people just need someone to say, “Hey, you can make it, we did!”
Many times what a couple needs is just a place to start again. They need someone to help them boil their situation down to what the major problem really is and help them focus on that. All the extraneous and smaller problems can largely be ignored in the meantime.
Something we have found helpful is to emphasize that love is not an emotion, it is a decision. Certainly everyone wants to feel in love with their spouse, but let’s face it, sometimes all emotions are gone. All is not lost. If we view love as it should be, as an act of will, we can begin to function with love without necessarily feeling it. When this happens emotions can return.
We know one couple who had seemingly done everything to destroy their marriage. Both of them had issues with pornography and both partners had cheated on the other. They had fought and lied to each other. In the end, though, they stayed committed to working out their relationship and they did! They couldn’t have done it without God. God helps them both keep their passion for the marriage. Their commitment to God and His Church made a huge difference. They realized more was at stake than their own selfishness. Now their children get to experience the covering of love and security that their marriage supplies. If they can make it, there is hope for others.

By Pastor Tim O’Brien
Rock of Ages Church

What the Religious System Lacks

2010-08-11T11:15:00.001-07:00

A rich landowner asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The man insisted that he had kept many of the moral commands his whole life, but Jesus said, ‘You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor. Then come, follow Me.”
What Jesus asked this man to do is key to understanding this passage. The great estates this man owned were populated by peasants who worked for him. Those peasants’ families, however, used to own that land!
When Rome conquered Judea and Gallilee, they taxed the people so heavily that only the richest could afford it. Everyone else had to foreclose on their land. They would sell out to rich Jewish landowners who would then collect tax from them and pay off the Romans.
These peasants were not living what the covenant people of God had been promised. God had promised to take them out of Egypt (out of slavery) to give them a land. Now they were back in slavery.
Jesus asked this man to do a bold thing. He asked him to sell his land back to the Jews who rightfully owned it. This man, however, was not concerned with the plight of his fellow Jews or the plan of God.
God had always desired to empower a covenant people, free from slavery. These people were to own the land and carry the presence of God. They were to be a display of God’s glory in the earth.
This man could not bring himself to sell his land. He was too concerned with self-preservation and his own empowerment. He lacked honor for God and His covenant.
We have the same situation in our religious system today. Religious leaders are too concerned with their self-preservation and their empowerment. It is the people of God, not just select leaders, who are supposed to carry the presence of God, do the work of the ministry, and shine forth the glory of God.
We make up non-biblical words like “clergy” and “laity” to reserve empowerment for only a select few. We prohibit covenant people from doing the work of the ministry: baptizing, offering communion, laying hands on the sick, etc. Our pastors, who are supposed to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, end up doing the ministry. Let’s return the Promised Land, the ministry, to the people of God!

by Pastor Tim O’Brien
Rock of Ages Ministries
www.roaministries.org

Are You Really Saved?

2010-08-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

Maybe you’ve been told you’re saved but you’re really not. In Luke 9 we have an
interesting story that everyone who thinks they’re a Christian ought to pay attention to. A man comes to Jesus and says, “I will follow you.” Isn’t that the perfect altar call? Isn’t that what every evangelist wants to happen?
When people come to our altar calls and say, “I want to follow Jesus” what do we do?
Don’t we lead them in the sinner’s prayer, give them a decision card, baptize them, and add them to our church roles? Then we tell them they are saved and eternally secure.
The only problem with that is Jesus didn’t do that with the man in Luke 9. This man
said to Jesus, “I will follow you” but Jesus said, “the Son of Man has no place to lay His
head.” I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound like a “yes.” This man was a
perfect example of what we want at our altar calls. He says, “Jesus, I will follow you” but the problem is Jesus doesn’t say “yes.”
Why would Jesus refuse a man who seemingly is giving his life to Him? The reason
is this: what that man called following was not what Jesus called following. Jesus
is the boss and we can only respond to Him according to His definitions. Too many
people have come to Jesus on their own terms and said, “I will give you my life” or “I will follow you” but Jesus did not say “yes” because they didn’t understand what they were saying or they meant something different than Jesus does. For Jesus, following is an all-consuming, 100% act, that takes your whole life, every day, every moment,
giving your life to Jesus and his Church. It means getting off of work or getting out of school and going to work for Jesus. It does not include days off. It means if you have to be in church every day, you will do it. You will do anything. It means you lose your life. Maybe you went to an altar call once and said, “Jesus, I will follow you.” Maybe someone told you at that altar call that you were saved, but what you don’t realize is Jesus may have said, “No.”

Science Doesn’t Prove Anything

2010-07-28T11:34:00.000-07:00

The statement, “Science doesn’t prove anything,” may seem strange at first. Our
world is so science-minded that sometimes we forget what science is. Science is, as all scientists know, a collection of observations.
No matter how many observations we have make, we can never say that we have proof.
The next observation could possibly defy the pattern or we could find out that our data collection was flawed.
When scientists have an idea about a pattern, they call it a hypothesis. When numerous observations show the same pattern, scientists name the pattern a theory. When even more observations fit the pattern, scientists call the pattern a scientific law.
But the question is: “Are scientific laws fully reliable?” The answer is “No.” Scientific laws are sometimes overthrown by new evidence. Most of those laws are ones you never heard of, but some classic laws have been overthrown also.
Let’s use an example. About 350 B.C., Aristotle observed that if a person left meat
out in the open and allowed it to decay, maggots would appear on the meat within a
few days. He hypothesized that living maggots were formed from nonliving meat!
This he called spontaneous generation, the idea that life could spring out of non-life.
As time when on, more observations supported Aristotle’s idea, so the idea became
a theory. For the next 1900 years, observations fit Aristotle’s idea and spontaneous
generation was accepted as scientific law, the Law of Spontaneous Generation.
A man named Francesco Redi, however, challenged the experiment. He took meat
and put mesh netting around it so no insects could get on it. No maggots appeared.
The Law of Spontaneous Generation did not die easily though. After all, it had been
supported by 1900 years of evidence! And, if you think about it, evolutionists still
believe in it today. Science is not about proof. It’s about compiling evidence. It’s not a god and it’s not full-proof.
By Pastor Tim O'Brien
B.S. Civil and Environmental Engineering

Islamic Gunmen Kill Rashid

2010-07-21T06:44:00.000-07:00

I did not know Pastor Rashid, but he was a friend of a friend. Pastor Rashid was killed July 12, 2010, as he left a courthouse in Pakistan. Police were transporting Pastor Rashid and his brother, Sajid, from the court in Faisalabad to jail when masked gunmen killed both of them and seriously wounded a policeman.
The Pakistani brothers had been arrested on July 2 after being accused of writing blasphemous remarks about the prophet Muhammad, a crime punishable by death in Pakistan. The charges likely are not true. It is common in Pakistan for Christians to be accused of blasphemy as a means of harassment. The same tactic is often used against fellows Muslims to settle personal scores or defeat business rivals. Mobs often attack individuals accused of blasphemy, often hurting or killing their family members or religious communities.
Even when Christians are acquitted of blasphemy, extremists often hunt them down and kill them anyway. Many have had to go into hiding or attempt to emigrate. The family of Pastor Rashid claims that he and his brother were innocent and that they were falsely accused by people who had a grudge against them.
I have personally heard several first-hand stories of violence and intimidation against Christians in Pakistan, especially when the Christians are converts from Islam. Pastor Rashid (last name Emmanuel) died serving the Lord. His innocent blood cries out from the ground for the redemption of Pakistan, the people he loved.
International Christian Concern (ICC) is an organization out of Washington, D.C. that helps make people aware of severe religious persecution against Christians (www.persecution.org). Their website lists violations by country. There are currently an average of 350,000 Christian martyrs per year.

No Longer A Wanderer

2010-07-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

By Kim Williams

I awake from Dreams
To you calling forth children.
I hear your voice
calling boldly through the recesses of my mind –
long hidden, every present –
calling me forward
Before the beginning of time
Your voice –
Strapped to the bases of my being,
At once coarse and poetic,
flowing and retreating,
hidden – back and forth, day and night –
revealed by your presence,
encouraged by my heart,
devoted to you
willing, ready, eager, pushing forward –
lost in your love,
found in your righteousness…
Holy
complete
settled and sure
committed

J.R.R Tolkien and the Creation of the Earth

2010-07-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

J.R.R Tolkien’s work, The Music of the Ainur (found in the Silmarillion), tells about the creation of Earth. The story goes like this:
Before Earth was created, God dwelled with the Holy Ones called the Ainur, whom he had created from Imperishable Fire. The Ainur dwelt with God near the realm of his throne and outside was the Void. God taught each of the Ainur certain music to sing. Over time he began to call the Ainur to harmonize. Eventually he led them in a great harmony called the Great Music. This music began to fill the Void. There was one Ainur, however, named Melkor, who wove his own harmonies into the song. Melkor was the most gifted of the Ainur. Melkor was disappointed with God’s seeming lack of interest in the Void. He had periodically gone into the Void himself to try to locate the Imperishable Fire that he might be given the power to create, not knowing the Imperishable Fire dwelt with God. Melkor’s own melody caused disruption in the Great Music and a kind of musical war ensued. Eventually God and his faithful Ainur won out when God rebuked Melkor and sounded the final note. The Great Music, unbeknown to the Ainur, had gone into the Void and created the Universe. All things in the Universe were created by their song, except Elves and Men, which were created by God’s final note. Many of the Ainur chose to abide upon Earth to steward this new creation and preserve it for Elves and Men. Melkor also descended upon Earth and set about to try to take dominion there in defiance of God.
Similarities to actual Creation are noteworthy. Melkor, of course represents Lucifer (or satan). Lucifer is the angel who rebelled against God’s authority and took one third of the angels with him. He was gifted with music above all other angels. His very being was actually musical, made up of pipes and timbrels (small drums). His pride was his downfall when he declared that he would ascend above the throne of God. He was thrown down to earth and here seeks to disrupt the plan of God toward Men. [References: Ezekiel 28:11-19, Revelation 12:4-9]

Husband Holds Back Wife

2010-06-30T11:05:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law returned from a 2-week mission trip to India a couple years ago. She was so excited. This is the kind of stuff she was born for. It runs in her veins. But upon her return, she was told by her husband that he never wanted her to do that again. He just couldn’t bear her absence for 2 weeks.
Now, mind you, this is a man who is fully capable, can take care of himself, and is a Christian leader in his church! His wife has been excited about missions since before they were married 20 years ago. She did some short-term missions back then and it thrilled her heart. Now, she has waited through 20 years of marriage, business, and child-raising to finally get past every excuse. It’s her time to do what God put in her heart to do all those years ago.
But now it’s all over. The selfishness of her own husband has thwarted her plans. He “can’t be without her.” He needs to be “taken care of.” He thinks there are more important things his family ought to be doing. There is no consideration for her heart. There is no consideration for the destiny God has put in her. There is no thought toward maybe just going with her!
I see this kind of thing far too often. People get so caught up in what they think is right, what their needs are, and so controlling of others, that they can’t or refuse to see what God is doing in those closest to them. They do it to their children and their spouses. I’ve even seen grown children do it to their parents, saying, “Oh, you have to live around me to help take care of my kids.” We need a revival of sensitivity to God’s plan for others and not our plans for ourselves.

Paul's Slavery Strategy

2010-06-25T06:33:00.001-07:00

Paul addressed the Christian slaves of his time by saying, “Those who are under the yoke of slavery should regard their masters as worthy of full respect, so that the name of God and the teachings will not be brought into disrepute.” If you think about it, this was a pretty audacious statement on the part of Paul. After all, he had never been a slave. He didn’t know what it was like.
Any of those slaves certainly could have said, “Hey, Paul, our rights are being violated. How dare you tell us what to do? You ought to be standing up for us, not chastising us about our behavior.”
Why was Paul so seemingly callous to the cause of the slaves? Well, the situation at the time was as follows: Many slaves in the empire were becoming believers. If those slaves began a movement to end slavery, then the landowners and leaders of the time would have closed their hearts to the message of Jesus.
Paul knew that slavery was wrong. He knew that the slaves had legitimate reasons to protest. But Paul knew something else. God is more concerned with His reputation than our situation.
Even when our rights are being violated, God does not give us permission to automatically wage a protest of our own making. In the case of the 1st century slaves, Paul knew that rebellion and disorder on the part of the slaves would only shut down the message of Jesus and leave society worse off than before. Society had to be changed by radical internal transformation of believers, not by man-made strategy. It’s still the same today.

Kingdom In Us or Among Us?

2010-06-25T06:31:00.002-07:00

It seems that many people over the years have gotten off-track in their understanding of the Kingdom of God. One reason is because of a misunderstanding of Luke 17:21 where Jesus tells the Pharisees, in the words of one English translation, “The Kingdom of God is within you.”
Most Christians think that statement makes the Kingdom of God an inner experience of salvation or some other personal happening that affects them on the inside. Based on this reading, they believe there is little or no external expression of God’s rule in their life. Everything is only happening “within you.”
Yet, if we take Jesus’ teachings seriously, we might not be so quick to interpret the verse this way. First of all, why would Jesus tell selfish religious leaders that the Kingdom of God was “within them?” Elsewhere he tells them, “You belong to your father, the devil.” It just doesn’t add up.
Another more reasonable translation of Luke 17:21 is “The Kingdom of God is among you.” This variant reading of the Greek provides a clearer view of Jesus’ point. As Jesus was talking about the Kingdom of God “among you,” He was revealing Himself as the embodiment of the Kingdom.
Jesus was saying that the Kingdom of God was among them because He was among them. It was not an internal experience; it was a very real external experience. It was not an individual experience; it was a group experience. Christians cannot ignore that fact that Jesus wants to come to us in the group setting. He also wants us to respond to Him externally. This is not just an inner life relationship. This is a very real, seeable and public relationship. [Adapted and edited from the newsletter of World Revival Network www.worldrevivalchurch.com]

It's Not "St. Roberts"!

2010-06-25T06:31:00.001-07:00

The name of the town is St. Robert. Singular. It’s not St. Roberts. There was only one saint named Robert that the town is named after, Robert Bellarmine, not many Roberts. We don’t say Saint Louises. We don’t say San Joses.
Recently I received a receipt from a local business and the receipt had my town’s name incorrect. It said, “St. Roberts.” I dropped them an email and they have now corrected their receipts.
We sound like hicks when we say St. Roberts. We also disrespect the name of the town. I correct people any time I hear them say, “St. Roberts.” Sorry, that’s not the name of my town. I love my town. If I pronounced your name wrong, you would probably correct me.
Similarly, I don’t like the phrase, “Fort Lost-in-the-Woods.” It sounds cute, but Fort Leonard Wood and surrounding area is no longer lost. We are up and coming. We are a bustling community. In my church, you will never hear someone say Fort Lost-in-the-Woods. We only bless our community. We never curse it. Speaking the phrase Fort Lost-in-the-Woods is a curse. I always take the opportunity to tell people how much I love Missouri and how much I love Pulaski County. It has been a great place to raise my children.
The Book of Proverbs says, “Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is destroyed.” My mouth speaks blessings to my community. I don’t treat it like it’s second-class, or undesirable. How can a Christian say, “I want to reach my community,” but then curse it with the words of their mouth. We ought to be the biggest fans of the community in which God has placed us.

This Generation's Dilemma

2010-06-25T06:29:00.000-07:00

By Emily Cheek

I have a Twitter account and watch the on-line news, so I consider myself moderately up-to-date on what is captivating and beguiling my fickle generation. What I see among the young Christian crowd and their children is disappointing.
The teenage girl who regards her iPad with greater zeal than the man in the pulpit, the kindergartener that colors during church service, and the child that will be encouraged to "make their own decision about religion" are the men and women who will be running the country and ultimately deciding the spiritual atmosphere of our nation.
For those of you who feel a swell of indignation towards these inattentive little devils, here's my question: can you blame them? Church is boring! We have given our kids two options...be bored with religion or give yourself to the shifting, vaporous, but brightly colored secular world. To illustrate, think about this: what happened to the Justin Bieber of yesterday, Jesse McCartney? Or by the same token, Rick Springfield? The bottom line is that our kids and young adults need to feel something genuine and thus far have pursued it in the focus and passion observable in today’s rock stars.
The Church has betrayed them so deeply for not offering them what would truly unlock their hearts. So what's going to set off the spark in their souls? God. The real God who doesn't care much about what church or country you're in, but cares a whole lot about what you give your love and attention to. A guilt-ridden lecture on the seriousness of their sins won’t move the heart of my generation, but an offer to encounter something world-wide, deeply penetrating, purposeful and eternal most certainly will. God is incredibly exciting.

Battle-Minded

2010-06-25T06:27:00.000-07:00

By Emily Cheek

An unfortunate side effect of our culture on Christianity is the loss of recognizing God as a fierce warrior worthy of reverence. This idea of God is totally Biblical. In fact, it’s an integral part of normal Christianity. Just as we are to consider God a warrior and the commander of a holy army, it should come as no surprise that God expects a fighter’s attitude from his people.
It is very easy to embrace a God that is exclusively interested in being everyone’s buddy. Religion would have you believe that there is nothing and no one that could be an enemy of God—after all, isn’t it God’s duty to love everyone? It is actually God’s love and a part of his nature to declare war on things that are killing us and keeping us sick —in our bodies, minds, and spirits. It is also our duty to submit to the plans and purposes of God for our generation and declare war on the enemies of God as well.
Our culture urges us to be relevant no matter what the cost, and in order to be seeker-sensitive, much of the Church has adopted the mindset of a non-challenging Gospel. The “danger” of perceiving God as a warrior lies in the fact that, if you do, you are inherently required to choose sides. As insensitive as this may initially appear, the message of the Kingdom of God is the most relevant declaration to this society we could possibly offer: if His people will turn back to him, recognize him for who he is, die to themselves, and begin to pay attention to him with all their hearts, we could awaken the dawn in a new era of real victory.

We Need Extremists

2010-06-25T06:26:00.000-07:00

Rosie O’Donnel declared that radical Christians were just like Taliban terrorists. This type of rhetoric has become increasingly popular. There is an idea out there that “radical,” “extreme” or “fundamentalist” is always bad.
This is not true! There are things worth being extreme for! There are things worth being radical for!
Jesus was an extremist! He only did what the Father did. Think about it. That’s extreme. He devoted Himself to following only one person. Most people today would say that is disturbing. Jesus only spoke what the Father spoke and even looked for direction from Him on how to say it (Jn 12:49). Again, most people would be troubled by a neighbor who acted that way.
There is nothing wrong with being extreme, radical and fundamental about something true. In fact, I believe the world is waiting for a breed of Christian who is radical and full of passion about what they do. The world is sick of dead church and hypocritical Christians.
People are always talking about how you have to be balanced. I’m all for balance, but what they often really mean by balance is: “A little zeal is all right as long as it’s balanced out by a little apathy.” That’s not being balanced. That’s being doubleminded! If anybody gives you that “be balanced” talk, be a little skeptical about their motives.
Incredibly there is so much fear and hatred for anyone who is fervent about their ideas. Even some of children have provoked criticism because they said that they are willing to die for God. Why do people fear a movement that seeks to do good and love their neighbor? Every Christian that is not extreme for God needs to seriously question their salvation.

Problem Pastors and Problem Leadership

2010-06-25T06:25:00.000-07:00

You may be surprised to find that the main obstacle to most historical revivals is pastors. A thorough reading of history reveals that pastors are the first barrier to a revival beginning or a revival thriving. Pastors historically have resisted revival out of pride, jealousy, resistance to the Holy Spirit, concern for their own traditions, apathy, or simply not wanting to change.
If, however, you find the rare pastor who really wants to see a move of God, then there are still other obstacles. Most pastors who pursue revival get challenged by their own leaders. They meet resistance in their own board meetings, by their own deacons and elders. Deacon boards, for instance, often shut down revival, dismiss the spiritually hungry pastor, and take interviews for the next pastoral hireling that will do what they want.
In the very rare instance that you get a pastor and leadership who are hungry for revival, then the next obstacle is financiers. Too many churches are really controlled by the people who bring in the most tithes. Financiers who are not interested in change, who have hard hearts, will withdraw their financial support until they get what they want. It often works because many pastors and their churches do not have the financial ability to go without this support. The pastor’s salary and the building mortgage often become a detriment when real change is needed. Pastors have to appease the resistors in order to maintain their employment or save the church from financial collapse.
I’ve seen several instances in our community over the last 15 years in which well-meaning, spiritually hungry pastors were removed from their congregations because evil was lurking in board meetings, in leadership, and amongst well-to-do families that did not want a move of God.

The Distinct Jesus People

2010-06-24T19:27:00.000-07:00

The prophet Elijah knew that the Messiah was supposed to come. He knew it because the Torah said so. He also knew, from other prophets before him, that the Messiah was supposed to sit on the throne of David. The Messiah was going to be Jewish and was going to come to the Jewish people.
In Elijah’s day, however, there was a problem. The Jewish people had intermarried with pagans. They had also adopted the pagan worship of Baal. There was almost no distinction in Elijah’s generation between a Jew and a pagan. Elijah knew that this was a problem because he knew the Messiah was supposed to come to a distinctly Jewish people who distinctly worshipped Jehovah God.
We have the same problem today. We know that Jesus is supposed to return to believers, His Church. We know that before His formal Second Return that He will also come to us in various ways. For instance, we know that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will fill the earth according to Habakkuk. We know that there is to be an end-time influx of people into the Kingdom, including all Israel saved (according to Romans 11).
The problem is that the Church is losing its distinctness and is not set apart from the unbelieving world around it. Its divorce rate is just as high and now some claim the rate of clinical depression in the Church is just as high as outside. Fortunately, there is a growing movement of people who want to live a distinct life for Jesus and have no qualms about giving themselves and their lives to full-time, everyday ministry. This is the only way that the way will be prepared for the great things Jesus wants to do.

A 27-year-old Talks About the Real Jesus

2010-06-24T19:25:00.000-07:00

By Jon Ellis

How often have we thought of Jesus as a lofty, unknowable God who is “up there,” who is unconcerned for us? Sadly, this idea of God has extended into the very heart of the Christian Church at large. We have people building altars that are so ornate, so opulent, as to inspire awe, not of the God they were meant for, but for the architects who designed them. The true reality of Christ is glossed over, commercialized, and packaged for a neat thirty-minute sound bite. The real Jesus was a man. He was God robed in flesh. He came to seek us out. He desires a relationship with us. The God who has created all things and needs nothing actually wants a relationship with us. This God wants a relationship, no pretense, and no games. In a move that is as simple as it is divine, He comes to us knowing that we are flawed and imperfect. The real Jesus doesn’t expect a flawless person. All he wants is someone who loves Him. Jesus created mercy and grace to cover us, knowing that no matter how good we are, we will never be good enough. He knows us uniquely and wholly, all our flaws, our inconsistencies, and every evil part of our heart. Guess what? Nothing we have done will ever offend Him or cause Him to shrink back from us. There is not a single thing that we can do that will shock Him. There will never be a single thing to make us unlovable in His eyes. Too often, the religious among us forget that. How often do we argue over rules and wardrobe and forget that simplest of all messages? God loves you, right now, right where you are.

Jesus Rose, Who Cares?

2010-06-24T19:24:00.000-07:00

The question is not whether Jesus rose from the dead; the question is, “Does anyone care?” Jesus poses the question Himself. He tells a story of a rich man who dies and goes to a place of torment. He asks Abraham to send someone back from the dead to warn his brothers. His brothers felt eternally secure because they were rich. Wealth in that culture was considered a sign of God’s approval. Today, Christians think they are eternally secure because they have said a sinner’s prayer. Or they believe they are secure because they are good or because they feel a deep respect for God.
Abraham answered the rich man by saying, “If they don’t listen to the Law and the Prophets, they won’t listen even if someone raises from the dead.” The Law and the Prophets were the Scriptures. See, these brothers were not responders to God’s Word, no matter how it was preached, no matter what Biblical story was used to coax them. The same situation exists today. We have preachers galore. We’ve heard messages from almost every Bible story; tear-jerker ones, convicting ones, and feel-good ones. But none of them seem to make a difference.
The Church-world in America is almost devoid of anyone who really has a life-abandoning passion for God. Millions of people will go to church on Easter and talk about the resurrection of Jesus but hardly any will care. Churches will use Easter to try to attract a bigger crowd, but the people coming will hardly care and the people inviting them will hardly care either. Oh, they might have some deep-rooted sensibilities about Jesus. They might shed tears of joy and conviction once in a while. They might call themselves Christians, but their lives will continue to lack response to God.

The Mark of the Beast

2010-06-24T19:22:00.000-07:00

When people think of the “mark of the beast” as recorded in the Book of Revelation by John the Apostle, they conjure up futuristic images of computer chips in people’s wrists and foreheads. However, if we think about the “mark of the beast” in terms of John’s contemporary culture, we may think differently.
There was a problem that Christianity had brought to the Roman world. Many citizens of the Empire were becoming Christians. These Christians believed that Jesus was Lord; and not just Lord, but the Only Lord. The pagan citizens of Rome were tolerant of many different views and many different gods, but they were offended by Christians who said there was only one God and only one Way.
You might ask why the Jews did not offend the Romans since Jews believed in one God too. Well, basically Rome tolerated them as a unique subculture that did not appear to be growing rapidly, that kept itself separate, much like we might view the Amish today. Jews were exempt from military service to avoid a requirement for them to honor Roman gods. But when Christianity began to impact the very fabric of society with its rapidly growing monotheism, the story was different.
Christians began to be persecuted from all directions. Many of the early Christians attended Jewish synagogues but the Jews began to persecute them because, unlike the Jews, the pagans-turned-Christian were not exempt from Emperor worship and their opposition to the law of the land was beginning to taint Rome’s relationship with the synagogues. They were also persecuted by Roman society in general. Early Christians were artisans, workers, slaves and politicians. They ran the gambit of societal structure and their blatant refusal to acknowledge other gods tore apart families, interfered with social gatherings (where offerings to gods and the emperor were often made), and affected working relationships.
Christians had to make tough choices. Many lost their employment as a result of their belief. Guilds began to exclude Christians because they had patron gods they worshipped. Unfortunately, not all Christians remained uncompromising. For fear of their livelihood, social status and lives, many of them took the “mark of the beast” by stepping back into idolatry. For those who didn’t compromise, they found it difficult to buy and sell and conduct business, just as recorded in the Book of Revelation. The “mark of the beast” is not some futuristic technology of world domination; it is the ever-present reality of Christians with compromising hearts.

We Pray the Lord's Prayer Out of Context

2010-06-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray “The Lord’s Prayer,” He was speaking to a bunch of guys with revolutionary hearts. In fact, the entire Jewish nation at the time had a rebel feeling. Most Jews wanted to overthrow their Roman oppressors and were willing to risk their lives and families to do it. Other Jews realized what Jesus did, that a physical revolution wasn’t the answer to the nation’s woes, but a religious one was. Either way, the average Jew was desperately ready to have their lives disrupted.
When Jesus taught His disciples to pray “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done,” they did so with a willingness to have their lives totally disrupted, even forfeited. Today, most Christians pray this prayer out of context. They have no desire for the Kingdom to come and disrupt their lives. They don’t even want their neat church services disrupted. They look to God for their daily bread, but have not laid their lives down for the cause of the Kingdom. What they are really praying for is their status quo to be blessed.
When the Kingdom comes, it disrupts things. It did in Jesus’ day. It rattled the religious, demanded complete attention, and broke every routine. I’m looking for the disrupting Kingdom of God to come in my generation, not to end the world, but to turn the world upside down, win radical disciples and change the way we do Christianity forever!
When we truly pray “Your Kingdom come” we are choosing his Kingdom over our kingdom. We are destroying our kingdom of entertainment and lukewarmness and apathy. People need help. They need the Kingdom. Let’s bring it to them.

Homeschool

2010-06-24T19:18:00.000-07:00

In January, a U.S. immigration judge granted political asylum to a German homeschool family. Homeschooling is illegal in Germany. Uwe and Hannelore Romeike were homeschooling their 6 children in Germany when they were faced with fines totaling $11,000. They were also threatened with losing custody of their children and one day the children were forcibly taken to school in a police van. The Romeikes appealed the fines in their state of Baden-Württemberg, but were declined.
In 2008, the Romeikes traveled to the United States and have been living in Tennessee ever since. Their right to stay, however, would not have remained without the political asylum.
This decision sets a new precedent in immigration courts. The Romeike’s attorney says he hopes this decision will affect public opinion in Germany. He argues that the German government is attempting to stamp out homeschooling and view it as a dangerous parallel society.
In a harshly worded decision, the U.S. immigration judge, Lawrence Burman, denounced the German ban on homeschooling, calling it “utterly repellent to everything we believe as Americans,” and expressed shock at the heavy fines and other penalties.
The Romeikes say they would like to return to Germany if the laws become more amendable but don’t have much hope for it. There apparently is an appeal to the decision, but from what source is unclear.
The New York Times interviewed the Romeike family and found the children spoke with shockingly adult-like politeness. The Romeike family cites spiritual as well as practical reasons for their decision to homeschool. The case could influence the notion of homeschooling rights across Europe. Germany allows private and religious schooling, but has the harshest response to homeschooling in Europe.

The Power of God Didn't End With the Apostles

2010-06-24T19:12:00.000-07:00

Some say that the power of God demonstrated in healing, prophecy, Holy Spirit baptism and tongues ended with the original apostles. They say that those things were only needed until the New Testament was written. This belief remains one of the biggest deceptions within the church world. It keeps at bay the power of God to change lives and it deceives new believers who could experience God on a much deeper level if they only knew God works powerfully today.
There is no indication whatsoever in the New Testament that the demonstrated power of God would end with the completion of the canon. Some quote the verse that says, “prophecy shall pass away” and declare that it happened after the New Testament was written. However, the same passage says, “knowledge shall pass away.” We all know that hasn’t happened yet. (I Cor 13:8)
Others claim that the power of God ended with the death of the original 12 apostles and Paul. Again, this isn’t supported by any biblical text. In fact, I Corinthian 15:5-7 tells us that there were still more apostles than these. So who was keeping track of when they died?
Lastly, we have a great wealth of evidence to tell us that Jesus still heals today; He still speaks to people and He still works miracles. In my circle of friends alone, I can find dozens of people who have experienced God’s healing power, including myself. If He still does those things, then He still does all the rest. Let’s not short-change any believers with a watered-down version of God’s Kingdom. Jesus brought the Kingdom to us and it is ever-increasing in its power. In fact, biblically speaking, we can expect more power of God today then ever before.