Faith

Scripture clearly teaches that our "choosing" God is preempted by His salvation. While we may "choose" to follow Him, that choice is not possible as a result of our free will, but as a result of God freeing our will to be able to choose Him. God always is the first cause in our salvation, at the very least. Thinking on this, though, people very often have objections, such as "we need free will so that we may choose God" or "we need free will such that we may choose to love" or something along that line of thought. These are questions that are difficult when we consider the nature of our will, but I'm not addressing those now (however, if you want me to, I can another time). What I'm wondering is this: why do we fight so hard for the case of free will? Why does it matter to us?

Well, I haven't written about what I'm up to in the last little while, so might as well. Over the last couple of weeks, I have continued my journey through the book of Romans, as well as Phillipians.

In my previous article, I sought to establish that Jesus’ Second Coming is, indeed, very relevant to our generation now. I did not, however, provide much application... what does it actually mean for us, here and now, for it to be relevant? In other words... what are we to do, knowing that we are in the beginning of the transition period that will end when Jesus establishes His throne on earth? This is a huge question! One could write a book on this subject and not encapsulate everything. With that in mind, we will be looking at the passage we are already familiar with, which is Matthew 24-25, as Jesus lays out some important principles therein as to what we should expect and how we ought to live our lives in response.

"Studying Jesus' Second Coming has no real impact on us, now, and is therefore irrelevant."

I hear this all too often, or something similar. I'm sure you have too, or maybe that is your belief and you have said it yourself? I believe that this is not only an un-Biblical, but a very dangerous position to hold as a Christian in this day and age. Some will have objections to this, of course... probably the strongest being from the camp of Preterism, who in a nutshell believe that most or all of prophecy regarding Jesus was fulfilled in or before 70 A.D.  I will not address this, here... I will simply say that this doctrine misses the mark in a terrible way, and is not worthy of rebuttal here... I have some other thoughts on it in this blog post. If you do want me to address the topic of preterism more in full, I may in the future. The others that often object to the relevancy of Jesus' Second Advent, in my experience, often seem to base it around the idea that it doesn't actually help us living our lives now.

I'm not sure what I want to write on to begin, but I do know what I feel in my heart. Over the last little while, when people ask me how I am, I'm not sure how to answer. Really, I'm good, I have little to complain about. Just below the surface, however, is this boiling ocean of discontentment. It is not that I don't have many possessions, it is not that I have little money: I have all of these I need to survive, and, indeed, more than I need to survive of both. I can fill my stomach, and pay my bills... what else do I even need? No, friends, my discontentment runs much deeper than that, still.

"I have been writing this volume while residing in Germany for a teaching trip. I am humbled by penning these 95 theses in the same country as Martin Luther did many years ago. I submit these to the evangelical church of our day and pray that God would allow anything of truth in these pages to bend and change men's hearts back to God." - Greg Gordon - http://www.sermonindex.net **

“It is useless for large companies of believers to spend long hours begging God to send revival. Unless we intend to reform we may as well not pray. Unless praying men have the insight and faith to amend their whole way of life to conform to the New Testament pattern there can be no true revival.” - A.W. Tozer

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I don't even know how to start this... but please, know that I am writing this not to prove that I am right or to demote anyone's role in ministry or any such thing, although I think I will make some bold statements. I think... I don't understand this approach that some people have to the propagation of the gospel. That approach being... we get to know someone, and then introduce it to them gradually as they become more comfortable with us. I have nothing against it, at least at the surface. I do the same thing myself! I don't always tell people about the wonderful gospel the first time I meet them. But when I think about it... something stinks about that scenario. The gospel is the very testimony of Jesus Christ, around whom my life pivots, but even more He is the Axis Of History, the One for Whom the universe was created. The very being of anyone on earth is directly related at all times to the Person of Jesus Christ. The gospel should be one of, if not the first thing that we share with someone we meet, should it not? But... we don't... I don't. Why not?

Ahh, I have to watch my heart, friends! In some ways, I feel trapped. I have all these conflicting desires within my heart, and the main bulk of them don't feel relevant to where I am, now. The funny thing is, I want to be a missionary, but more and more I am realising that what I am doing does not seem like missions work... this article I recently posted explains what I have been learning regarding missions. That is not to say what I am doing is not important...

One month ago (give or take a week or two) I spent about a week praying pretty much the same thing over and over, whenever I felt led to pray. That prayer was one of these questions, or all of them: "What did God reveal to the hearts of such men as John the Baptist, the eleven disciples and the apostle Paul that so affected them to live an extreme lifestyle, completely devoted to their service to God?" Most of us have read the stories of famous Christian men, too... Martin Luther, John Wesley, John Calvin, William Carey, Jonathan Goforth, David Livingstone, James Hudson Taylor. What so drove these men to preach the gospel?

Well... I was writing an email, and this really got stirred up in my heart. Probably partly to do with finishing Tozer's book, too. Anyways... I was sitting in bed and considering the books I've read in the last five years, or so, and two in particular jumped out at me that actually both encourage and sadden me.