It’s Time for Another Reformation

reformation

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Tax Reform.  Healthcare Reform. Social Reform.  We hear a lot of call for reformation, these days. None of these are as important as a reformation that took place centuries ago.

Today marks the 506th anniversary of one of the most important protests in history.  On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther –  a German priest and professor – composed a list of 95 complaints against the Church.  He nailed his list to the Wittenburg church door the day before the church celebrated All Saints Day, inviting a discussion on these issues.  His timing guaranteed a wide reading.

Had that happened in a Baptist church, the deacons would’ve fired the pastor for ruining the door.  Just kidding folks.  Sort of.

We need a return to letting the Bible speak for God.

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How Are You Doing at the Half-Way Mark?

half-way-mark
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July 2, 2022 is the half-way mark of the year.  It hardly seems 182 days ago that we set some spiritual goals for the year, and now provides us a great opportunity to check where we stand with those goals.  The half-way point gives us a reference point from which to gauge our progress with still enough time to make the necessary adjustments to get us back on course.

Today, I want to suggest some simple diagnostic questions you can ask yourself at this half-way point and some encouragement to keep us moving along a path that draws us closer to Jesus.  Take the time to consider the questions honestly, and ask God what adjustments He wants to make in your life.

If I am not closer to God, I must remember that He hasn’t moved, so I must have drifted.

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Sure, I Believe, but…

believe

Have you ever known you should believe something, but for some reason couldn’t seem to?  You KNEW that you should believe it. In fact, you WANTED to believe it.  But you could never FEEL that you believed it.

I’ve been there.  In fact I go there more times than I care to admit.  As an occupational hazard, I use a lot of “faith talk.”  I encourage others to trust God only to see my own faith fall short from time to time.

All too often I completely identify with the man in Mark 9 who had a demon possessed son.  You can read this incredible account in Mark 9:14-29. 

Jesus’ disciples tried to cast out the demon, but turned a bad situation worse.  Then calmly Jesus told the man, “all things are possible for one who believes.”  The man replied, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

The Contradiction of Believing

The man’s response may sound like a contradiction.  But essentially it is more an honest admission that he wants to believe even more.  There is another contradiction at work in his life, one we all experience from time to time.  That is the battle between what we KNOW and what we FEEL.  Therein lies the test of our faith.

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How Can We Have Success Against Temptation

temptation

Oscar Wilde famously wrote, “The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it…I can resist everything except temptation.”

Temptation is a battle everyone faces.  Sometimes, it sneaks up on us and we give in before we even realize the temptation is there.  Other times, we wrestle with the temptation, doing our best to overcome.  Many times, we are successful, but more times than not we fail.

Today, I want to offer some insights that hopefully will help us all find more success against temptation.

What Is Temptation?

James 1:12-15 gives us some of the clearest Biblical teaching on temptation.  James draws an important distinction for us between the testing of our faith and the temptation to sin.  Interestingly, in the original Greek, both “temptation” and “trial” come from the same word.  The difference is seen in the outcome of a particular circumstance.

If an adversity builds my faith, trust, and reliance on God, then I can consider it a trial.  But should that same adversity cause me to disobey God in some way, it then becomes a temptation. How I choose to respond determines whether adversity is a temptation or a test.

Where Does Temptation Come From?

In distinguishing between trials and temptation, James also helps us identify temptation by its source.  God is not tempted by evil and He does not tempt anyone to give in to any form of evil thought or action.

Temptation, however, is an inside job.  James shows us that it comes when we are “lured and enticed” by our own desire.  It uses our own fleshly desire against us to draw us out from a more desirable state of obedience.

We tend to blame our circumstances for our sin. James shows us that we are the ones to blame. Temptation comes when we allow ourselves to be duped into desiring something other than God’s provision.

How Does Temptation Affect Us?

We can see another distinction between trials and temptation in the outcomes of each.  In verses 2-8, James shows us that trials strengthen our faith and draw us closer to the Lord.  When God allows adversity in our lives, He hopes to draw us closer to Himself.

In verse 15, James shows the dangerous downward spiral into which temptation throws us.  Sin is the love child when our fleshly desire gives in to temptation.  When sin grows up, it leads to death.

There is a sense in which all death here on earth is the consequence of sin’s presence.  The original sin in the Garden of Eden introduced death to God’s perfect creation, just as He warned it would.

But our present sin also leads to death on several levels.  Because of our sin, Jesus died.  When we harbor unconfessed sin, our fellowship with God is temporarily offline.  Sin causes the death of relationships, health, and a myriad of other consequences.  Temptation makes sin look very attractive in its immediate gratification.  But it fails to show us the long term ill-effects.

What Can I Do to Overcome Temptation?

Nothing.  You are powerless.

I am glad the article doesn’t end with the previous two sentences.  You see while we are powerless on our own to overcome temptation, our almighty Redeemer has already conquered for us.  The catch is that we must choose to appropriate His victory on the cross rather than give in to our desire.

In a previous blog, I offered some practical steps we can take when we find ourselves facing a battle with temptation.  I would love it if you clicked here and read it.  I think it will help.

In a way, Oscar Wilde was right.  We only get rid of temptation by letting it have its way.  Unfortunately, it’s never satisfied.  It will be back again; begging for even more.  As we grow strong in our faith, we recognize it sooner and turn to the One who is our rescue.

Further Reading:

No Shortcut No Hack for Spiritual Growth

When God Makes the Ordinary Extraordinary

ordinary

I go to that store often.  Additionally, I wear that shirt regularly. Also, I speak to strangers politely as a rule.  But this one time when all three of those came together, God was at work.  At times God turns our ordinary extraordinary.

The First Ordinary

Mark and I became Facebook friends without knowing each other personally.  He was a bi-vocational pastor in Jacksonville, Florida.  He and his wife were members at the church I pastor years ago when God called him to preach.

Just a few months ago, Marks primary job relocated him back to the Middle Georgia area, and I invited him to church. One Sunday he and his wife came to renew old acquaintances and make new friends.  Ordinary people returning to an ordinary church.

I told Mark I would pray for him and help him find a new ministry any way I could.  I could not have imagined how God would use me to do that.

The Second Ordinary

I had been to visit a church member who was in an assisted living facility, something I ordinarily do.  As is ordinary when I plan to visit such facilities, I wore a shirt bearing our church logo.

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When Bible Teaching Is Like Folgers Crystals

Folgers

Many years ago, Folgers coffee ran commercials in which someone secretly exchanged a gourmet coffee with their brand.  Of course, in the commercials, the unsuspecting coffee drinkers could not tell the difference.  Additionally, many even claimed Folgers was better than the original brand.

Sadly, I see a similar trend prevalent in Christian circles – not with coffee, but with preaching and teaching.  Many preachers today stand a passionately deliver messages to people who stand in great need to hear from God.  But some deliver what amounts to a coach’s locker room speech rather than a clear, anointed message from God’s Word.  They exchange the gourmet truth of God’s Word with the Folgers crystals of human insight and perspective.

If the message is not based on, rooted in, and filled through with God’s Word, it is merely a speech.

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Things to Consider Before Drinking the Folgers

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How to Get Control of Your Thoughts

Have you ever, like me, had thoughts pop in your head that you didn’t know where they came from?  We can’t necessarily control what thoughts enter our stream of consciousness. But we better control what we do with them after the pop up.

thoughts

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The Bible teaches that we reap what we sow, (Galatians 6:7-8) and that reality is definitely evident in our thoughts.  What we think directly influences what we do and who we become.  Solomon challenges us to protect our hearts diligently since all of life’s issues flow from it. (Proverbs 4:23) When the Bible refers to our heart, it speaks not just of our feelings, but our thinking and our will.

 

The Secret to Successful Thoughts

Consider the admonition of Paul.

“We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 10:5

“Take every thought captive.”  We should have thoughts rather than letting thoughts have us.  We have to ask the question, “who is in charge here, me or my mind?”  I like to put it this way: think about what you think about.

So the secret to successful thoughts is to be both intentional and protective of our thoughts.

We should have thoughts rather than letting thoughts have us…think about what you think about.

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How to Do A Verse Analysis for Bible Study

In high school I was a grammar nerd; I REALLY enjoyed English class.  I even remember what an indirect object is!  Because I was (and still am) a visually oriented learner, I especially liked diagramming sentences because the diagram was a good analysis that helped me see and understand the relationships the words in a sentence had with each other.

sentence diagram and verse analysis

Verse analysis is not as involved as sentence diagramming

The same type of analysis can help us in our Bible study through what I call a verse analysis.  The verse analysis is not as in-depth as the sentence diagram, but useful nonetheless to help us see the relationship of the words in the verse to one another.

I believe that not only did God inspire EVERY word of the Bible, but He also inspired EACH word is.  Words matter and their relationship to one another in a given passage reveal the truth that God wants us to know about Him, His precepts, and His purposes for us.

At the end of this blog, I have included a video tutorial demonstrating how I do a verse analysis, and I invite you to watch it and let me know if it is helpful to you.

A Working Example

Let’s consider as an example Proverbs 3:5

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.

My first step is to isolate the main verbs in a passage.  Once I’ve isolated those verbs, I study their context and meanings.  I use many of the tools I mentioned in the “Tools Blog” to help with this task. 

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Context – The Missing Link to Understanding the Bible

context

One of the biggest mistakes I see people make when studying the Bible is the failure to consider context.  The inspired words of God did not drop down in book form in a vacuum.  The Holy Spirit moved men to write eternal truth in their times, cultures, languages, and personalities.

Types of Context

By context, I mean the unique place, time, and style of each part of God’s Word. We may consider several different contexts in a passage of Scripture.

The Bible cannot mean something it never meant.

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Literary Context

God used several different types of context to communicate His truth to us.  Likewise, we should understand different types of literature in different ways.  Poetry reads differently that narrative. We understand letters differently than historical writing.  The book of Revelation and several parts of Old Testament prophecy include cryptic apocryphal language.  We have to interpret them in that light.

Historical Context

The authors of the Bible lived and wrote in times different than ours.  When we understand the cultural norms and practices of Bible times, we gain deeper insight into its message. Good Bible interpretation considers what the Bible meant to its original readers and hearers.  Then we can find application for our current lives.  The Bible cannot mean something it never meant.

Grammatical Context

The Bible is a written document.  (I know, duh!)  It was written primarily in two languages, Hebrew for the Old Testament and Greek for the New Testament.  Additionally, there is a little of the ancient Aramaic in the Old Testament as well. Translators work diligently to bridge the gap between those languages in the Biblical period and our contemporary language.

Likewise, we must consider a word in its relationship to the sentence.  We look at the sentence in relation to the chapter, chapter to book, and book to the entire Biblical narrative.  Never forget that the Bible, Genesis to Revelation, is a unified story.  Grammatically, how does a particular passage fit into the whole narrative?

The Bible, Genesis to Revelation, is a unified story.

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A Case in Context Point

Just the other day a Facebook post described a “new” meaning to Psalm 23:5, “You anoint my head with oil.” According to the article, shepherds rubbed the heads of sheep with oil to protect them from flies who would lay maggots in their ears.  The sheep in turn might injure themselves by beating their heads against rocks in an attempt to alleviate the torment.  The article’s author drew the conclusion that God helps us when we are mentally tormented.

I do not claim to be an expert on shepherding – today or in David’s time.  Shepherds may very well anoint their sheep for such a purpose; however, that is not the meaning of Psalm 23:5.

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An Independence Day Message for Christians

independence

Today, across the country, we celebrate the day our Founding Fathers officially declared independence from England.  For 242 years, we have enjoyed the unprecedented liberty to live our lives according to our dreams and principles.

But today, we find our country at a moral crossroads.  As Jesus followers we have enjoyed the freedom of religious expression since the founding of our country.  Many of us fear that freedom eroding.

Along with the erosion of our religious liberty, we sense the decline of the moral principles that have led to our country’s greatness. Sadly, most seem to fail to identify the true root of our problems and offer insufficient solutions.

Let me ask you to take the time today or in the next few days to view the sermon video below.  My prayer is that we, as Christians, will seek to influence our culture as Jesus had in mind.

Make America Godly Again from Jim Duggan on Vimeo.