As I was reading Proverbs 14 this morning I didn’t get too far before I had to pause and contemplate verse 14.

¹⁴ The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways,
But a good man will be satisfied from above.

I think we all get frustrated with life sometimes.  Disappointed that things didn’t worked out the way we planned or the wait for a promise was just a little (lot) bit longer then we expected.  These are dangerous times for the Christian.  If we don’t stay close to God and stay in His presence we can allow ourselves to get upset and even angry with God.  If left unchecked that can lead to bitterness and a dry spirit.  (don’t ask me how I know that : )

In these times (which I hope you never experience) it’s easy to turn to “comfort sins.”  Those bad habits the old man used to have that want to come back in and enslave again.  It can be as simple as overeating comfort foods or much worse.  Certainly the comfort food analogy applies.

If you’ve ever been down this dark path even a little ways (I imagine it may be more common then people like to admit) and back again then you already know the wisdom of God through Solomon in Proverbs 14:14.  You will grow tired of being backsliden (new word alert!)  in heart.  You will have your fill and the Holy Spirit will make you sick of it!  Thank God for that!

There is a way back.  Even better, there is a way to avoid this backsliden condition to begin with.  Run to God every day!  Stay close to Him no matter what.  Share your troubles with Him.  Lay your burdens at His feet.  If you pick them back up an hour later, lay them at His feet again!  He cares in a very personal way for you and the more you spend time with Him, the more you will see Him working in big and small ways in your life.

God is getting you through whatever it is.  If you are frustrated and fall, let God pick you back up.  Confess your sins to Him.  Turn away from Backslideness (an even better new word alert!) and into His loving arms.  Then you will be back on the track to being a good man satisfied from above, no matter what your circumstances.

Christian Recording Artist and Lead Pastor of The Exchange, Joel Engle, wrote this on his Facebook wall this evening:

Christian, don’t fall into despair over your sinful failings! Christ has freed you from wrath, has made you holy and will give you victory!

That gets me excited! It is the Gospel message. Jesus took your punishment and God isn’t mad at you anymore. Truly this is the heart of Christianity that should be the heart of every sermon. So often we let the enemy, or the world, or ourselves, lie to us about who we are in Christ and the miraculous transformation He has done in our heart and is doing in our lives. When you receive Christ He gives you His Holiness! You are justified (just as if I’d never sinned) and God removes your sin from you as far as the east is from the west! It is a miracle and it is good news.

When we consider the story of the Prodigal Son, who spent his share of the inheritance with “loose living” and was still welcomed home by his father when he returned home then we get a glimpse of the heart of our Heavenly Father. He never looses His love for you no matter what you choose to do. Yes, sin has consequences and can lead you to an early grave and an unhappy life, but remember you can always run to a loving God who loves you more than you can ever imagine. Always.

God poured His wrath out on His Son Jesus so He will never pour it out on you. Remember that when you sin (and you do) that God isn’t angry with you. He loves you with an eternal love. Run to Him and receive your forgiveness, don’t run away in fear and go deeper into destruction.

Are sermons about the dangers of sin important? Of course they are and all scripture is God-breathed and is good for instruction and even correction. But looking at your sin is not going to bring about change in your life. It’s when you look at the Cross and what God did for you that you realize you can trust the King of the Universe to bring you safely to your destination. And you can trust Him with your problems and your secrets. He already knows and He couldn’t love you any less.

Always remember and never forget that at the core of any and all Christian messages is (should be) the complete forgiveness that you receive when you receive Christ. Joel calls it The Exchange.  It’s the best deal ever offered in the history of the universe.  You Exchanged your mess for His Glorious Kingdom! When you do that you become His kid and a part of the family! Now start acting like it :-)

Your righteousness won’t get you any closer to God than the next fellow. Only God makes you righteous by your faith in His Son. Religion will tell you that you need to clean up your act in order for God to love you, bless you or approve of you. It’s just not true.

Sin IS deadly and will surely bring consequences in this life, but I repeat, if you have Jesus as your Savior God is not holding your sins against you. He is FOR YOU NOT AGAINST YOU!

This may be the best hour you invest all week and highly recommended for current and future Christians. It’s called the good news for a reason! Here is Pastor Duane Sheriff from November 28, 2010. Please listen:

Here are the sermon notes.

You can listen to and download all of Pastor Duane’s messages here, or just subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. You’ll be glad you did.

As I pointed out at the first of the year, you are in Good Hands when you are in God’s Hands. That is the answer to Mayhem like me.

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

This verse is often misapplied to mean that God won’t give you more in this life than you can handle. I believe what Paul is saying here is that when you are tempted, God provides a way out and the temptation is not so intense that you can’t escape it.

What is the best way to escape temptation? Apply a heavy dose of God’s Love. God has often spoken to me to, “never forget how much I love you.” For me (and I’m guessing for you too) when I start to think that God has forgotten me, and my patience in doing good is wearing thin, that’s when I get discouraged and start entertaining mayhem. Stuff that might be fun for a season, but ultimately can bring pain into my life and others around me.

How do you stay encouraged in God’s Love? Stay plugged into the vine. Spend time with Him and in His Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. As you listen to how much He loves you, and as you are reminded of all the wonderful things He has done for you, you can’t help but want to love Him back.

How do you love God back? Jesus explained more than once. It’s Love. Love God, Love People. When I teach Sunday School I tell the kids that if they forget everything else I tell them to remember one thing (which is two things). Love God. Love People. Jesus said in Matthew 22:35-40:

³⁵ One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him,
³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
³⁷ And He said to him, ” ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’
³⁸ “This is the great and foremost commandment.
³⁹ “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’
⁴⁰ “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Jesus also said to His disciples in John 14, “if you love Me you will keep my commandments.”

That is impossible to do perfectly. If we could keep God’s commandments by ourselves, we wouldn’t need Jesus to save us in the first place. Thankfully, God DID send Jesus to rescue us from mayhem.

So the practice of keeping mayhem out of our lives is a simple one, yet a daily struggle to walk out. First we have to accept the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. Once we do that we receive God’s Spirit to dwell inside of us. God’s Spirit leads us into all truth which boils down to Love God, Love People. If we Love God we will keep His commands. If we love people we won’t steal from them, murder them, talk bad about them behind their backs and sleep with them outside of marriage. When we have moments of weakness and give in to temptation we can run to a loving God who will forgive us because He has already paid for our sins on the cross. As we apply God’s Love in our own hearts daily, we will be better able to resist when temptation comes knocking. I love the saying, “when the devil comes knocking, send Jesus to answer the door.” It’s with His strength that we fight the good fight.

Mayhem like me? Unfortunately yes at times. But thanx to God that He gives me the power to say no to mayhem and yes to His love! When someone else gives in to mayhem and it affects me, thanx to God’s love I can forgive and even help restore the damage done.

Mayhem may be with us until Jesus comes back, but if we will practice His love in our lives, and share it with others, there will be less mayhem and more of God’s Love. That’s how God’s Kingdom is come to Earth as it is in Heaven.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream. A dream that is clearly a Biblical principle. That men would be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. On this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day I think it’s appropriate to listen again to that amazing speech given in August of 1963.

There are some that complain that the Bible condones slavery. Dr. King, being a preacher of God’s Word, knew that that couldn’t be further from the truth. Unfortunately slave traders and slave owners of the 18th and 19th Centuries did what they could to cloud the issue and attempt to justify their sin. They pointed to passages in the Bible that seem to approve of slavery, but left out some very important facts.

The most important is that the slavery that was allowed in Biblical times was indentured servitude. Back then if you went into debt and couldn’t repay, you became a slave to pay off the debt. Once the debt was paid, or at Jubilee, a slave was to be set free and debt free. Many servants liked the way their masters took care of them and chose to stay as Bond Servants. (just as God’s people are called to be His Bond Servants)

Meanwhile, Man Stealing was explicitly forbidden in the Law and was punishable by death:

Exodus 21:16
¹⁶ “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.

Any slave trader who tried to justify kidnapping people to sell them into slavery by using the Bible was adding to their list of sins.

Indeed it was a Christian that fought to end the slave trade in England. They made a movie about the life of William Wilberforce, “Amazing Grace.” The famous hymn of the same name was written by a former slave trader who later became a member of the clergy. The song conveys the amazing grace of God who can rescue even a slave trader from his horrible sins thanx to the sacrifice made on the cross by God’s only Son Jesus!

If you want to know God’s heart when it comes to prejudice you can look at Moses and his sister Miriam. In Numbers Chapter 12 we learn that Miriam and Aaron were upset at Moses because he had married an Ethiopian. God got upset and gave Miriam a taste of Leprosy:

Number 12:9-11
⁹ So the anger of the LORD was aroused against them, and He departed. ¹⁰ And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper. ¹¹ So Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord! Please do not lay this sin on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned.

Moses cried out to God to heal his sister and God answered, but only after Miriam stayed outside of camp for seven days. God says that man judges the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.. One of many great points that Martin Luther King, Jr. made in his speech was that man should see his fellow man as God sees him.

I have a dream that echos the dreams of Dr. King. That this nation will turn to Biblical principles. That God’s Word and Spirit would guide our individual words and actions. That lawmakers and those appointed in authority would look to God for guidance as they lead. And yes, that God would continue to bless America and that He would use His people to be salt and light always.

Like Me

I love the new Allstate commercials:

As I was pondering the new year, it occurred to me that my life has had a lot of self imposed mayhem in it. Everyone’s does, really. Ever since Adam and Eve decided to disobey God and mayhem entered the world. None of us can escape. There is none that searches after God, not one. Thanx to our fallen nature we fall short of God’s best. Also known as sin. You and I sin all kinds of different ways every day. We may mean well, but we just can’t hit the target. Then there are the times that we do what is wrong even when we know better.

Our Sins and transgressions have consequences. Mayhem. What’s worse is the people around us and their bad choices can bring mayhem into our lives! Gee. Thanx a lot. But, before we get all high minded, spiritual and self righteous about it, our sin and transgressions are bringing mayhem into the lives of people around us too. It really is unavoidable.

But wait. There IS good news! Jesus came so that we might have life, life more abundant, and God even takes the mayhem in our lives and brings good out of it for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes!

He also changes me and helps me to avoid sin and transgression!

Dealing with a little (or a lot) of mayhem? God has you covered. Now those are good hands!

Tiger Apologizes

Tiger Woods told the world he was sorry today.  His infidelity has turned his life upside down.  His family has been torn apart.  He has lost millions of dollars in endorsement deals.  He has left the game that he loves so much and that God has gifted him so well to play.

Reaction to Tiger’s apology are generally favorable, although there are still many taking shots at him.  So what is God’s perspective on all of this?

First of all I think it’s pretty evident to all that sin has consequences and those consequences can be painful.  The Bible is clear, ALL fall short of God’s standards.  NO ONE seeks Him, not even one.  In other words.  We are ALL guilty.  We can’t help it.  We were born that way.  All of us suffering the consequences of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.

Our sin nature is evident.  We lie, cheat, steal, sleep around.  This is the nature of man left to his own devices.  Sin is wrong.  Transgressions are wrong.  We pay a price for the mistakes we make.  The bigger the mistake, the more damage to ourselves and those around us.

What’s worse, even the slightest mistake makes us unworthy of living in God’s presence forever.  Want to go to Heaven?  Live a perfect life.  Good luck with that.  It can’t be done by mere men and women.

Of course the good news is we don’t have to live a perfect life!  Jesus did that for us.  Since He is God, He was able to pay the price of sin for us.  Death.  Jesus died so we could live.  God cannot lie.  He promised that the penalty for sin is death.  God also promised that He loves us.  This apparent contradiction is resolved at the cross.  The price for sin is paid for by His son.  God’s love is now available to those who can’t live a perfect life.

There is only one catch.  You can’t receive an awesome gift unless you, you know, receive it.  In other words, the Bible says that we have to believe that Jesus is God, that He died for us, and rose from the dead.  If we do that then we are saved.  Romans 10:9 and 10.

Tiger made a huge mistake and he is paying a huge price for it.  I think it is right for Christians to extend love and forgiveness to a hurting person who is suffering as a result of his mistakes.  God gives us second and third  (and fourth and fifth and sixth…) chances.  We should do the same for Tiger.  Even as we hate the sin we can show love to the man.  All of us are just as guilty (maybe not of exactly the same thing, but we all have our issues).  The difference is we are now forgiven and that allows us to share God’s love with others.

The ultimate show of love is to share the good news of God’s gift available to Tiger and to anyone else who will accept it.  That’s what Brit Hume did awhile back.  It created quite a reaction, but to Brit’s credit he stuck by his words because they were true and they were spoken in love.

What about Tiger’s marriage?  Should Tiger’s wife divorce him?  The Bible is clear that infidelity is grounds for divorce.  She is well within her rights to leave Tiger if she chooses.  Forgiveness and trust are not the same thing.  Forgiveness is given, trust is earned.  Tiger is right when he says that his right actions over time are the only way that he has a chance to regain the trust of his wife.  I pray that that happens.

I, for one, will still be a Tiger Woods fan.  I hope that he has a successful life and a successful career.  Of course the ultimate success is measured by our relationship with God.  That relationship starts by accepting His free gift.  I pray that someday Tiger embraces grace.