Held in Contempt?

Familiarity Breeds Contempt

“Familiarity Breeds Contempt” is an old and wise saying. It is also very true especially amongst the Christian community. I put out the following little pithy 140 characters of homespun wisdom a few days ago –

Are we taking the Lord for granted?

Are we too familiar around Him?

Do we revere & treasure His presence as we should?

Now, there’s some deep questions for you. I wonder how you would answer them? I know that the Lord challenged me on them – and I failed !!

Are we taking the Lord for granted? Do we assume too much of Him, of His presence? Do we welcome Him as we should? Do we praise and worship Him daily with our whole lives or do we presume upon His presence?

Are we too familiar around Him? I overheard a conversation in church recently. One lady, a new Christian I assume by the comment, said that she felt a presence and peace during the meeting. The other lady said, “Oh that’s just Jesus!” – just Jesus !! Have we so lost sight of Him that we reduce Him to ‘just’ anything?

Do we revere & treasure His presence as we should? Do we ‘give Him praise in everything’? DO we welcome Him every time? Do we thank Him for everything? We in the West are particularly deficient in the reverence stakes. Our pastor tells of a trip to Korea. When they sang about ‘bowing the knee to Jesus’ every person present except the band knelt and praised God from their knees. He turned to the pastor of the church and asked if this was a cultural thing? “No”, came the reply, “Its Biblical.”

Are we taking our precious Lord for granted? Do we treat Him with a contemptuous familiarity. I recall another conversation at a conference. That one church had a wonderful time in the very presence of the Lord last Sunday. Very sadly, the reponse was along the lines of, “Oh we have that every week – don’t you?” It was said in a very superior manner – arrogant you might say. Certainly with the air of one who took it totally for granted. One who was so familiar it became almost boringly normal. One who did not reverence His presence at all. It may just have been the speakers normal manner, but I sensed the Holy Spirit’s grief at hearing him say such a thing.

Are we taking the Lord for granted? Perhaps if we did this less then we might experience more of His presence in our meetings.

Are we too familiar around Him? Perhaps if we welcomed Him as we should and gave Him the praise and worship of which He is so worthy, then we might see a few more signs of real revival.

Do we revere & treasure His presence as we should? Ahh – If we revere and treasure Him as we should then revival will become more than just a word on our notice board and more an experience for the whole community.

Perhaps – just perhaps.

When God Speaks - It happens

Let There Be – the Mighty Word of God

Here’s how everything started – it wasn’t a BANG – it was creation by the Mighty Word of God. (Emphasis all mine)

Genesis 1 (NIV 1984)

The Beginning

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

1. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

2. And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

3. And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

4. Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

5. And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

6. And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

7. And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

8. Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

9. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

NINE times God spoke and He created all things in those moments. We have no idea whether or not there was a great big bang but, if there was, then God made it happen by His Word. There was no chance, no coincidence, everything that happened at creation happened at Gods Word – not before; not after; but at His Word when He spoke them into existence.

End of argument – period.

Natural Beauty

Natural Beauty

I went on a trip today. It is the eve of my 68^th birthday – NO I am not soliciting greetings – and my precious wife took me out for the day. It was precious for her too as she had not seen hill country since coming here from the USA. We went to the Peak District National Park at Monsal Head. A stunning place with all sorts of terrain to walk – plenty of those big steep things called hills – rocky paths – the lot. Natural beauty at its very best in the UK. As we walked along I found myself praising the Lord and singing that wonderful old hymn/chorus “I surrender all”. Suddenly I turned to my wife and asked, “Seeing all of this, how can anyone say there was no creation?”

People do say that you know.

Now we are home again and I’m thinking about it. I am reminded of the fallacious yet amusing little definition of the ‘Big Bang’ theorists. They belief there was nothing, and that nothing was happening to all that nothing. Then that believe that all of the nothing they believe was there, simply exploded for no reason whatsoever, thus creating everything – everything mark you – earth, sun, moon, stars, galaxies, the whole and entire universe – all ‘created’ when nothing went bang. Then, some of the things that got created because the nothing that was originally there exploded, started to be alive, with lungs and eyes and teeth and everything – all for no explicable reason. What is even more impressive is that these now living things were able to replicate – sometimes through some kind of egg and sometimes through live birth. These replicating creatures were called dinosaurs.

That’s their theory anyway.

Well, I, for one, don’t believe their theory. I believe in creation just as related for us in Genesis chapter one – “In the beginning God created heaven and earth.” That’s how it all started – God created !! Actually, there is a silly story about a man who claimed he too could create life – just as God had. When he died, he was called into God and asked to demonstrate his creative abilities. He started sweeping up some dirt and dust. The Lord asked him, “What are you doing please?” “Well”, said the man, “Your Bible says that you created man from the dust of the earth. I propose to do the same.” “Oh I see”, said God. “Then would you mind making your own dust please – just like I had to?”

You see God spoke everything into existence. “Let there be light”, “Let there be . . . . “. Just about everything was spoken into existence by God with that one simple phrase, “Let there be . . . . . ”

Actually, I have no particular problems with the theory that God made a big bang and He created everything from nothing. Yet I do have such a huge problem with any who says there was no creation, there was only evolution. What went bang? What evolved from what?

I’m bored with the creation vs evolution argument already.

Let’s all sing together

All to Jesus I surrender

All to Him I freely give,

I will always love and trust Him

In His presence daily live.

All together now –

I surrender all

I surrender all

All to thee my blessed Saviour

I surrender all

There – don’t you feel better for that. I know I do.

It’s my birthday and I'm allowed :-)

Chaos & Strife

Chaos and Strife

We all know the feeling, don’t we? You are sitting there idly watching TV, not paying much attention, when suddenly . . . . . The Lord interrupts everything with a thought so startling that it stops you in your tracks and it literally forces you to think about it. It’s not as though you want to think about it either. It is a thought so brimming with urgency and immediacy that you have to start thinking about it. So, what was it that God presented to me then ???

“Can you imagine what will happen in the world when I rapture the church?” Oh WOW! I have never even considered anything like this – so I asked the Lord to help me a bit.

“Think about this. One minute everything is normal. Suddenly, “in the twinkling of an eye” is what My Word says, millions of people simply disappear! People disappear from their desks at work. They are gone from their homes. One minute they are talking to you and they simply disappear.” He went on, “Houses are suddenly empty – no one there, full of furniture and goods, full of food, maybe even money, and the people are GONE. Shops suddenly without workers, maybe without the owner or the boss. Schools without teachers.”

“But Lord”, I said, “What about all the babies? What will happen to them?” He answered, “What is it to you what happens to all the babies? Shall I leave them behind or shall I take them with their mother or father? If I take them with their father but leave their mother behind – what then?” I could see frantic mothers and fathers searching for the family that was there a moment ago – panic etched in every atom of their being.

I could suddenly see mobs roaming around looting Christians homes just because they were now empty. I could see them looting empty shops – fighting ‘patch’ wars over who now controls their area or ‘patch’. I could see people in despair as their work closed and their money suddenly dried up. Governments in turmoil not knowing what to do or which way to turn. I could also see a whole new meaning to the expressions ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’.

It suddenly dawned on me and I think the Lord smiled as His message got through. When He comes to get us, we will leave behind chaos and strife of a magnitude we cannot begin to understand or imagine. No wonder the Bible calls this period the Great Tribulation. It is not going to be pretty. It will be a period of terrible chaos and strife. Lawlessness will be widespread. I see a kind of order returning as essential supplies are resumed.

Imagine the possible numbers involved. I am guessing but I imagine that Western Europe could lose up to 5% of their population, say 25 million people. America the same – thats around a further 16 million. Africa, Asia, and all the rest will bring the total up to 3-400 million people – all disappearing in a heartbeat of time. Can you imagine the chaos. If the Lord takes the babies as well, the number could be vast – up to 600 million? I am guessing – I am trying to describe something I do not begin to comprehend.

Let me simply finish with this. When the Lord comes to take His Bride, I do not want to be left behind. The chaos and strife of the great tribulation is too much for me to imagine and all I know is that I don’t want to be there when it happens. I don’t want my kids or grandkids to be there. I don’t want any relatives to be there. I don’t want my friends to be there. I don’t want anyone at all to be there.

Lord help me to spread your Gospel to all those around me while there is time. Their choice will be their choice but my conscience will be clear because I will have told them about you.

“Even so, come Lord Jesus.”