What's Next?

I'm afraid to ask.

We've had terrorist attacks and plagues. We've had war (and far too much of that!) and disease. We've had riots, division, hate, and discontent. Droughts and floods. Fires, polar expresses, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis.

I probably don't want to know, but what's next?

We've redefined (or tried to) the family, marriage, and gender. We've done our best to outlaw God's word, and even His name. We've turned evil to good and good to evil. We've done our best to become our worst.

What else can we do?

It scares me.

When the next shoe falls, I'll no doubt be shocked again. Not by the natural disasters, but the unnatural ones. The ones created by man. Those are the ones that scare me. Those are the ones that have far-reaching, wide-spread, and, I fear, eternal consequences.

One thing I know is coming, and is already here, is persecution. It's started. It's growing. It'll get worse. Get ready, because it's going to happen. Like with poor land management, we've set ourselves up for a true disaster. A mega fire. One so powerful it creates its own wind and becomes a self-sustaining inferno that needs no outside help to grow and spread.

A fire like that sterilizes the soil. It bares the ground so that if rain does fall, massive erosion occurs. Landslides follow. Rivers of mud over take roads, towns, communities.

It's ugly.

It's coming.

The metaphor of a forest fire is as apt for any for what is coming, and I don't think we can stop it. The really scary part is that it only takes a spark, either intentional or careless, to get things started.

I fear that spark has already touched the tinder. The smoke of the dissolution of who we are, what we are supposed to be, is rising over the horizon. A warning, a sign. There is nothing between it and us other than dry fuel. Food for the monster that aims to destroy us.

Nothing other than God, and honestly, I'm not sure He's going to step in. I pray. I hope. I trust, but I know He has a plan and I don't know what that plan is. What I do know is that everything has to fall apart before He comes and puts it back together.

Ultimately, that's what I hope for, but I don't want to see it come to be. Many say they want to be here when Jesus returns. Not me. I know what the Bible says must happen before Jesus' Second Coming. I don't want to go through that. Being a believer in the rapture, I don't think I'll have to. I do believe, however, that the faithful of those times will see things we cannot even imagine.

And unbelievers? Read Revelation Chapter 16. That's the stuff of nightmares.

Hear me now, it's coming.

I don't know when.

No one knows the day or the hour, but we are told to watch for the signs. Wars and rumors of wars. Famine and disease. The love of many growing cold. And people, like in the days of Noah, going about their usual business as if nothing is happening.

That could be today. Or tomorrow. Or a hundred or even a thousand years from now. We just don't know. We are, however, told to watch, and I'm watching. I'm seeing. I'm no prophet, but I can read what the true prophets told us.

Do you see what I see?

I don't know what's next.

I do know how it ends, though. We win. God wins. I wrote earlier this week about how losing is hard. That's one war I will be on the right side of. It may seem that I am on the losing side of this battle today, but we will win the war, because I'm on God's side. I'll see victory in the end. Maybe, probably from heaven, but I'll see it.

Whatever comes next, no matter how hard it seems, no matter how big a loss it appears to be, we will not lose. We cannot. It's already decided. God wins.

Keep that in mind, no matter what happens next.

Losing Is Hard

It's not easy to lose.

We are, at least most of us, programmed to win. Competitiveness drives us to be better, do more, try harder. The desire to win pushes us to heights otherwise unreachable. Unfortunately, the valley of defeat is just as deep as the mountain of success is high.

Whether it be a sport, competing for a promotion at work, a friendly chess match, or a simple game of tic-tac-toe, defeat brings with it a sense of loss, a failure to achieve what we set out to do. The harder we tried, the worse losing feels. We are told you get out what you put in.

Sometimes that's just not true.

We're all going to lose sometime.

Nobody wins every time. Everybody fails. In the most important contests of our lives, our battles against temptation and sin, we're all going to fall. Romans 3:23 says, All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  

Even when we're set up to win, sometimes we lose. For soccer fans, the biggest tournament in the Western Hemisphere concluded last night. The number one ranked team in the world, with a player who by almost all accounts is the best player in the world, was set to win the championship. They wanted it. They needed it. They put everything they had into getting it.

They lost.

We're all human.

We all have weaknesses. We all have bad days, lapses of judgment, and make bad decisions. We mess up, fall down, trip over our own feet. We slip. We slide. We don't do what we know we should, and go down paths we know we shouldn't.

Everybody misses the mark from time to time. Everybody.

Even that greatest soccer player in the world. The game came down to penalty kicks. This great player had never missed a PK. He came up to the ball, put his foot through it, and missed the goal. One of the most important kicks in one of the most important games of his career, and he whiffed.

Life's like that.

You are going to lose. You are going to fail. One way or another. I'm not trying to hold you back or bring you down. I'm trying to prepare you. It's going to happen. That's not what's important. What's important is what you do next.

If you define yourself by your failures, then it's over. You'll never succeed. You'll never rise up again to the heights you might of reached. If you see yourself as a failure because you lost one time, you've failed yet again.

We are neither our losses, nor our victories. We are both. That's what makes us who we are. That player will be defined by the media, for a time, by his miss. In the same way, the world will try to define you by your failure. Don't let it. You're more than that.

It doesn't matter if it was the most important effort of your life to date. If you failed, you failed. It happens to everyone. Even the greatest mess up. What's makes them the greatest is that, after they fail, they get up, dust themselves off, and try again. They learn from their mistakes. They gain strength through trials. They come back and do it again. And again. And again.

Learn from your failures.

They're hard lessons, for sure, but often the best things in life don't come easy. Most of my greatest gains have come after the hardest knocks. It's not easy to get kicked around, but the lessons learned are not quickly forgotten.

Put that new knowledge to work, gain strength from the trial, and try again. Losing isn't easy, but if you give up, you'll never win again.

It's Time To Wake Up

What's it going to take for us to wake up?

How far down do we have to spiral before people are going to realize we're heading in the wrong direction? We don't have to look far to realize what a mess we are in. The signs are everywhere. Hate. Immorality. Disloyalty. War. Terror. Death. Fear.

Is this the utopia we've been seeking?

To listen to those leading us down the path, we're almost there. All we need to do is hold on, stay the course, and it'll all come together. They'll tell us we're better off now than we were before. They'll tell us we've come so far, but there's more work to do. They'll tell us we're on the right track.

That's bull.

The powers that be in this world do not have our best interests in mind. Surprise! They are not on our side. I'm not talking conspiracy theory. I'm talking reality. If you're a Christian, if you're traditionally minded, if you're right of radical left, you're the problem in their eyes. You're the crisis. You're the disease.

Their cure is isolation and containment. Their plan is to systematically cut off all routes of transmission of your “sickness” so that you cannot “infect” others. They're inoculating the general public against what we have. Inoculations of lies, hate, fear, and intolerance. Small doses of anti-Christianity at regular intervals is just what Doctor Satan ordered.

All the while, the train rolls on. Our destination? Man's utopia. That place where man gets everything he wants without the inconvenient rules and interference of that killjoy God. The state where God is made irrelevant so that man can become godlike. Utopia. Paradise. Without God.

That's not paradise.

That's hell. We keep separating ourselves from God, and that's where we'll end up. Our world will become like the Hinnom Valley, where we get the word Gehenna. Know how that word is translated? Hell. Do you know what happened in the Hinnom Valley? People followed false gods and immorality to the point that it led them to sacrifice their children in a fire kindled in the Valley.

Think I'm going too far? Look what's happening in our schools, where prayer is heresy, where kids are being suspended for speaking about Christ, where the safety of our children is secondary to political agendas. Think about elementary children getting condoms in school. Think about abortion.

Children are being sacrificed to the gods of lust, immorality, politics, pride, and countless others.

It's time to wake up.

This train is nearing a cliff. Those driving will keep smiling and telling us to eat, drink, and be merry as we careen over the precipice into the abyss if we let them. Just as it was in the days of Noah. That unhappy ending, I fear, may be nearer than we may think.

Can we save the world? No. God has decreed a judgment, and that judgment shall come to pass. This world desires it. As far as that goes, I deserve it. God, however, gave this world Christ so that not all would perish. All we have to do is believe in Him, recognize Him as Lord and Savior. We can't save the world, but Christ can save all those in it.

All we have to do is wake up. Look out the window and see the warnings God has clearly posted. It's time to open our eyes. It's time to get back on track. It's time to get back to God.

Unless, of course, you think where we're heading is were you want to go. In that case, if I can't change your mind, then close your eyes and go to sleep. You don't want to see what's coming.

Do Not Be Arrogant, But Be Afraid

That's what Paul told the Romans.

In Romans Chapter 11, Paul explains how the Israelites were broken off from the vine of God so that the Gentiles could be grafted in. He knew the temptation would be for the Gentiles to become arrogant, just as the Israelites had done in believing they were God's only people. The Gentiles were in danger of repeating the same mistake.

In warning, Paul tells them not to be arrogant, but rather be afraid. Be afraid, because if God broke off the original branches (the Israelites) for the sake of the Gentiles, He could certainly break off the branches of the Gentiles for another.

What's this have to do with us?

As I believe Paul would say, everything! As a nation, as a church, as individuals, I believe we need to hear this word. We need to fear God.

Our bent, our natural trend, is toward arrogance. We tend to believe that we are responsible for what we accomplish, that we deserve whatever good comes our way, that we are entitled to have what we want. We have a disease of the "I." I am in control. I deserve to get what I want, what I have, what is available. I . . . I . . . I.

The truth is, I am not God. You are not God. We collectively are not God. We are not God's equals. We are not in control. We do not deserve what we have, nor what we want. The truth is, if not for God's mercy, we'd get exactly what we deserve, and none of us wants that.

What's this have to do with us? We're arrogant. We need to be afraid.

How are we arrogant?

The Israelites didn't want to accept God's laws, so they changed them (Romans 9:30-32). They didn't want to live by faith, but rather by works. They wanted to earn their way, and believed they could. To do so, they perverted God's word to fit their way of life. They kept what they wanted, and ignored the rest. They were God's chosen people--how could they go wrong?

Sound familiar? It does to me. I see it every day in the news, in our laws, in our political process. America has an I problem. We have put I above God. We are arrogant.

We need to be afraid.

There was a king of Babylon who had the same problem.

His name was Nebuchadnezzar. The story comes from Daniel Chapter 4. God put King Nebuchadnezzar in place and gave him riches, power, and dominion. One day the king was walking along the roof of his palace admiring all he had and said, "Is not this the great Babylon  I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?"

He had not even finished speaking before a voice from heaven spoke to him, telling him he was going to lose everything--even his humanity. For seven years, he lived like a wild animal, eating grass like a cow. His hair grew. His nails grew. He looked, and acted, like an animal for seven years. God put him in his place.

Think that can't happen today? Think again. The same God who struck down King Nebuchadnezzar is the God who can do the same to any, or all, of us today. Pride and arrogance brought him down. Pride and arrogance brought down Lucifer.

Pride and arrogance can bring us down as well.

Listen to Paul.

Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.

Fear God.

The alternative for Nebuchadnezzar was to live outside and eat grass like a cow.

Want to take that chance?

God, Are You Listening?

The story of Abram

We had a guest speaker in church Sunday and he offered us an interesting challenge based on the story of Abram. If you're not familiar with Abram (whom God later renamed Abraham), here is the pertinent backstory in a nutshell from Genesis chapter 15.

God came to Abram in a vision, telling him not to be afraid, and promising to be his shield and great reward. Abram answers God by asking, "O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless?" You see, God had promised Abram that he would be made into a great nation (Genesis 12:2). The only way that could happen is if Abram had children. In Abram's eyes, that wasn't likely, since he was 75 years old.

So when we get to Chapter 15, when God promises Abram a great reward, Abram's mind goes to the promise of being made into a great nation. If God hadn't followed through on that promise, what could He do? In Abram's words, "what can you give me since I remain childless?"

God's answer, instead of being defensive, instead of putting Abram in his place, is classic loving Father. He tells Abram to go outside and look at the night sky. As Abram gazes upward, God says, "count the stars--if indeed you can count them. So shall your offspring be."

Abram's response, instead of snorting in disbelief, instead of questioning God, is summed up in verse 6. Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Despite being an old man, despite having been promised children and yet seeing no results, Abram believed God. He believed that God would answer the one prayer, the one desire of his heart that meant the most. He believed God was listening.

What's on your heart?

That's the interesting challenge our speaker offered us. He invited us to take the one prayer we have lifted to God, the one desire of our hearts yet to be fulfilled, and ask God, in my words, "God, are you listening?"

Our speaker assured us God is big enough to handle such a question. He pointed out that God did not respond to Abram in anger, but rather understanding and love. God didn't stop listening because Abram expressed some frustration. God heard Abram. He listened.

We can ask God anything. Asking Him about a yet to be answered prayer is no different. He's not going to respond in anger. He's not going to withhold His blessings because our timing is different from His. In fact, He might even, as He did to Abram, reveal to us just how big His plans for us are.

Lift it up to God.

Whatever is on your heart, lift it up to God. That prayer, that desire, that one thing. Give it to Him. Ask Him what's going on. Really. It's OK.

He might just reveal to you what He has in mind.  

God Is Love

If you know God, you know love.

That's the theme of I John Chapter 4. Starting in verse 7, John tells us to love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. His next statement should give us all pause as he says, Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Now, many will say they love. They love their spouse. They love their children. They love their parents, their friends, their siblings. They would say they know God because they love others.

But do they love everyone they are supposed to love?

If you know God, you love your brother.

Let us jump forward to I John 4:20. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.   

So who is my brother?

Simply put, our brothers (and sisters) are fellow Christians. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, then everyone else who has accepted Jesus is your brother and sister.

Every. Single. One.

If you know God, you have to love them all.

That guy at church who did that thing that you find disgusting and horrendous before he came to Christ? You have to love him. That woman, the one who spread lies about you behind your back? You have to love her. Your ex. Your abusive dad who later came to Christ. The repentant pedophile.

You have to love them.

If you hate them, and you say that you love God, you are a liar. That's what the Bible says. You can not hate a fellow Christian. If you do, you're lying about loving God.

That's how I read it.

You have to forgive.

Hate is all about holding on to the past. We hate people because of what they've done. But here's the thing--if they are a Christian, they've been forgiven. It doesn't matter what they did, Jesus died for that just as He died for your sins. God loves you despite what you've done, and you know what that is. He loves you because you are forgiven. He forgave you.

Now it's your turn. We love because He first loved us. That's I John 4:19. That's not about loving God, it's about loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. We love others because God first loved us. God is love. If you are a Christian, God lives within you. If God lives within you, love lives within you. If love lives within you, you cannot hate.

You have to let go. Forgive, so that you may be forgiven. Love your enemies. Going back to I John 4, verse 21, And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. 

A command. Not an option, not a suggestion, not a good thing to do. A directive. A requirement. A stipulation. If you love God, you must love your brother. No exceptions.

God is love.

That makes us feel all warm and fuzzy. We like that. It makes us feel good. Until we read on.

God is love. If God lives in us, then we, also, are love. If we are love, we cannot hate.

It's not easy, but God gave His only Son because He loved the world. Is loving your brother any harder than that?