Christian Apologetic, and Social Commentary in a world gone mad
I’ve been reflecting on graduation and everything that surrounds it. Partially because I’m a youth minister and a lot of my students are graduating… partially because I just graduated with an MAR from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.
Anyway, when I get all reflective and nostalgic about graduation, my ADHD mind almost immediately travels to thinking about Dr. Seuss’ “Oh the Places You’ll Go!” If you’ve been around any graduations recently, I’m fairly certain you’ve seen, heard or read something about this book… For those of you who aren’t familiar here’s the basic premise:
Someone poetically encourages a young person (presumably their child) who is just about to go out and take on the world… They tell them that they will be great and awesome and do amazing wonderful and spectacularly successful things… except when they don’t, cuz sometimes they won’t… and sometimes they will have to wait for things… and sometimes there will be hard decisions… on and on… It’s a really cute way to say, “Hey, life happens… but I love you and I support you, am here for you and I want you to be successful – Go forth and do your best… I’m with you every step of the way!”
When you think about it, that’s a lot like God… In fact, He said a lot of these same things in His word…
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. ~ Matthew 19:26
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ~ 1 John 1:9
Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. ~ Psalm 27:14
We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. ~ Psalm 33:20
If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ~ John 15:18-19
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. ~ Hebrews 13:5
…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. ~ John 10:10b
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. ~ Matthew 28:18-20
So, here’s what my crazy mind takes from Dr. Seuss and these (and other) passages from the Bible…
So, let me encourage you to go forth… take on the world… do your best… God is with you!!! Just remember:
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. ~ Colossians 3:17
What is the Holy Spirit? More appropriately asked… WHO is the Holy Spirit? When does the Holy Spirit come into someone’s life? How does it happen? What gifts does He bring? These questions can fill a 300+ page book. Because the Holy Spirit moves in so many different ways there is no pattern for us to look at and say… ”Well, there goes the Holy Spirit!”. It is perhaps this single point that divides a number of churches as to what the Holy Spirit is capable of. I mean let’s be honest… our lives would be a lot easier if the Holy Spirit was predictable, and easy to figure out and when I get to Heaven… I am going to drop that in God’s suggestion box! Since He is not, we are left to debate scripture, and sharpen our own iron. The topic I want to cover in this post are the giftsof the Holy Spirit. In order to do that, I feel like there are some points that have to be made.
First of all… Though the Holy Spirit is a… Spirit… He is a real person. He shows intelligence (1 Corinth 2:10-11, Romans 8:27, 1 Corinth 2:13), He shows feelings (Eph 4:30), and He has a will (1 Corinth 12:11, Acts 16:6-11). The Holy Spirit also exhibits the actions of a person. He guides us to truth (John 16:13), He convicts us of sin (John 16:8), He performs miracles (Acts 8:39) and He intercedes (Romans 8:26). The Holy Spirit receives Ascriptions. He should be obeyed (Acts 10:19-21), He can be lied to (Acts 5:3), He can be resisted (Acts 7:51), He can grieve (Eph 4:30), He can be blasphemed (Matt 12:31) and He can be insulted (Heb 10:29). ALL of these things, all of these traits, all of these idiosyncrasies belong to a person. They belong to the Holy Spirit, and one must conclude based on these facts that the Holy Spirit is a person.
Second of all… and perhaps most important… The Holy Spirit is God. He exhibits all of the signs of being God. He is omniscient (Isaiah 40:13, 1 Corinthians 2:12), He is omnipresent (Psalms 139:7) and He is omnipotent (Job 33:4, Psalms 104:30), and He is omnibenevolant (1 John 4:8; James 1:17). His actions are also of God. He caused the virgin birth (Luke 1:35), He was the agent in giving the inspired scriptures (2 Peter 1:21) and He was involved in creation (Genesis 1:2).
So can you get the Holy Spirit? Sure! But not through some 800 number or through the QVC. The Holy Spirit is delivered at Salvation. We can see this in Romans 8:9, Acts 22:16 and 1 Corinthians 3:16. With the deliverance of the Holy Spirit we receive gifts (special distinction… it is not a reward). Acts 11:16-17 (along with Romans 5:5, and 1 Corinthians 2:12) bear this out.
This is the Holy Spirit.
At this point we will begin to take a look at the gifts of the Holy Spirit. First, we go Romans 12:6-8 for a pretty clear list of the gifts given by the Holy Spirit. These would include prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading and compassion. Another list is found in 1 Corinthians 12. Here Paul goes on to be more specific. Among this list are words of wisdom, words of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working miracles, prophecy, discerning spirits, different kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues, apostles, prophets and administration.
Pretty healthy list of gifts provided to us by God through the Holy Spirit.
I do feel like there is something else that has to be said here. Specific gifts are not required to demonstrate that you have been saved. There can be no doubt here. Salvation is conditional upon faith. The gifts are unique to each individual, and do not demonstrate salvation. What I am trying to debunk here is any notion or idea that… if you don’t speak in tongues you are not saved. This statement is biblically inaccurate. The proof is in the pudding. 1 Corinthians 12:27–30 demonstrates this. The questions asked here are rhetorical. As I said before, all gifts are unique to the individual to serve the body. There is no scriptural support that shows that tongues are mandatory.
These gifts are assigned to us all upon salvation and the indwelling of the Spirit. All gifts are given to us individually, but are given for the benefit of the entire body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:4-7).
The remaining part of this post was originally intended to take a look at the gifts of the Holy Spirit as they function today. This is a heavily debated topic amongst Christians from a number of denominations. This is a point that Kevin and I heavily disagree on. As we started to work through how we could display the debate we came to the conclusion that the debate itself needed to be its own post. Our disagreement does not take away from the fact that we are both brothers in Christ, and that we can disagree (respectively) and sharpen iron.
In an effort to demonstrate this Kevin and I will be posting a debate on the gifts of the Holy Spirit as they exist today. Specifically on the hotly debated topic of tongues, and prophecy.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are awesome. There are a few things we can draw from all of this…The Holy Spirit is active, the Holy Spirit is moving, and the acts of the Holy Spirit are not repetitive.
What would you say if I told you that God is with us all of the time? “Yeah Robert, I know God is with us all of the time.” I understand the feeling that you have right now. You know that God is with you all of the time. But do you know that God is with us ALL of the time? By now you are probably trying to figure out what I mean. I mean that God is literally with us ALL of the time. He is with you while you are at home, and while you are at church. But did you know he is with you while you were at work? Did you know he is with you while you are out running around with friends? While you are at school? While you are playing sports? Playing video games online? While you are on facebook, or myspace? Our God is not a part time God. He doesn’t work on Sunday, and then phone it in Monday through Saturday. Unfortunately many “Christians” do this not realizing that God is always present, even if they want to pretend he is not.
Our society is bent on separating God from many aspects of our everyday life. So far Sunday remains relatively unscathed, but Monday through Saturday is under fire. The amazing thing is that many of us (who know that God is with us all of the time) not only act like he is not with us all of the time but also perpetuate the knowledge that God doesn’t belong somewhere. What do I mean? Have you ever heard someone say that God doesn’t belong in the work place? Ever been a part of a policy that punishes those who are open about their faith? Have you ever voted for someone who said that they will not go to the capital based on their own religious views, even though they are a “Christian”? These are the same people who will vote for laws that edge God out.
So where does God belong? If you are in line with society, then: He doesn’t belong in school… He doesn’t belong in government… He doesn’t belong at work… He doesn’t belong in social commentary… He doesn’t belong in holidays… As a matter of fact there was news just recently from Davenport, IA, where folks want to rename Good Friday to “Spring Holiday”. But what if I were to say that God, no matter how hard you try, is with you during all of those times. Whether you acknowledge it or not God is always with you. This concept is known as Omnipresence.
Psalms 139
The case for God’s Omnipresence begins in Psalms 139. If you were to read Psalms 139 from beginning to end you would notice three distinct sections. The two relevant sections are V. 1-6 and then V. 7-12. Let’s look at V. 1-6. Here David is talking to God and saying, with reverence, how God knows everything he does. David here describes a number of scenarios that are seemingly ordinary – Things that every person will do. David proclaims that God knows him when he sits, when he stands. God knows his thoughts, is familiar with all of his ways, God even knows a word before it even hits David’s tongue. David finally says in V 6. That such knowledge is too much for him to attain. Here is an easy way to look at this: in V 1-6 David describes how completely God knows him. He knows everything about David. His thoughts, his actions, even his words before they are spoken. Then comes the reckoning: v. 7-12 describe David’s conclusion from v. 1-6. What is David’s conclusion? Since God knows everything, there is no place he can hide. Look at v. 7.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
David confirms God knows everything (i.e. God is Omniscient), and the reason He is Omniscient is because GOD IS EVERYWHERE – at all places at all times! Because God knows everything He is everywhere, and because He is everywhere He knows everything. This should give you an awesome insight into the perfect nature of God. One facet of God cannot exist without the other. God cannot be omniscient without being omnipresent, and vice versa.
In order to validate the omnipresence of God we can look at a couple of real life scenarios in the Bible where God’s omnipresence was a determining factor in the outcome of events.
Let’s start with Jonah. Everyone has more than likely heard what happened to Jonah. He is the guy who found himself in the belly of a fish. Have you ever wondered why? God came to Jonah and asked him to go preach in a city called Nineveh (Jonah 1:1). Jonah declined. As a matter of fact, not only did he decline, and he RAN! (Jonah 1:3). Why? It turns out that Jonah did not want to preach at Nineveh. He knew that if he did, and they repented, God would spare them, and he didn’t want that. So Jonah split – God said go East… and….Jonah went West. God had none of it. Jonah ran, got onto a boat and tried to get away from God. God’s actions demonstrate that it is impossible to hide from God (Jonah 1:4-17).
Next Go to Jeremiah 23:23-24. In this part of Jeremiah the subject matter is lying prophets. Verse 23 being the set up verse for the hammer in verse 24:
Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD.(NIV)
This message in Jeremiah is the same message as Psalm 139, and the same message as in Jonah: God is EVERYWHERE – ALL THE TIME… There is no getting away from that fact.
The separation of church and state has been so warped and misconstrued that it has permeated ALL aspects of life. The basic premise behind that statement is that God does not belong. Nothing is further from the truth. No matter what you have been taught, or what any person tells you, God is WITH you ALL of the time. You are on the hook for what you do ALL of the time. So, the next time you find yourself thinking that you have to leave God on your counter, or someone is telling you that God doesn’t belong here who are you going to believe that person, or the Word of God? Remember…God is always with you. There is no place you can go, that He is not… What’s more – He BELONGS there!
God created everything. This would include Satan. Looking at the timeline presented in the Bible we know that Satan and his bunch of rebels were kicked out of Heaven before the creation of Adam and Eve. Satan was the best and brightest of the angels. But he had a flaw. He wanted to be like God – Really, he wanted to BE God. This naturally caused a rift between God and Satan, and of course God wins. With Satan, 1/3 of the angels departed from heaven (we know them now as demons). If we know that Satan fought against God because he wanted to be like God, we can draw some conclusions.
1. Satan is not God thus,
2. Satan is not Omnipotent (All Powerful) and,
3. Omniscient (All Knowing) and,
4. Satan is not Omnipresent (Everywhere at once).
These four simple points cover a lot of area. Because Satan is not God, he cannot know everything that is or will be, and he cannot be with us all of the time and He can (and will be) defeated!
All of these points are critical to gain understanding of our common opponent. Satan is an aggressive opponent, and knows how to attack people. This statement implies a level of omniscience. However, we have already established that he is not omniscient. So how does he know? I believe Satan is an excellent observer of human behavior. Let’s be honest – he has had thousands of years of observations to draw from.
Observation is a highly effective strategy that is often used in business, sports and war. People are taught to watch for cues that indicate what people are thinking, how they might respond, when to press, and when to lay back and let it ride. Anyone’s personal experience is limited to maybe 20 to 30 years of active observation. Satan, though, has all the years going back to Adam and Eve to draw from. This gives me reason to believe that while Satan is not omniscient he certainly can provide a very educated guess as to how you will respond to temptation.
While we are all created uniquely, we all are prone to various kinds of temptations which are not unique. Our mistakes are not the first of their kind in human history. This is Satan’s tactical advantage over us. He knows that while we are unique in our creation, our response to temptation is not. After thousands of years of observation of personality types, and responses, he knows how to trip a trigger and crawl into your life. There is hope, though… See 1 Corinthians 10:13 While Satan has millennia of experience tripping people up, God, though the Holy Spirit, has been equally practiced at helping God’s people deal with sin… More on this later.
Everyone has their pressure points. Do you believe that it is a coincidence that the same issues appear over and over in your own life? I never thought about it until recently. Then it finally dawned on me: Satan is real, Satan is clever and Satan is a very astute observer.
The attacks can be sudden, and from out of nowhere. There can be long pauses between attacks (demonstrating Satan’s lack of omnipresence). Rest assured, if you are making an impact for God, if you are beginning to grow in your faith, or beginning in your path towards the truth, you will attract his attention and his ire. This is where understanding your opponent’s tactics will really help you.
Satan deals in half truths. He wants to present you an option that appears to be in the nature of the Bible and God’s word. This is the trick of Satan. 2 Corinthians 11:14 says that Satan masquerades as an angel of light. Here is an example. If you are beginning to grow in your faith, then it is fair to say that you are trying to rid yourself of some bad habits. Stress is a fantastic way to push people back to a default habit or personality trait. Apply a little stress, and the normal person will revert. Let me use examples out of my own life. Things like success are a difficult temptation for me because, while I have my moments, I am not a humble guy. Another example for me is fear of betrayal. Satan knows my weaknesses, and knows what I need to see in order to feed my arrogance and paranoia. But this is not limited just to me! Satan’s desire is for you to revert. God’s desire is for you to succeed by becoming more like His Son – See Ephesians 5:1-2.
Look at these startling statistics. The Bible mentions Satan over 180 times, Jesus mentions him 100+ times. Despite that, 60% of believers believe that Satan isn’t a real living being, but rather a symbol of evil. The greatest achievement of Satan is to have convinced the world that he doesn’t exist. Not only has he convinced the world but also believers.
If you are a believer let me boil it down a little more strongly…You are willing to have faith that Christ was born of a virgin, Christ is the son of God, Christ lived without sin, Christ died on the cross for your sin’s, Christ was resurrected, and God created angels, …Do you really think it is so farfetched to believe that Satan is real?!
Next time, we will look at specific strategies for defeating this very real and active enemy, but as a preview you may want to take a look at the following passages: James 4:4-7; Ephesians 6:10-18 & Romans 6:6-13.
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No Apologizing 
We’ve got mail….yeaaaaaaah. We’ve got mail, we’ve got mail, we’ve got mail…
No Apologizing now has its own email… noapologizing@gmail.com.
KB and I are gearing up for our 100th post. It is a pretty big deal that we hit this mark. For the 100th post we are hoping to put together a vlog. For those of you not familiar…a vlog is like a blog but only in video format. What we would like to do for our vlog is to be as interactive with you as possible. This could include questions about us, questions you have on theology, or just comments in general. That is where the e-mail comes in…
Use the e-mail to send us your questions or comments. We will use them in the vlog to generate discussion. If you have something you would like for us to debate….send it in. I can tell you right now the vlog has been decided on. If we don’t receive any e-mails Kevin will be forced to do 20 push-ups on camera…well maybe that won’t work…because I am sure people will want to see that.
On behalf of Kevin (who is probably getting upset reading this) and I, we would like to thank you for reading our posts, and we hope you get something out of it.
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