Faith

Notes for The Another Chance Podcast: Thursday, June 18, 2021 – “Possessing a Steadfast Faith”

Here are the notes for the Another Chance Podcast, Episode 39.

These are taken directly from the International Zoom Bible Study I am super honored to facilitate each Saturday. There are some amazing guys in the group, including my co-leader Jeff, who is a Bible Scholar and a brother who battled cancer for 15-years. Also on the call is Neil, who is pioneering a church in Northern England; Luci, who does an amazing job serving as a pastor in Bulgaria; Mitch, who founded and runs a major Youth With A Mission training center in Chile; Shorsh, a former Muslim sheik and now a Christian pastor in Kurdistan; and Iyke and Gabriel who minister to gang members and drug addicts in the jungles of Nigeria.

I hope these notes inspire you to further study….

Possessing a Steadfast Faith
Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be firm, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord (1 Cor. 15:58)
The reality of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus is the cornerstone of a steadfast faith. 

Jesus told his disciples the resurrection was to happen
– In Mark 10:32-34 we are told: And again He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him, saying, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock Him and spit on Him, and flog Him and kill Him; and three days later He will rise from the dead.”
– The “Old Testament” speaks of the resurrection of the Messiah in these passages:
Psalm 16, 22:1-31, Isaiah 52:13 through 53:12, Zechariah 12:10, Jonah 1:17, 12:39

Question: How can you share the truth of the resurrection with a not-yet-follower of Jesus?

The Resurrection is the Key to a Steadfast Faith
Paul tells us: But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is in vain. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ only in this life, we are of all people most to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:13-19).

Question: How does the truth of the resurrection cause your walk with the Lord to become more steadfast?

 

A Steadfast Faith Allows You to Share and Defend the Truth
– Because our eternal destinies ride on the truth of this historical event, the resurrection has been the target of Satan’s greatest attacks against the church. Accordingly, the historicity of Christ’s bodily resurrection has been examined and investigated from every angle and studied endlessly by countless scholars, theologians, professors, and others over the centuries–no credible historical evidence exists which would validate anything other than His literal bodily resurrection. On the other hand, the clear and convincing evidence of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is overwhelming.
– Remember the words of Peter: And who [or what] is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be in dread, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who disparage your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame
(1 Peter 3:13-16).

Question: How can you incorporate the resurrection into your personal story of coming to know Jesus as Lord?

Your Day at the Beach: Brought to You by Their Day at the Beach

June 6, 1944. 77 years ago today.  2,499 unbelievably brave Americans, whose average age was 20, gave their lives to end the worst scourge the planet has ever seen on Omaha and Utah Beaches. These men were part of  more than 160,000 Allied troops who stormed the beaches of Normandy, facing a torrent of gunfire, artillery shells and bombs. In addition to the American lives, 10,000+ Allied troops were killed. Against all odds, by the end of the day, the liberation of Europe had begun. Satan’s plan to conquer with the world with Nazism was to fail.

There aren’t enough words that any of us could speak that would possibly be enough to thank all the men that fought on D-Day.

We remember them this year, we will remember them next year and we will remember them every single year that passes. It serves as a reminder that the spirit of America, when aligned with prayer and devotion to the God of All Creation, will never back down.

God bless our military and our incredible country.

May a wave of revival sweep this land.

Another Chance Podcast Notes: God’s Incredible Equation for Success

These are the notes for the Another Chance Podcast (Episode 30, June 2, 2021).  The notes are actually copied from a men’s Bible study I recently facilitated.

Hope they are a blessing to you!

——————-

                                  God’s Math

I came across some old notes in my Bible which I thought would be excellent to share as we begin a new year. The notes say, “God’s Math for a Successful Life:
Deuteronomy 6:5-6, + Deuteronomy 10:12-13, = Deuteronomy 11:13-15.
This can be translated as,
Love God + Be Obedient = True Success

First off, God’s brand of success is a matter of the heart
Here’s what Jesus says: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

Love God
The first portion of the equation is Deuteronomy 6:5-6, it was spoken by Moses just after he presented the Ten Commandments – You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.

Remember, we love Him because He first love us
– For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
– God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him…We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:16-19).
Question: How did you first become aware of God’s love for you? How did you respond?


Plus, Be Obedient
The above verse, plus Deuteronomy 10:12-13 says, What does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?

Our Obedience is based on His love for us
– And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8).
– “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him (John 14:23).
Question: How have you grown in obedience to the Lord?


Equals, True Success
The sum of the equation is found in Deuteronomy 11:13-15, …then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.  

 Walking in love and obedience will bring you an abundant harvest

– Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6,7)
–  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22).
Question: How is God’s brand of success showing up in your life?

 

USA Today: Hurtful to call a man a male (so, what does that say about God?)

USA Today has determined that calling a man a “male” is “hurtful.”

What an in-your-face to the Creator of the Universe.

Genesis 1:27 proclaims: So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

The situation arose because of a commentary written by Chelsea Mitchell, one of several female athletes in Connecticut who filed a lawsuit after the state decided that boys, if they call themselves girls, can compete on girls’ sports teams. She’s represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, which noted online,

On May 22, USA Today published an opinion piece from Alliance Defending Freedom client Chelsea Mitchell (Soule v. Connecticut Association of Schools) about the injustice she experienced as an athlete who was forced to compete against males in track. On May 25, editors at USA Today, without notice to Chelsea, changed the word ‘male’ to ‘transgender’ throughout her piece and added the following editor’s note to the top of it: This column has been updated to reflect USA TODAY’s standards and style guidelines. We regret that hurtful language was used.

Fox reported that Mitchell’s lawyer, Christiana Holcomb, “accused the media organization of ‘unilaterally’ changing Mitchell’s words after acquiescing to ‘backlash from the woke mob.'”

“USA Today violated its principles to appease the mob. This blatant censorship violates the trust we place in media to be honest brokers of public debate,” Holcomb said.

Mitchell has graduated, but remains in the fight.

“It is a big issue,” she contends.  “Personally, I lost a lot, but there were countless other girls that also lost state championships. I believe there were 15 state championships that the two biological males took from biological females. And there were more than 85 girls that missed out on opportunities to advance in medal and make finals. And so it’s not just me, girls across the state were being impacted by this policy.”

This “woke”  generation is certainly proving this passage from the New Testament to be totally true: For they exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen (Romans 1:25). 

I know my woke Christian critics will be upset at me for my language, but these people are idiots.

Christians Must Stand Against the Jewish Hate

By the way,  I have an extensive podcast on this topic, but here’s the tidy overview…

I grew up thinking that Christianity was hostile towards the Jewish people.  My primary examples of such violent hatred were the Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages, Adolph Hitler, and the KKK.  I was told they were all Christians and obviously, and devilishly, hated Jews.

Then I researched Christianity for myself by reading the New Testament. There is NO WAY an authentic follower of Jesus (Yeshua) could align themselves with the activities of those three examples.

Not even for a millisecond!

Let’s take a step back for a moment and look at history. Jesus, his mother Mary, and her husband Joseph were all highly observant Jews.  All of the disciples called to follow Jesus were Jews who loved Torah. John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, was a Jew.  Prior to being known as the Apostle Paul (who wrote much of the New Testament), Rabbi Saul was (you guessed it) Jewish.

And speaking of guesses, guess what?  They were all persecuted for following the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  In the case of Jesus he was persecuted to death for claiming to be the promised Messiah, in accordance with prophets like Isaiah who said 700 years prior to the crucifixion:

He was despised and abandoned by men,
A man of great pain and familiar with sickness;
And like one from whom people hide their faces,
He was despised, and we had no regard for Him.

However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore,
And our pains that He carried;
Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted,
Struck down by God, and humiliated.
But He was pierced for our offenses,
He was crushed for our wrongdoings;
The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him,
And by His wounds we are healed.
All of us, like sheep, have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all
To fall on Him.
(Isaiah 53:3-6) 

Hatred of the Jews goes back to the beginning. When God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees and promised that his seed would become a great nation, possess the land of Israel and that God would use the nation of Israel to bless the world, the Jewish people became public enemy number one in the eyes of Satan!

That’s right, Antisemitism is Satanic.

Whenever or wherever antisemitism has occurred in history, up to and including the current outbreak of disgusting acts being performed by Muslims.

The question is, what action should we take as followers of Jesus the Messiah?  Jesus loved and wept for his brethren, God’s Chosen People.  In fact, as Messiah he died a sacrificial death first for the Jews, and then for the Gentiles.

Is antisemitism to remain unchallenged by the true followers of Jesus?

NO. We cannot–we must not–stand by silently!

I know that true Christians love the Jewish people. In these increasingly troubled times, the Church has a unique opportunity to show Jewish friends that they are loved and, more importantly, that Yeshua loves them!

Through the Jewish patriarchs, the prophets, and the temple, God used the Jews to bring forth His Word, the Law, and morality to a world of sin. He sent forth His son, Jesus the Messiah, in a Jewish body to redeem the world of sin. Satan, the prince of the earth (John 14:30; Ephesians 2:2), has poisoned the minds of men with his hatred of the Jews.

Jewish persecution and antisemitism at large is sign of Satan’s hatred for a people chosen by God to reveal the Word of God, and the Messiah of God.