Loving With God’s Love

We are where we are today because of the choices we’ve made. Choices made in a broken world are not always in our own best interest. However, Jesus Christ came to set us free from a broken world and its consequences. God created each of us with freedom of will. We were originally born with a sin nature that we inherited from Adam. Our fallen nature cannot be changed because it’s who we are as natural men of body and soul. There is no way to perfect the flesh. As Paul said, “in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.”

Jesus came to set us free from the old nature of sin and death so that we might know and understand the love of God. When we confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and believed that God raised him from the dead, we were born again of God’s holy spirit of life in Christ. Our new nature is the nature of the holy spirit. We were given the gift of the spirit because of God’s loving grace. The love chapter is 1 Corinthians 13. According to the “charity checklist,” the love of God suffers long and is kind, is not boastful or prideful, is not envious, is not easily provoked. The unconditional love of God does not think about itself but thinks about the needs of others. Love keeps no record of wrongs done. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Now abides faith, hope and love but the greatest of these is love.

There are several Greek words translated “love” in the English bible. One is “epithumia” often translated “lust.” These are “over desires” of the flesh that we inherited from Adam. Anything that takes precedence over the love of God is lust. Eros is the Greek word for sexual love. This sensual love is also a desire of the flesh. Another Greek word for love is “storge” which is familial love. This is the inherent love that we have for our immediate and extended natural family. The devil will attempt to divide the hearts of brothers and sisters and break up this type of familial love. Another type of love is “phileo.” This is “brotherly love” or deep friendship love of a close knit circle of friends. What did Jesus say about relationships? Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” He used the Greek word for the love of God, “Agape.” Peter said, “I phileo you. I’m fond of you like a brother.” Peter didn’t yet know the spiritual agape love of God because he didn’t have the capacity to love with God’s holy spirit until Pentecost.

Agape is the unconditional spiritual love of God. The ability to love with the love of God is part of salvation. When we’re saved we receive the spirit of God in Christ in us. The unconditional spiritual love of God is the subject of 1 Corinthians 13. This type of love hardly notices when others do wrong. The love of God is always eager to believe the best. It keeps no record of wrongs done. Agape love is not critical and loves unconditionally from the heart of Christ in us the hope of glory.

In marriage the husband and wife each have different expectations of the other party. These expectations are the seeds of “irreconcilable differences.” One question in marriage counseling is “will you hurt your wife?” The answer is “Yes.” The next question is, “will you mean to hurt her?” The answer is “no because I love her.”

One of the causes for the spiritual decline of America is the love of money over the love of God. There’s a story about a congressman who approached Mother Theresa while the press was following her. He knew that Mother Theresa had won the Nobel Peace Prize and he wanted to take advantage of a photo op, so he said to her, “I’d like to present you and your charity with this check for one million dollars to help the poor.” Mother Theresa said to him, “Please give your money to someone who needs it more than we do. God has always provided for our needs and will continue to do so. God works best with nothing.”

To find out where a person’s heart is, the question is, “where do you think you’ll spend eternity after you die?” Most men will list the good things they have done to justify why they think they will go to heaven when they die. However Ephesians 2:8 says, “for by grace ye are saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast.”

Where’s your heart? Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A critical spirt is the sign of an ungrateful heart. As Proverbs says, keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.

Jeremiah said, “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” According to John 3:20, “he who doeth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved.” However, as men of God, our commission is to share the Gospel of the good news of the love of God. It’s not the wrath of God, but rather the goodness of God that calls a man to repentance. It’s not sin that keeps sinners from heaven, but rather failure to confess the savior from sin.

When men speak evil, it shows their nature that they inherited from Adam. They are not the enemy. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness from on high. Our challenge is to love others with the love of God, especially those who “oppose themselves.”

As Suzan said, “never let how others treat you affect how you treat them.” Jesus said, bless them that persecute you and despitefully use you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, for great is your reward in heaven. Agape love means to love the unloveable, not because of who they are but because of who He is.

The key is to love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. Love is the nature of God himself. Only the Holy Spirit of God in Christ in us enables us to love like Christ loved. Jesus said, ““A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”

May we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

September 22, 2018 at 2904 N Brea Blvd. (EV Free North Campus)
Tentative Schedule
M1D
Influencers 1-Day Retreat for September 22, 2018
Theme – Finding Truth
6:00 AM- 6:55 AM Registration/Meet and Greet
6:55 – 7:00 Opening – Pledge Allegiance and prayer
7:00 – 7:55 Breakfast Fellowship Pancake, etc.
8:00 – 8:45 Speaker 1
8:45 – 9:30 Speaker 2
9:30 – 9:45 Break/Key Thoughts
9:45 – 10:15 Music
10:15–11:00 Speaker 3
11:00-11:45 Speaker 4
11:45-12:00 Break/Key Thoughts
12:00–12:45 Lunch
12:45–1:45 Round Table
1:45–2:15 Music
2:15–3:00 Speaker 5
3:00-3:45 Speaker 6
3:45-4:00 Break/Key Thoughts
4:00–4:45 Speaker 7
4:45-5:30 Man of God – Close Break/Key Thoughts
5:30 Departure
Speakers
Ryan Van Deusen
John White
Pete McKenzie
Phil Hanlen
+tba

Jesus Sign up sheet.

A missionary in the Middle East with a ministry that helps churches in the Arabian peninsula and to minister to Christian believers there shares.

In America, we live in a culture where a revolution of hate is on the rise. The biblical response to hate is to love one another with the love of God. Christians have an eternal perspective because according to Ephesians we are seated in heavenly places in Christ. Our challenge is to see this world from our Heavenly Father’s vantage point.

Dave recalls when Chaldean Christians in Iraq were invaded by Isis. Their homes were destroyed, their property taken, and their wives and children were violated. They became refugees. Dave recalls how his heart was touched for these brothers and sisters in Christ. He wept for them for weeks.

How stark is the contrast between the Middle East and the United States? In America, we’re upset when someone cuts us off on the freeway. One barb of a negative comment will burst our bubble of happiness. Jesus said that when we’re persecuted, God will give us the words to speak. When Dave baptizes Muslims, he reminds them to count the cost… They must forsake all to follow Jesus. They will be ostracized from their families and neighbors. One mother had her child taken away after she converted to Christianity.

Anti-Christianity is already encroaching our culture. In Canada, the pastors aren’t allowed to speak the truth of the Word of God that the government deems hate speech. Jesus said on his “sign up sheet,” you’ll be alienated and some of you will be put to death. In America, if you quote scripture from Romans 1, you’ll be called a “hater.”

When the Egyptian Coptic Christians were beheaded on the beach, they prayed for their executors, ‘Father forgive them. Lay not this charge against them.” One of the executors repented, turned to the Lord Jesus Christ, and was himself beheaded along with his new-found Christian brothers.

What’s in it for us when we “sign up” for the real gospel? Jesus said that you will be imprisoned and some of you will be put to death. However from the eternal perspective Jesus said, not one hair on your head will perish. From God’s eternal perspective, life in this world is “but a vapor.”

Jesus didn’t preach a “tithing” message to the rich young ruler when he asked “what must I do to inherit eternal life.” This man told Jesus, “all the commandments I have kept from my youth.” However, he had forgotten the first commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Jesus knew that this man’s god was his material riches. The first commandment says “thou shalt have no other gods between your face and God’s face.” Jesus didn’t tell the man to tithe. He said, You must sell all of your material possessions, give the proceeds to the poor and follow me. You have to be “all in” to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

According to Hebrews 10, when you endure suffering, sometimes you’re exposed to insult and persecution…sometimes you stand side by side with those who are so treated. If you’re living for Christ, the world will hate you.

Iraqi women who come to Christ have to leave their families. One woman’s father said, I want you to leave because if you stay here, they’ll kill you and then kill our family because you have forsaken the Muslim religion.

How do we factor the trials of life into the hope that we have in Christ? According to the gospel, Faith overcomes the world. For tribulation worketh patience and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.

Those who were persecuted in Hebrews 10 knew that they had a better reward in eternity. We don’t belong with those who shrink back and are destroyed. We have an eternal hope. According to Hebrews 11, we’re given the example of the believing faith of those who are written in the “hall of faith.” Many were delivered miraculously by the power of God. However some were persecuted, sawed asunder…wondering about in deserts and mountains. These all were examples of believing faith. God has planned something better for all of us in eternity.

Therefore, seeing that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of the witness of their faith, let us lay down the weight of the sin that so easily entangles us. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down upon the right hand of the throne of God.

What do we get when we sign up to be Jesus’ disciple? According to 2 Corinthians 4:17, For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory… The pain and tribulation of this world is but a nano-second in light of eternity. The eternal perspective is the hope of the resurrection… The hope of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His eternal perspective as the hymn says, “when we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun…we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first begun!

May we ever live to the praise of the glory of his grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

Beauty for Ashes

When the Neptune Society called two weeks ago and told Pete that he needed to pick up his wife’s ashes after 11 months, Pete realized that he needed an “attitude adjustment.” He had to acknowledge that he had developed a “heathen” attitude to avoid painful memories of losing Suzan. God led him to Ecclesiastes Chapters 3 and 12. These words of wisdom are from King Solomon. According to Ecclesiastes 3, our bodies are “ashes to ashes and dust to dust.” Ecclesiastes 12:6-7, speaking about death says, “Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

Pete prayed and then wrote these words as God’s response to his prayer: Suzan’s ashes are remnants of her physical body. She’s with me now in eternity…I have redeemed her and have given her beauty for ashes.

Pete recalled Isaiah’s prophesy about the coming Messiah in Isaiah 61:1-3. Jesus quoted this passage at the beginning of his ministry as fulfillment of this prophecy: “THE Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.”

Our God gives us beauty for ashes. He does not reward us according to our sin but according to his grace and mercy. Not because of who we are but because of who he is. This is the unconditional supernatural love of God. He loves us despite our fallen nature. He loves us because of his nature, not ours.

God will not spare us heartache and tribulation. However, through the trials of life we will come to know the depth of his love for us. Trials feel like ashes and dust. However, in God’s perspective, there’s a silver lining in every storm. No pit is so deep but that God’s love, kindness, and purpose is deeper still.

God reminded Pete that Suzan’s ashes are temporary, but her holy spirit created in Christ Jesus is eternal. God doesn’t leave us in the dust and ashes… He lifts us from the miry clay and seats us in heavenly places. Ashes symbolize grief, repentance, and humiliation. In the Old Testament when they covered their heads with ashes, they grieved that “in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.” In the ashes of sin and death is the seed of repentance. Repentance means to “change your mind”… To change direction.

In the Garden of Eden, God asked Adam, “Why are you hiding from me?” Adam replied, “Because I was naked.” God asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten the forbidden fruit?” Adam said, “the woman you gave me, gave me to eat of the forbidden fruit and I ate it.” When Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they died spiritually that day. Without God’s spirit, they came to know separation from God, guilt, shame, evil and death.

God allows attacks so that we can realize that “in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.” Jesus said, “if they compel you to go one mile, go the second mile.” God is glorified when we’re crucified with Christ…when we turn the other cheek. These are the times when thy strength is made perfect in my weakness, thy grace is sufficient for me. For I was crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live I live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

The devil uses Divisions and destruction of the family to unravel cultures and nations. The fastest growing religion in America is the “nones” who don’t identify with any religion. Jesus Came to fulfill the prophecy in Isaiah 61: To set the captives free, to release them from the snare of the devil who holds them captive against their wills.

We’re carried by the prayers of those who “make intercession for us.” God himself demonstrated his love for us, for while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. For God so loved the word that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Men are prone to wallow in guilt and shame…to throw ashes on themselves. Pete recalls a dream where he walked into a gym and joined in kicking a guy on the floor who was being punished. Then Pete asked, “who are we kicking?” When he looked down, he realized that he was kicking himself. Guilt and shame are the devil’s ploy to keep us in ashes. However, our loving Heavenly Father exchanges beauty for ashes.

God delivered Job when he stopped looking at his own distress and started praying for his friends. Jesus said, “come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” There is no rest from worry, fear, doubt, anxiety and guilt in a fallen world. Jesus said, “I am come to deliver the broken hearted, to set at Liberty them that are bruised, to open the eyes of the blind…to proclaim the acceptable day of the Lord.”

Sin entered through Adam. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust are the consequences of Adam’s disobedience. However according to Romans 5, Jesus Christ is the second Adam. He came to deliver us from the power of eternal death. The good news is that he has said, “Come unto me all ye who are heavy laden from the burdens of this world.” Our rest is in him, for he said, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” When we’re yoked together with him as fellow Laborers, his strength is made perfect in my weakness.

This is Jesus’ purpose According to the benediction in Isaiah 61:3: to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.

May we ever live to the praise of the glory of his grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

Beauty for Ashes

After eleven months Pete finally went to pick up his wife’s ashes. He had avoided this task because it made him think about how much he still missed her. When the Neptune Society called about disposal of Suzan’s ashes, Pete prayed for God to speak to him through his Word. He was led to Ecclesiastes 3:20, and Ecclesiastes 12. Our bodies, our earthen vessels, are dust to dust and ashes to ashes. The promise of the word is that God will exchange ashes for beauty. In our resurrected body God will redeem beauty for ashes. Isaiah 61 says that Jesus’ purpose is to proclaim the acceptable day of the Lord… To exchange mourning for Joy… So that our Lord will be glorified. Ashes are temporal, but life in Christ is eternal. God said to Pete, “treasure your precious memories you had with your wife until I bring you home. Keep a grateful heart and when you have finished your course, I will exchange beauty for ashes when I bring you home to be with me.”

According to this prophecy about Jesus Christ in Isaiah 61:1-3, “THE Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.”

Isaiah spoke these words from God as a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me.” The importance of this life is God’s spirit within us. Our earthly vessel of this temporary body is just the container. According to 2 Corinthians 4, we have this treasure of the spirit of life in Christ in an earthly vessel that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.

Paul said, “that I may know Him and the power of his resurrection being conformed to the image of his death.” God reminds us that we must die to self in order to live for him. For when I am weak then I am strong in his power. It’s not about whether we live or die. It’s not whether we live in comfort. The world will give us “hard landings.” However, God gives us soft landings… When our purpose is His purpose we can rest in His assurance when he says, “I’ve got this.”

We’re blessed when he “helps himself to our lives.” Ray Comfort wrote a book called “God has a Wonderful Plan for your Life.” On the cover was a picture of Steven being stoned. What men meant for evil God meant for good. The darker the night the brighter the light shines. When we come to the end of ourselves, then we will know that only He can deliver. The deliverance is in this life or the next. As Mother Theresa said, “God works best with nothing.” For him to fill me I must approach his throne with empty hands.

Ashes in Biblical times signified mourning and grief. It shows that we are disgusted in our fallen flesh. For in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. It’s like when the prodigal son, living in the pig pen and craving pig slop, finally “came to himself.” This is the point of repentance. When we confess that we’re sinners in need of a Saviour, God calls to us, “Come on home, son.” When we turn from sin and come to him with a broken and a contrite heart, we can pray like David, “Create in me a new heart O Lord.”

In Matthew 11:28 Jesus said, “come unto me all you who are weary and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” We can rest in him because we’re complete in him. The world’s man code says, you’re not smart enough, you’re not rich enough, you’re not strong enough…you’re just not good enough. The world gives a rational thought. However, the spiritual reality is irrational. When you walk by faith, the world will say that you are illogical and unreasonable. A Muslim leader said to the leader of the Coptic Christians, “you Christians are our best friends. When we kill you, you forgive us.” Many Muslims turn to Christ when they see the stark contrast between the evil hatred of Muslim jihadists and the “illogical” righteous loving kindness of true Christians.

Without the grace and mercy of God we can never give enough, serve enough, work enough or get enough. When is enough enough? According to 2 Corinthians 3:15, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God…” Our riches are only in him and not in the temporal things of this fallen world. The Lord gives and the lord takes away. Only He himself enough: He is our sufficiency, our portion and our allotment. He is our all in all.

The world’s man code says, “avoid pain at all cost.” However, trials and tribulations are our “friends.” According to the Word, our friends are whatever turns our hearts to the Lord. For tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope. And hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our heart but the Holy Spirit which is given to us.

Paul said to his “son in the faith” Timothy, “foolish and unlearned questions avoid for they do engender strife. The servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but kind unto all, able to teach, with meekness and humility gently correcting them that oppose themselves. If perhaps God would grant them the knowledge of salvation.” They will take notice, not of the wrath of God but of the love of God. For it it’s the goodness of God that calls a man to repentance. Love is the nature of God himself.

The world demands perfection. However, God knows that we are but dust. God allows grace and mercy so that we can grow. He will restore beauty for ashes. For by grace we are we saved through faith. And that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. Salvation is according to his love and kindness… Not because of who we are but because of who He is. God is love and in him there is no darkness at all.

When confronted by the evils of this world, what would Jesus do? When they nailed him to the cross Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He for the joy (of our salvation) that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. He gives us his righteousness in exchange for our sinful nature. For he who was without sin was made the perfect sin sacrifice on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.

Our Heavenly Father gave us beauty for ashes when we were born again. Because of his unconditional love, He gave us the beauty of life in Christ instead of the ashes of sin and death. O death where is thy sting, O grave where is thy victory? Because of the resurrection, in Christ death is swallowed up in victory.

May we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

The Main Thing

There are two things to remember in order to keep our theology in the right perspective. The first is that God is Sovreign overall. He’s still in control. God has a wonderful plan for your life. He had a wonderful plan for his son’s life… his plan for Jesus’ life was for our redemption. This plan included the Jesus’ righteous innocent death in exchange for our sinful life.

The second thing is that God is good. He’s a good, good father. Even though the sea billows roll, it is well, it is well with my soul. Despite trials and tribulations of this world, count it all joy when you encounter trials, for the testing of your faith will produce endurance and maturity in Christ. Therefore let tribulation have its perfect work. Peter needed to be tested to find out that in himself, he was not sufficient to serve his Lord.

Would God’s plan for America be better if God blessed America… or would his plan be better if America realized her demise. Isaiah 55 says, My ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the Apostle Paul said, “my purpose whether life or death is for the further progress of the gospel.” Therefore count it all joy to endure suffering for the Lord.

The purpose of our lives is the “great commission.” Jesus said before his ascension, “Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.” Making disciples is the purpose and the calling of the church, the called-out of God. Our Lord’s question is, “Can I trust you with the gospel?” Paul said, we have been given the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Salvation is the free gift of God. The gospel of the good news is that Jesus came to rescue and deliver those who are perishing.

When the trial comes, Jesus said, “I will see you through”… He said, “my peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Therefore in the words of Paul, “I press toward the mark of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

We are the church, the called-out of God as His living epistles. We are God’s love letters, written not with ink or in tablets of stone, but engraved in the tables of our heart. Our profession or “confession” means to “speak the same thing.” Profession means to walk the talk and talk the walk. As men of God, our calling is to “practice what we preach.” We’re the only sermon some people will ever see and hear.

Men of God place themselves under authority and order ordained by God. Our loving Heavenly Father will “break us from the world.” Therefore count it all joy when you fall into diverse trials and temptations. For when tribulation has its perfect work you shall be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Jesus said, blessed are they when men shall revile you and persecute you for my sake, for great is your reward in heaven.

Our purpose and our calling is to make disciples of all men. We are the plan. For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which he has prepared beforehand for us to walk therein. For it is God who works in you to will and to do of His good pleasure.

William Booth had trained his troops in the Salvation Army for two years to teach and preach in India. At their commencement he said, “It would have been better to have shown them five minutes in hell.” We need to be shaken to confront the reality of impending death before we can focus on the solution. To understand the solution we must first acknowledge, “Houston, we have a problem.” The main thing as fellow laborers with Christ, is our great commission… to “snatch God’s elect from the jaws of hell” by sharing the gospel message of salvation with urgency. The gospel message is that Jesus Christ is the solution to the problem of sin and death… for he who was without sin was made the perfect sin sacrifice on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.

May we ever live to the praise of the glory of his grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

Declaration of Dependence

When Jesus is Lord, our lives are a “declaration” and not a question. As Oswald Chambers said, “All God requires is extreme obedience with no complaining or questioning on my part and no explanation on his.” We may not understand his plan, but we trust his heart of love. When we’re walking with the Lord, our lives are a “Declaration” for others to know the love of God. For we are his declaration, his epistles, his love letters, written not with ink or in tablets of stone, but in the tables of our hearts. We are the only sermons that some people will ever see.

Paul said, “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Whether I live or die, my purpose is to display the gospel of my Lord.” This is also the purpose of the church, the called-out of God. The purpose of our “band of brothers” is to manifest the Word of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom we shine as lights.

Pete’s wife Suzan’s life motto was, “Joy is not the absence of pain, rather joy is the presence of God.” She lived to shine the love of her Heavenly Father. She never cried throughout her ordeal with terminal brain cancer. The only time she cried was tears of Joy when hundreds came to pray for her while she was battling cancer. She said, “your prayers didn’t hold me though this ordeal, they carried me along.”

Pete relates that on his recent trip to Scotland, he attended a church service where the topic of discussion was hell. What we think about life after death will define our life in this world and also in eternity. Most people think that everyone is destined for heaven. However, eternal life is on God’s terms according to His Word, not ours.

In this life, we can’t see clearly what God is doing through our suffering and pain. For now we “see through a glass darkly, but then (in heaven) face to face we shall know even also as we are known by God.” While Paul was chained to a Roman guard in prison, Paul said “my circumstances are working out for the greater progress of the gospel. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

CS Lewis said, “if you read history, the Christians who did most for the present world are those who prepared men for the next world.” William Booth, the head of the Salvation Army recalls that he taught a Christian discipleship course for three years. He said, “it would have been better to have shown them five minutes in hell.” Some believe that hell is a place of eternal life in torment for those who do not accept the savior from sin. Others believe that hell is the place of eternal death. Repent means to change directions: from heading to eternity in hell to an eternity in fellowship with our loving Heavenly Father.

According to scripture, God said, “I have a plan for you: a Plan for good and not for evil so that you will have a future and a hope.” We share the gospel because of the hope of the resurrection and the return of Christ. Jesus said before his ascension, “go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you, and lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.” This is our mission and our co-mission…to preach the gospel and when necessary, use words.

At a counseling session with a couple before marriage, Pete asked the bride, “will you hurt him?” She replied, “yes.” He asked, “will you intend to hurt him?” She answered, “no, because I love him.” Sometimes because God loves us, he uses the “gift” of suffering for the furtherance of the gospel. Paul said, after God told him that he would not remove Paul’s thorn in the flesh, “thy strength is made perfect in my weakness, thy grace is sufficient for me.”

As we celebrate the birth of our nation, let us remember that our Founding Fathers understood that pain and suffering is the price paid for our liberty. Freedom isn’t free. The Declaration of Independence was the result of the revolutionary war to “dissolve the political bands” that chained our United States to Great Britain. However, the Declaration of Independence was also our Founding Fathers’ “declaration of Dependence.” The last line of the Declaration reads, “In firm reliance (dependence) on divine Providence (Almighty God) to these ends, we pledge our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” As dual citizens of America and of Heaven, may we declare our independence from the powers of darkness and our dependence upon the power of Almighty God….for thy strength is made perfect in my weakness, thy grace is sufficient for me.

May we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael