Psalm 19:17-19

The law of the Lord is perfect,
restoring the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
The precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true,
they are righteous altogether.

Taking Up Our Cross And Following Him

"And He was saying to them all, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life, shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of Him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.' " (Luke 9:23-25 NASB)

What does it mean to take up our cross and follow Him? It means living by kingdom principles.

According to Pastor Rob and others it looks like this:

1. Giving when I feel like keeping.
2. Praying for others when I need to be prayed for.
3. Feeding others when my own soul is hungry.
4. Living truth before others when I can't see the result.
5. Hurting with another when my own hurt cannot be spoken.
6. Keeping my word when it's not convenient.
7. Being faithful when my flesh wants to run away.
8. Seeking to understand rather than to be understood.
9. Loving while being hated.
10. Taking heed to my own inner life when instructing and encouraging others.
11. Giving advice for other's benefit not my own.
12. Keeping quiet when speaking up would hurt another seemingly to my benefit.
13. Giving grace, love and patience in the face of another's weakness and failure.
14. Listening when I just want to cover my ears.

Why I believe the Bible

The Bible is a compilation of sixty-six (66) books written by at least forty (40) authors over a period of about fifteen hundred (1500) years. It was written in three (3) languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) on three (3) different continents. Yet it is unique in its unity/continuity.

The Bible is filled with hundreds of extremely detailed prophecies (a large number of which have been historically fulfilled) concerning:

• the future of specific nations
• the future of specific cities
• the future of specific families and individuals
• the future of mankind

There are over three hundred (300) prophecies concerning the coming of Messiah/Savior including:

• the town of His birth
• His family of origin
• His virgin birth
• how He would die and the details surrounding His crucifixion
• His entry into Jerusalem on a donkey
• betrayal by His friend
• His silence when accused
• being beaten and spit upon
• the rejection of Him as Messiah
• His resurrection after three days
• His ascension into heaven

There are more than one thousand (1,000) copies and fragments of the NT in Syria, Armenian, Coptic, Europic, Gothic. There are more than four thousand (4,000) Greek manuscripts containing all or portions of the NT. There are about eight thousand (8,000) copies of the Latin Vulgate. NO other documents of antiquity are as well attested as the New Testament. (Not Socrates, nor Shakespeare, even.)

If all the existing manuscripts did not exist, the entire NT could be reconstructed via thousands of quotations throughout the writings of the early Christians...with the exception of ten to twenty verses. These writings circulated during the time that there were thousands of people living who had seen Christ, witnessed or heard about the miracles He did, and witnessed His crucifixion, none of them refuted the writings as fairy tales or myths.

There is secular historical evidence. (Josephus, Tacitus, Thallus, Mara Bar-Seraphon, Plegon, Lucian, Pliny the Younger) The Encyclopedia Britannica says, "These independent accounts prove that in ancient times even the opponents of Christianity never doubted the historicity of Jesus, which was disputed for the first time and on inadequate grounds by several authors at the end of the 18th, during the 19th, and at the beginning of the 20th centuries."

There is archaeological evidence for its accuracy with more evidence being discovered regularly. No archaeological evidence has contradicted a Biblical reference.

Scientific discoveries have proven many things mentioned in the Bible. Dinosaurs, the inability to number the stars, the uniqueness of each star, that the earth hangs on nothing, how the wind moves and that it has weight, that life is in the blood, reproductive integrity, the hydrologic cycle, that the earth is round in shape, for instance.

The early Christians, including the Apostles, died rather than recant their testimony that Jesus died, was buried and was resurrected, then ascended into heaven.

115 AD, P. Cornelius Tacitus, in book 15, chapter 44 of The Annals:

“Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.”

The power the Bible has had in my own life.

"Trinity"

I believe Jesus is God come to the earth in human form to pay the price that His justice demands for sin. How can I believe this?

Trinity is not a word the Bible uses; it is man's word for a concept that is clearly taught in the Bible. The Father is called God; the Son, Jesus Christ, is called God; and the Holy Spirit is called God. (Do your own research.) The very first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, uses a plural form of God when it states "In the beginning God...". The Hebrew word used is Elohim which is plural.

When man is created Genesis says, "Let us make man in our image."

John 1 says, " In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God...And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."

I have no problem with the concept of three in one because this kind of trinity is all around us.

Time - past, present, future - three in one which cannot exist any other way.

Elements - gas, liquid, solid - three in one. Can they they exist any other way?

Man - body, soul, spirit - three in one. Near death reports tell us that they do exist outside one another...as in Jesus seated at the Father's right hand.

Egg - shell, albumin, yolk. Not an egg any other way.

Need I go on?

I believe in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - three in one. The evidence I see convinces me of what I cannot see.

The Existence of God

I believe God exists. I believe because of the evidence I can see.

The human body is, for me, evidence of the existence of God. For me to believe our bodies just evolved to be the complex machines they are takes more faith than to believe they were designed. That a woman's breast redesigns itself into a milk factory complete with straw and then back to "regular" breast tissue when the milk is no longer needed is mind-blowing. DNA, six feet (!) of info tightly coiled into a double helix in every one of our body's 100,000,000,000,000 cells...the language of life...Someone designed that language and put it where it is. If you can't explain where that information came from, how can you explain life? Everything about our bodies is amazing, startling, incredible, when one stops to think about it. Of course, we rarely stop to think about it unless something goes terribly wrong. Yet everyday our bodies exhibit the wonders, the marvels of life. Bones, muscles, skin. Eyes, ears, tongue. Arms, legs, fingers, toes. Heart, lungs, stomach. Every cell doing its thing, day in and day out, contributing to the amazing whole. With no direction from a designer? I don't think so!

The earth itself. Hanging in space in the exact location, at the exact tilt, at the exact speed, etc. that sustains life. Just the right combination of elements in the right formulation that sustains life. Hmm, Who knew what elements to design and what beings to design to go with them? Finely tuned, exactly coordinated processes that keep our planet going day in and day out. Physical laws govern the universe. Someone designed those laws and put those laws in place.

John O'Keefe, an honored astronomer and pioneer in space research had this to say in an article entitled "The Theological Impact of the New Cosmology", "We are, by astronomical standards, a pampered, cossetted, cherished group of creatures; our Darwinian claim to have done it all ourselves is as ridiculous and as charming as a baby's brave efforts to stand on its own feet and refuse his mother's hand. If the universe had not been made with the most exacting precision we could never have come into existence. It is my view that these circumstances indicate the universe was created for man to live in."

I could go on...the brain, mind and consciousness, intelligence, will, biology, biochemistry, cosmology, astronomy...

For me, the evidence is all there. What I can see is evidence for what I can't see...God.

Blind faith?

Blind faith?

No, never blind faith...

True faith is never blind. True faith is based on evidence.

We exercise faith every day.

I don't know how my car works, exactly, but I have faith that when I put the key in the ignition and turn it my car is going to start. When it doesn't, I am surprised. Why do I think it's going to start? Because I have experienced it starting day after day.

When I drive my car onto the freeway...or down the street...I have faith that the cars zooming toward me are going to stay on the other side of the line. If one of them doesn't, I am surprised (and maybe injured or dead). Why am I so certain that they are going to stay on the other side that I take my life into my own hands and head down the street? Because I have experienced them staying on the other side day after day.

When I go to work I have faith that I will receive a paycheck for the work that I have done. I am surprised if the check bounces. Week after week it doesn't bounce so I deposit it and write my own checks to people who have faith that I am going to pay my bills with checks that don't bounce.


I could go on and on and on ad nauseum about the faith we each exercise daily...sitting down on a chair and trusting it will hold my weight, opening a candy bar and biting into it trusting that it isn't poisoned, going to sleep at night trusting that I will awaken in the morning...but the point is, true faith is NOT blind. True faith is based on evidence.

Hebrews 11:1 (NAS) "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

The Greek word translated "conviction" in this verse is elegchos. It's a legal term that has to do with the truthfulness of the evidence on which one is charged and convicted.

What are the most important things I have faith in? That God exists...that He manifests Himself in three ways, God the Father; God, the Son; God, the Holy Spirit...that the Bible is His Word to mankind, including me...that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh come to this earth to pay the penalty for the sin of mankind, including mine...that God, the Father was satisfied with the payment of the shed blood of God, the Son, Jesus Christ...that when the Son returned to the Father He sent the Holy Spirit to live in every believer...that God, the Holy Spirit leads mankind, including me, into all truth...that He enables mankind, including me, to walk in the statutes of God, that He strengthens me in my inner being, that He is the guarantee of my future inheritance with God...that the Son will return for His bride, the church...that there is a day of judgment coming....

More later on the evidence for my faith in these things....

Pride/Humility

Sunday's sermon was one that was probably as hard to give as it was to listen to...if one listened with the heart.

The topic was pride and humility.

At lunch we were discussing the destruction of Sodom and Gommorah and the fact that "everyone" thinks God destroyed them because of homosexuality. Yet Ezekiel 16:49, 50 says, "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease, but yet she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore, I removed them when I saw it."

My son said, "Well, isn't pride the ultimate cause of all sin?"

I have been thinking about the sins I commit...and I think he's right.

Prov. 16:5-7 - "Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; assuredly he will not be unpunished. By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the LORD one keeps away from evil. When a man's ways are pleasing to the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him."

Oh, Lord, help me to humble myself before you. Examine my heart and try my thoughts and show me if there is any wicked way in me caused by pride. Grant me a heart of godly sorrow that will lead me to true repentance, forgive me in Jesus' name and fill me with your Spirit that I might not sin against you.