The Great Commission.3

"No one who puts his hand to the plough, 
and then looks back, 
is suitable for the kingdom of God."

-Jesus

I asked a young man recently, "Do you think Jesus came to make us  good "Christians" or good men?  

The question brings to mind an event I read in Mark Steyn's "After America":

[on Dec 6, 1989]

MarcLépine walked into an engineering classroom at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique with a gun and told all the men to leave the room.  They meekly did as ordered.  He then shot all the women....The defining image of contemporary maleness is not Monsieur Lepine but the professors and the men in that classroom, who, ordered to leave by the lone gunman, obeyed, and abandoned their female classmates to their fate--an act of abdication that would have been unthinkable in almost any other culture throughout human history.  The "men" stood outside in the corridor and, even as they heard the first shots, they did nothing.  And, when it was over and Levine walked out of the room and past them, they still did nothing.  Whatever its other defects, Canadian manhood does not suffer from an excess of testosterone."

Mr. Steyn uses multiple examples of the shift in expectations, attitudes and behaviors of the male species throughout the modern world. 

If the highest and most noble demonstration of manhood is love; and the highest of which love is capable is to lay your life down for another, we are failing most miserably who look back-or around-to get our bearings for manhood from anyone but Jesus himself. 

"And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul..." (Deuteronomy 10:12)

If you want to be right, love right.  And to love right, love a righteous man!  Love The Righteous Man!  Trust me, you'll keep your furrows straight!

The Great Commission.2

"There is a great harvest before you, but sadly, the laborers are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest that he will send more laborers to gather in his harvest."

--Jesus

Did you realize that you can read or listen to all the recorded words of Jesus, the things he spoke and taught, in two to three hours? In very few words he was able to shape the course of human history by revealing the essentials of our humanity!

Over the centuries innumerable words have been written attempting to explain what His words meant. But the secret to unlocking the depths of understanding to the Treasures of Wisdom he holds is not found in a Bible Commentary or study of the original languages or memorizing creeds. 

The secret is really no secret at all. If you truly want to know the meaning of Jesus' words it begins as it always has: 

do what He says!

Every act of obedience begins with our eyes on the Father and our hearts attentive to His Will.

An owner of a manufacturing plant expressed his frustration to me one day relating how difficult it is to find good workers. "They finish a project, then sit down to wait for more instructions. At the very least they could pick up a broom and clean around their area. There is always something they can do to be productive!" 

That worker who knows his employer's heart and orders his activities by that knowledge and truly desires to please him is worth his weight in gold!

Core Values of a Follower of Jesus*: 

1. Jesus has a right to our absolute obedience.

2. Jesus died that we might die like him: die to any ruling power in us but the perfect will of God.

3. Jesus died to make us Just, Merciful and Perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.

4. Jesus died to make us merry children of our Father in heaven, loving what is lovely, delivered from all meanness, pretense, falseness, unfairness, cowardice, fear, anxiety, self-worship, trust or hope in possessions.

5. Our Father in heaven is grandly beautiful, is always doing His best for every person, and is the only good for any person.

6. No man is ever condemned for any sin except one: that he will not leave his sins and come out of them to be the child of Him who is his Father.

7. Our heavenly Father, in justice and mercy,will give us what punishment we need to make us right or keep us from going wrong.

8. Our Father gives His spirit to everyone who will open their hearts to him in childlike obedience; his Spirit will always guide us to what is true and will lead us in the way of righteousness.

9. To be a follower of Jesus Christ is the reason every human being is born and the goal of teaching is to persuade everyone to become His follower.

*(adapted from MacDonald's Unspoken Sermon, Justice)  

The Great Commission.1

"Let those who are spiritually dead attend to their earthly concerns; but you go and proclaim the coming of the kingdom of God to the waiting world."

--Jesus

The problem with being a Zombie, as near as I can figure, is that you don't know you are dead...I suppose that is troublesome enough--to be self-deluded like that--however, compounding the problem is that they just won't leave the living alone...

The Chick Fil A controversy is a great example.  The owner, Dan Cathie, answering an interviewer's question, simply stated his belief and support for Biblical principles like traditional marriage and keeping the Sabbath holy by closing his restaurants and giving his employees a day off to rest and worship God.

In reprisal--go figure--several big city mayors have come out and put up a "no vacancy" sign to Chick Fil A.   Consider Boston's announcement:

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino declared, "Chick-fil-A doesn't belong in Boston." He recklessly slandered the company by accusing it of "discriminat(ing) against the population." And he warned ominously: "If they need licenses in the city, it will be very difficult -- unless they open up their policies."

A simple suggestion, from radio commentator and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, to support them by designating a day to eat at Chick Fil A quickly spread throughout the social media network. Support was overwhelming with long lines and long waits to show solidarity for Mr. Cathie's right to exercise free speech and not be publicly vilified for it.

By contrast, CEO's from two of the world's largest companies, Microsoft and Amazon, have contributed millions of dollars to support Washington state's gay marriage law against a ballot initiative to overturn it with little fanfare or public response.

Let's say, for argument's sake, that supporting efforts like letting babies live and not encouraging their termination in the name of "choice", or staking a historical position like narrowly defining marriage as the union of a man and woman is on the side of Life, i.e., the Kingdom of God.  And, for argument's sake, taking up a position opposite of those views is on the side of Death.  We then can, for argument's sake, understand Joshua's declaration: 

"And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15)

Or Mose's admonition:

"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,
loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." (Deuteronomy 30:19, 20)

Let's suppose, for argument's sake, that proclaiming Life, the kingdom of God will, like the smell of flesh to Zombies, attract the spiritually dead to attack with vicious and deadly retribution, what will you choose? 

Boston mayor quote from Michelle Malkin's blog at: http://patriotpost.us/opinion/14216 

The Call.11

"Enter therefore through the narrow gate; for wide is the path, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many go that way. But narrow is the gate and the path, which leads to life, and there are few that find it. 

Make every effort to go through the gate that leads to life. 

One day, many will want to exchange their way for the right way, and find it to be too late."

--Jesus

Has a human being been born who has not experienced the crushing sense of loss at being "too late?"  And the greater the want the more devastating the blow...

Things you could be too late for:

• a beautiful sunrise
• a stunning sunset
• meeting your future spouse
• your child's performance
• the opening of a premier movie
• "Black Friday" sales
• your wedding
• your funeral
• an airline flight
• deadline to avoid a late fee
• a coupon discount
• a rebate
• helping a friend
• blessing an enemy
• an historical moment...

In Dallas, TX this week tens of thousands of people have come from around the world to join an historical event, Restoring Love, the final installment of the restoring character events, the brain-child of radio commentator Glenn Beck.

If you, like me, are not there it is too late to participate in the various projects engaged in by 30,000 people who have come from across the USA to bring elbow grease, hope and help to the needy.  To see first hand the miracles that love has wrought.  To wonder at the bond of friendships being built across the stations of life.  To thrill at the testimonies of old & young alike being transformed by the power of  the Lord of Love! To experience one heart. To be taught by great men. To envision the work of restoring America to its covenant relationship with God.

But it is not too late to make every effort to join in on this movement of God.  It is not too late to repent and restore faith in God. It is not too late to teach fundamental principles of freedom to every family in America.  It is not too late to do good, the right way, to communities and people across this great country.  It is not too late to elect godly & virtuous people to office.  It is not too late to cut the size of governing bureaucracy in half.  It is not too late to restore the Spirit of America's goodness and generosity to people's of the world.  It is not too late to restore a hope for tomorrow to future generations...but it does take every (one's) effort!

For people who have opted for a life of indolence, living off the industry of others, having no spiritual life in them to fully comprehend their own feeble existence, there is coming a day when the crushing sense of loss will engulf their senses.

There'll always be another sale, sunrise and rebate...but some things really are too late!

The Call.10

"Because I have told you such things, 

        do you believe? 

Truly, you will witness even greater things than these."

--Jesus

Mountains of books have been written on knowing "what" you believe.  Few ask the question: "Why do you believe?"

If George MacDonald was placed on this earth for any reason, it may very well have been to refocus us on the one essential of faith: believing IN Jesus.  

Not stuff about Him.

To those who put correct doctrine above active obedience to the Lord of Life:

When attempting to understand Jesus' words we often ask the wrong question such as: 'Do I believe or feel this thing right?'

But the true question is: 

'Have I left all to follow him?' 

To the man who gives himself to the living Lord, every belief will necessarily come right; the Lord himself will see that his disciple believe aright concerning him. If a man cannot trust him for this, what claim can he make to faith in him? 

What I insist upon is, that a man's faith shall be in the living, loving, ruling, helping Christ, devoted to us as much as ever he was, and with all the powers of the Godhead for the salvation of his brethren. It is not faith that he did this, that his work wrought that—it is faith in the man who did and is doing everything for us that will save him: without this he cannot work to heal spiritually, any more than he would heal physically, when he was present to the eyes of men. 

Do you ask, 'What is faith in him?' I answer:

• The leaving of your way, your objects, your self, and the taking of his and him  

• the leaving of your trust in men, in money, in opinion, in character, in atonement itself, 

and doing as he tells you. 

I can find no words strong enough to serve for the weight of this necessity—this obedience. It is the one terrible heresy of the church, that it has always been presenting something else than obedience as faith in Christ.

(MacDonald, Unspoken Sermons II, The Truth In Jesus)

Why do I believe?  Because He said it!  I believe in Him!

The Call.9

"No one can come to me unless the Father, who has sent me, draws him; and I will raise up that person on the last day. All of you whom the Father has given me will come to me: and whoever comes to me, I will never refuse." 

-Jesus

A 2012 Ramadan Prayer Guide

July 19, 2012 by Eddie Cox

http://missionaryblogdigest.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/a-2012-ramadan-prayer-guide/

2012 Ramadan Prayer Guide

Mosque in Pakistan

 Sunset on July 19 begins the fasting month of Ramadan since Ramadan officially begins on the 20th.  Join with us as we pray for the salvation which comes by grace through  faith in the Lord Jesus, who according to 1Corinthians 15:3-4 died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.  This is the essence of our salvation.  Will you also consider fasting from sunrise to sunset one day of this month?

July 19:   Many Muslims anticipate the beginning of Ramadan with great expectation.  It is a time when greater emphasis is placed on spiritual matters.  Ask the Father that those who truly desire to know Him will begin to see their need for a Redeemer.

July 20:   This month there is a greater emphasis on good works, hoping and endeavoring to please Allah.  Ask that those fasting would be faced with the startling realization that all their good works are like menstrual rags to God and will not gain them access to Heaven.

July 21:   Ask that those fasting will be blessed with a thirsting and hungering  after Truth and not cease endeavoring to satisfy this hunger until they partake of the Bread of Life.

July 22:   Women must rise early each day to prepare a meal which her family will eat before the sun rises.  As women tire because of this schedule ask that in their weariness they would encounter True Rest in I AM.

July 23:   Children are encouraged to fast and participate in Ramadan activities.  Many do so to gain approval from their parents, their community and their peers.  May God create unrest in their hearts, replacing it with a longing to be accepted by Him!

July 24:   Giving to the poor is emphasized during this month.  Those who have more are expected to give and those who consider themselves poor anticipate receiving from others.  Ask that each of these, both the giver and the receiver will consider and understand the poverty of their spiritual lives without the Giver of All Good Things!

July 25:   Ask that those fasting will be blessed with a deep thirst for Truth and will not cease endeavoring to satisfy this thirst until they partake of the Living Water.

July 26:   Ask that the eyes and hearts of believers would be opened and they will diligently and faithfully pursue the seekers encouraging them along the path to Christ.  Ask that the spirit of fear and apathy in their lives and hearts would be defeated.

July 27:   Ask that believers would respond with passion and compassion, demonstrating the love of Christ in very tangible, life changing ways.  Ask that in addition to helping meet physical needs they would also work to meet spiritual needs.

July 28: Ask that believers would be bold and take every opportunity to share Christ.  The season provides wonderful occasions for believers to visit in the homes of friends and break the fast with them.

July 29: Ask for new believers to see how they can remain in their culture, being salt and light and obedient to the commands of Christ.

July 30: Lift up believers asking they would hold firm and true to I AM in the face of opposition and pressure they face in this season and all year long.

July 31: Ask that He will use the Seeds planted during this season to bear His fruit in the fullness of time.  Praise Him that His Word never returns void.

August 1: Ask that the simplicity of the Good News would draw many to I AM during this fasting month.  “By grace you have been saved.”  Ask that He would give grace to many in need of His great mercy.

August 2: 2 Corinthians 2:15 & 16 speak of the dark veil which covers the hearts of those without I AM.  Ask that the veil would be removed and many would experience new found freedom in Him.

August 3: According to Romans 10:20 ask that He would seek those who are not even looking for Him.  Ask that He would reveal Himself to many who are not even asking for Him.  Rejoice that we serve an amazing Redeemer.

August 4: Muslims very often associate Christianity completely with Western culture.  Muslims often believe that Christians are being deceived.  For many Muslims, the word “Christian” signifies materialism, a lack of spirituality and moral failure.  Ask that the Father would provide true followers of Jesus for them to see.

August 5: Muslims often believe that the Book has been altered and corrupted.  They will deny its authority because they see it as not being authentic.  Ask that many would be drawn to read portions of the Book and would be unable to forget the truth of its precious Promises.

August 6: Muslims believe Jesus was conceived miraculously by God in the womb of Mary.  They believe  Jesus is only a prophet and that He did not die on the cross.  Ask that those fasting would be confronted by the Truth of the Word which became flesh.

August 7: According to 2 Corinthians 4:4 the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.  Seek the Father, asking that HIS LIGHT penetrate the darkness of those fasting this month. 

August 8: Muslims all over the world pray memorized ritual prayers toward Mecca five times a day.  They must also ritually wash before these prayer times.   Ask that as they pray God will reveal that He is the Way, the Truth , and the Life and that no man can come to the Father except through the Son.

August 9: Muslims believe the Holy Trinity implies a belief in three gods.  Many Muslims believe that the Christian Trinity is made up of the Father, Mary and the Son.  Ask that this month God’s Spirit would break through false concepts about the Trinity, replacing them with truth.

August 10: Muslims believe there is a Day of Judgment for all people.  Ask that the Lord would provide someone to tell them the truth about this coming day and that Jesus is the Judge!

August 11: This week those fasting anticipate the “Night of Power” ( Leyla Al-Qadr), which is expected to fall during the last ten days of Ramadan: around August 9-18, 2012.  They ask forgiveness for their shortcomings firmly believing that Allah accepts their prayers more readily during this night.  Ask that God in His mercy would reveal that forgiveness is found only in Jesus Christ.

August 12: Ask that the power of I AM override the Night of Power so that people will be freed from the darkness that consumes them.

August 13: It is believed that on the “Night of Power” angels and spirits descend and carry out the commands of Allah. Muslims are often encouraged to stay awake during the entire night, and pray for blessings and forgiveness.  Ask that families and communities will testify of Jesus visiting them and calling them to follow Him.

August 14: Because many expect visions, dreams, signs, wonders and proper interpretations during this season and particularly during the Night of Power, ask that people will experience these and be led to seek I AM.

August 15: It is tradition as Ramadan comes to an end that children return to the home of their parents, asking forgiveness for wrongs which have been committed against them.  Pray that as they seek to honor their earthly fathers they will see the Living God as their Father and desire His forgiveness.

August 16: It is also tradition to ask forgiveness from friends, coworkers, and neighbors for wrongs in thought and deed committed against them.  Jesus alone offers forgiveness.  Ask that this truth be planted in the hearts of Muslims.

August 17: As the month of fasting comes to an end tomorrow, Muslims prepare to celebrate with family, friends, neighbors.  Would you continue to pray for their spiritual eyes to be opened so that the angels in heaven celebrate because He has drawn new children into His family?

The Call.8

"I add this to this story: many are called -- into the kingdom -- but few are chosen. The time has come. The kingdom of God is near at hand. I have called you from the world's way of living. Repent, put on the garments of salvation, and believe this good news."

--Jesus

The call goes out to all who want to join the game.  Many run to line up at the fence.  Captains deliberate, the rest wait in breathless anticipation to be "chosen."  Friendships, skill-level, popularity, attitude, competitive edge -- all factor into the decisions.  I remember the fierce longing to be picked near the top that often raged in my heart & stomach.  There was much riding on the "choice": self-esteem, validation, winning...

Just as there was a wide range of qualities suitable to form a winning team, so there were undesirable qualities that were nearly, if not more so, destructive to the make-up of the team than mere ability: indifference, negativity, sabotage, cheating, cowardice...

Do you ever stop to think about the "kind" of people Jesus wants on his team?  What people will populate his paradise?  Consider MacDonald's insights into the matter:

"What then is the kingdom over which the Lord cares to reign, for he says he came into the world to be a king? I answer, A kingdom of kings, and no other. Where every man is a king, there and there only does the Lord care to reign, in the name of his father. As no king in Europe would care to reign over a cannibal, a savage, or an animal race, so the Lord cares for no kingdom over anything this world calls a nation. A king must rule over his own kind. Jesus is a king in virtue of no conquest, inheritance, or election, but in right of essential being; and he cares for no subjects but such as are his subjects in the same right. His subjects must be of his own kind, in their very nature and essence kings."

The Lord's is a kingdom in which no man seeks to be above another: ambition is of the dirt of this world's kingdoms. He says, 'I am a king, for I was born for the purpose, I came into the world with the object of bearing witness to the truth. Everyone that is of my kind, that is of the truth, hears my voice. He is a king like me, and makes one of my subjects. 

His choice is the man who asks the one true question, 'How am I to be a true man? How am I to become a man worth being a man?' The Lord is a king because his life, the life of his thoughts, of his imagination, of his will, of every smallest action, is true-true first to God in that he is altogether his, true to himself in that he forgets himself altogether, and true to his fellows in that he will endure anything they do to him, nor cease declaring himself the son and messenger and likeness of God. They will kill him, but it matters not: the truth is as he says! 

Jesus is a king because his business is to bear witness to the truth. What truth? All truth; all verity of relation throughout the universe-first of all, that his father is good, perfectly good; and that the crown and joy of life is to desire and do the will of the eternal source of will, and of all life. 

We see, then, that the Lord bore his witness to the Truth, to the one God, by standing just what he was, before the eyes and the lies of men. The true king is the man who stands up a true man and speaks the truth, and will die but not lie. The robes of such a king may be rags or purple; it matters neither way. The rags are the more likely, but neither better nor worse than the robes. Then was the Lord dressed most royally when his robes were a jest, a mockery, a laughter. Of the men who before Christ bare witness to the truth, some were sawn asunder, some subdued kingdoms; it mattered nothing which: they witnessed.

The truth is God; the witness to the truth is Jesus. The kingdom of the truth is the hearts of men. The bliss of men is the true God. The thought of God is the truth of everything. All well-being lies in true relation to God. The man who responds to this with his whole being, is of the truth. The man who knows these things, and but knows them; the man who sees them to be true, and does not order life and action, judgment and love by them, is of the worst of lying; with hand, and foot, and face he casts scorn upon that which his tongue confesses. 

Is every Christian expected to bear witness? A man content to bear no witness to the truth is not in the kingdom of heaven. One who believes must bear witness. One who sees the truth, must live witnessing to it.

Is our life, then, a witnessing to the truth? 

-MacDonald, Unspoken Sermons III, Kingship