When I Realized That I'm Wretched.

In August 19th 2005, heading to the state fair, I was involved in a rollover in my truck on the interstate going 70 mph. Fortunately my vehicle was the only one involved, unfortunately, however, I was severely injured. I had severe and deep lacerations on my scalp, and a fractured vertebrae in my neck. Some people would call that a broken neck.

During the recovery time, I spent a lot of it thinking and reflecting back on my life. For a good portion of my life before then, I had gone to church, even regularly on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights during college. If you were to see me outside of church, you would had seen someone deep into sins, trying to please the flesh, making jokes and comments filled with blasphemy, etc... During my time of recovery I had a chance to listen to my conscience. I dusted off a Bible and started reading, but that didn't really do anything for me,. It was like I was reading for the sake of reading.

On, October 18th 2005, after watching the third "Left-Behind" movie, I was looking through some of the extra content on the DVD. On it was an episode of "The Way of The Master," a Christian TV show that teaches Christians how to share their faith biblically and effectively, the way Jesus did. The show was hosted by Kirk Cameron (star of the movie I was just watching) and author/evangelist Ray Comfort.

While watching it, they quoted Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, who said "Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself, be sure of that?" At that time I did consider myself to be a Christian and saved, but after hearing that quote, and the authority behind its words, I began to wonder if I was saved or not, because my evangelistic efforts up to that point were... well there were none.

What happened next I had never seen before. They were witnessing to real people out on the streets. While watching the conversations unfold, they were asking one random person off the street some questions. As I was listening to these questions, I would answer them to myself.

The first question was "Do you consider yourself to be a good person?" I clearly thought that I was, but my understanding of the word "good" was quickly changed as the questions followed. The next question after that was, "Do you think you would go to Heaven or Hell when you die?" Obviously thinking that I was a good person I thought I was going to go to Heaven. My understanding of that would soon be changed as well.

The next set of questions brought me face to face with the mirror of God's moral law, The Ten Commandments. Have you ever told a lie? Of course I had. That makes me a liar. Have you ever stolen anything? Yes, just small things though. That makes me a thief. Have you ever used God's name in vain, like a 4 letter filth word to express disgust? More times that I can count. That makes me a blasphemer. The last question that was asked was, "Jesus said that if you look at a woman to lust after her, then you have committed adultery in your heart, have you ever done that?" I would do that countless times a day, I was definitely guilty of that as well.

After that set of questions, was this question, "If you were to die right now, and God judges you, would you be innocent or guilty? Do you think you'd go to Heaven or Hell?" This was when the light bulb turned on. I had just admitted to being a lying, thief, and a blasphemous adulterer at heart. There were six more commandments that we did not go through that I know I had broken as well. I knew I was guilty, my conscience screamed the word "guilty" at me. Knowing how good God is, He would have to send me to Hell. He punishes sin where ever it is found. Then, thinking back to that car accident, when I should had died, I know now that if I had died, I would be in Hell right now. I was literally in the flames, when God pulled me out of the fire.

At that realization, I immediately feel to my knees, crying my eyes out for hours, pleading with God to forgive me for sinning against Him. It was then that I finally repented of my sins, and put my faith in Christ alone for my salvation. Everyday I look in the mirror, I can see and touch the scars on my head. They are a constant reminder to me of how close I was to suffering God's wrath, and how fortunate I am that God has shown me mercy and grace, that has saved a wretch like me.

I wish that no one would ever have to get as close to the flames as I did before they turn to Christ, but know for some people it is necessary. God, thank You for saving me, the wretched sinner that I am. Amen.

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The Prince of Preachers on The Bible

I want to share two quotes with you, about the Bible, from Charles Spurgeon. It was hard picking out the quotes with how many there are and how good they all are, but these are the two that I picked, from http://www.spurgeon.us/. For those of you who don't know who Charles Spurgeon is, you can read a brief biography about him here. Please contemplate, and meditate on these words from "The Prince of Preachers."

"If you wish to know God you must know his word; if you wish to perceive his power you must see how he worketh by his word; if you wish to know his purpose before it is actually brought to pass you can only discover it by his word."

"Now, mark this: by this shall you know whether you are a child of God, or not; by the respect that you have to your Father’s Word. If you have small respect for that Word, the evidences of a bastard are upon you."

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Importance of Memorizing Scripture.

Last month, I had the privilege to listen to one of the best sermons in this day and age. It was given by John Piper, and all he did was quote whole chapters from the book of Romans from memory. There is supposedly a YouTube video of this if you want to see it, but it was amazing. Not only do I want to encourage you to read your Bible, but to memorize it as well.

At desiringgod.org, John Piper did a blog called "Why Memorize Scripture?" I am just going to list the key points here, and encourage you to read his blog here for the details.

Memorizing scripture gives you:

1. Conformity in Christ.
2. Daily Triumph Over Sin.
3. Daily Triumph over Satan.
4. Comfort and Counsel for People You Love.
5. Help Communicating the Gospel to Unbelievers.
6. Communion with God in the Enjoyment of His Person and Ways.

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

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Communicating with God.

The past couple of blogs, I have encouraged each of us to read our Bibles. I want to give you another reason to read your Bibles. That reason is, because that is how God communicates with us. Only in the most extreme circumstances when necessary will God talk to people in their dreams, and what have you. Usually when this happens, it happens to people who do no have access to a Bible, because it is outlawed in their country, and the only way they hear the gospel is through God directly talking to them in dreams, or visions.

For us, however, we have access to all sorts of Bibles in different colors, languages, and translations. For us, the Bible is how God directly communicates to us. In it, He tells us what to do, what not to do, and even gives examples. I recently read a news paper article about a high school kid who not only earned his high school diploma and was a football star, but he also completed a bachelors degree, and earned it at the same time he got his high school diploma. He used wise time management that was so effective that he even had time to have a girlfriend and socialize with his friends. If a high school kid can do all of that, then we have no excuse for not having time to read God's Word.

Now, everyone also knows that communication is a two way road. The Bible is how God communicates to us, we communicate to God in prayer. How often should we pray? Daily. How much should we pray each day? You'll have to figure that out for yourself, because it is different for different people. The Great Reformer, Martin Luther, was once quoted saying "I have so much to do today, that I should spend the first three hours in prayer." Granted none of us live the life that Luther did, so we might not have that much time to pray, but maybe some of us do and should.

Reading your Bible, and prayer, go hand in hand. One should never be done without the other. If all we do is pray, then we might as well be talking to a wall. If all we do is read God's Word, then there is no one to warn of the wall, and we'll run right into it. If we don't do either, then the wall falls right down on top of us.

Please make sure your communication with God is open, and going both ways.

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Use Your Night Vision.

In the military, we are given night vision goggles. How they work is, when it is dark outside, we put them on, and inside of them are filters that lets the light in the darkness shine through. It literally separates the light from the dark.

We are in a world that is spiritually dark. God has given us a special tool that filters the light from the dark. That tool is the Bible. It helps us to see the light in this darkened world. It separates the light from the dark so that we know what is good, and what is evil. It helps us to discern between sound doctrine and false teachings. But it only works if we use it.

We need to be like the Bereans. They "...received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were true." Acts 17:11. Just a little encouragement for you all.

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What is Modalism?

According to CARM, Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry, "Modalism is probably the most common theological error concerning the nature of God. It is a denial of the Trinity which states that God is a single person who, throughout biblical history, has revealed Himself in three modes, or forms. Thus, God is a single person who first manifested himself in the mode of the Father in Old Testament times. At the incarnation, the mode was the Son. After Jesus' ascension, the mode is the Holy Spirit. These modes are consecutive and never simultaneous. In other words, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit never all exist at the same time, only one after another. Modalism denies the distinctiveness of the three persons in the Trinity even though it retains the divinity of Christ.

Present day groups that hold to forms of this error are the United Pentecostal and United Apostolic Churches. They deny the Trinity, teach that the name of God is Jesus, and require baptism for salvation. These modalist churches often accuse Trinitarians of teaching three gods. This is not what the Trinity is. The correct teaching of the Trinity is one God in three eternal coexistent persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

This was deemed heresy in 325 at the Council of Nicea. Some high profile modalist of our times are, Arnold Murray from The Shepard's Chapel. I've only ever seen them on TV early in the mornings. Another example is, as some say, one of the most influential leaders in evangelical Christianity today, T.D. Jakes.

Why do I bring this up? Because it is one of many false teaching that we have to fight against today, and like many false teachings today, they are nothing new. Most of today's false teachings are just old heresies being reintroduced to Christianity. Difference is, back then they saw it, and condemned it, today, well today the church seems to have a problem calling a false teaching a false teaching. Do not make a compromise when it comes to false doctrine and heresy. Believing in a heresy will send people to Hell.

2 Timothy 4:3 "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires"

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Atheist Problems?

Do you find yourself a little intimidated by atheist when you talk to them about God? Is it because you think they are vastly smarter than you with their evolution theory and all?

If that is the case, consider this. Atheist are people that believe nothing made everything. As a Christian, we of course believe that God made everything out of nothing. I ask you, which one seems like the smarter choice?

Don't forget Psalm 14:1 "The fool as said in his heart, there is no God.."

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