I just lost over one hour's worth of writing on an important subject. It was one of the most important and well-written pieces I have ever put together. A system that should have prevented the loss of the document failed. I will have to write it tomorrow. 

There's got to be a verse for that...

"If anyone’s work is burned up, it will be lost, but he will be saved; yet it will be like an escape through fire." (1 Corinthians 3:15)

I am glad that my salvation is not dependent on what I do or how well I can save myself.

Good day.

[Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.]
 
Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry.

This weekend the Powerball Lottery climbed to over $1 billion. That is $1,300,000,000.00. You could spend $2.00 on a ticket and win more money than most people in the world will ever see. But of course, it is a losing game. The chance of winning could not be smaller. You literally have a better chance of getting a paper cut from the lottery ticket than winning anything from it.

But millions of people will spend a couple of bucks trying to win a fortune. Sadly, most of those people will not exchange their broken lives for eternal life. We think money will improve our lives. But it has been shown that wealth can impoverish a life just as easily as it can improve it.

There is actually no hope in money. People may say they hope they win the lottery, but that is a very weak hope. Some would say it is more of a wish. But if you are hoping in a windfall of cash, you are hoping for the wind. $1.3 billion dollars cannot buy you one extra moment of life. Neither can it buy you one blink of eternity.

What is available? Well, the apostle Paul said, "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)

Our hope truly lies in something we could not buy with all of the gold and diamonds in the earth. In the end, you will either pay for your sin with death, or receive the free gift of life. Living your life with Christ in you gives you a 100% chance at eternal life. No picking the right numbers. No checking into the lottery announcement every night. Just faith. Just grace. Just obedience. Just Jesus.

I'm not suggesting anyone who plays the lottery goes to Hell. I don't believe that. I am suggesting that anyone who is transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit does go to Heaven. I like those odds. Be careful where you put your hope, your time, your money, your desires, your faith.

[Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.]
 
Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry.

Saturday used to be a day off. All the way back in the Garden of Eden God established that man should take a day of rest every week. Throughout Scripture the 7th day of the week (our Saturday) has been the day of rest for the Jewish people. I remember as a child that Saturday's were fun days off. But as we have grown up as individuals and as a culture, we take less and less time to rest. 

But some are tired, not so much from physical labor, but from emotional, spiritual, relational, and other types of exertion. There is a rest for your soul. But it is only found in Christ. Let me say that again... if you want to rest in the most important areas of your life, you must be one of God's children through Jesus Christ. There is no true rest or peace apart from Him. Here is how one writer in the Bible put it...

"A Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. For the person who has entered His rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from His. Let us then make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience." (Hebrews 4:9-11)

Are you worn out in your life today? Do you need rest from your efforts to please people, to become successful, to find significance, to achieve balance, to love well, to quit bad habits? Instead of trying to create your own rest, turn your efforts toward entering into God's rest.

[Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.]
 
Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry.

Never be afraid to learn. But make sure you are learning the right things. We live in a culture of information. Our higher education system has largely become a cesspool of ideas competing against what has been known for thousands of years. They celebrate 'questioning', as if there is more value in doubting than there is knowing. 

To oppose the established wisdom is now to become an intellectual hero. It is as if the academics have to find new ways to doubt in order to hold their position in the system. In fact, the liberal arts university system is now somewhat based on questioning the known rather than questioning the unknown. They even give their teachers a blank check on opposing the norm. At a certain point, a teacher achieves what they call "tenure." Tenure is basically a guaranteed job on the faculty of a university. The reason they give professors this guaranteed job is so they can have the freedom to question facts without fear of being fired. Tenure is in essence the freedom to make up whatever you like without being held accountable.

This would explain the post-modern shift away from foundational or propositional truth in our culture. 2+2 used to be 4. Now it is whatever one believes it to be. Jonah used to be swallowed by a huge fish. Now it is okay to believe that the account of Jonah is just a fairy tale... even in many of our Christian colleges.

Tenure would also explain the push to get everyone to go to college. It used to be that most parents raised their children to believe that God is real, the Bible is true and clear, and there is right and wrong. Now, one of the purposes of university is to get young adults to question those presuppositions. They are taught to deconstruct the faith handed down by their parents and construct their own faith. This is why the Liberal community is so eager to get everyone to college. They need to deprogram those believing young adult minds. It's easier to do that in a place that offers everyone 'opportunity'.

But see... faith is not to be 'yours'. It is God's domain. He gives faith. And He gives it through people. That's how it works. It is a seed handed to the first people of faith. As it grows, it produces seed and germinates in the lives of others. It is to find a place to grow in each person. When we encourage people to deconstruct their faith in a secular setting, it is like we are asking them to deconstruct their immune system... and then walk through a sick ward at the hospital. 

Every idea is not equal. But most of the professors at the university level want us to consider that they are. In the end, they want us... or at least our children to believe their own ideas are the best. And since the chance of them losing their job at the school is next to non-existent, they have a lot of opportunity to attack truth and form the next generation.

So as believers we need to be wise. There are a lot of things I believe that I never have to question. The main things I need to question are those things I do not know. But if I start spending time deconstructing my faith, it won't be long before I have a bunch of pieces of faith lying around, but no real way to put them back together. God never asks us to question our faith, or tear it apart to see if it is real. Genuine faith is proven through obedience, not obliteration. God wants faith to grow in us order to produce fruit in our lives as well as the lives of others. It was never His intent for our faith to die to see if it would rise again.

We wonder why the Church has seemingly lost a generation? Well, we have been sending them off to be deconstructed at university, and they lose, or leave their damaged faith because that is the main course at the schools. The college system is not creating a generation of people with strong faith. That's a problem. It used to be that higher learning was a way to know God more. Now it is a way to know God less.

"Instruct a wise man, and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man, and he will learn more. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For by Wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life." (Proverbs 9:9-11)

This is one of the great wise sayings of Scripture. The idea is not that we become wiser by opening up our minds to every possibility out there. We become wiser by first, fearing God. Second, knowing God. Third, being instructed by people who fear and know God. We would live longer and with greater capacity if we would acquire the wisdom that comes from God. There is no promise in the Bible that if we cast off the understanding of faith that we will be blessed. In fact, there is always a curse that comes with attacking or dismantling faith. 

Jesus said, “I assure you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child—this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one child like this in My name welcomes Me. But whoever causes the downfall of one of these little ones who believe in Me—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea! Woe to the world because of offenses. For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes." (Matthew 18:3-7)

Look at what Jesus said about people who play a part in the deconstruction of the faith of a child who believes in Jesus. They would be better off dead. Not just a millstone... but a heavy millstone should take them to the bottom of the sea. Doesn't sound like 'gentle Jesus meek and mild, does it?

Am I against education? Absolutely not. Am I against an educational system that is increasingly anti-God, anti-Bible, and anti-family? Absolutely. Many parents have raised children to be Godly, only to have the contemporary educational system fill their heads with foolishness and their hearts with poison. 

Today, do not simply seek to know more stuff. There is no value in knowing or testing all of the options to Christianity. Seek to know God more. I encourage you to strengthen your faith. Don't deconstruct it. That's the Devil's job. You don't need to come up with your own faith. You need to build up that faith that was once for all delivered to believers.

[Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.]
 
Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry.

Have you ever been in a restaurant or movie theater and asked for a Coke and the server responded with, "We have Pepsi," or "Is Pepsi alright?" Actually, there's a reason I asked for Coke... and it is because it is not like Pepsi. I like Coke better. These companies spend millions of dollars every year to separate themselves from each other. But in one conversation, a waiter destroys all of their hard work.. and in the process, deflates my evening.

I grew up in North Carolina. That seemed pretty straight-forward to me. But it was interesting when I would be talking to someone from another part of the country, inevitably, upon finding out where I was from, someone would say, "Oh... I know someone who lives in South Carolina," as if it is a suburb, or subset of my beloved Tarheel state. I'm sure people from the Dakotas have the same experience. I don't think I've ever met someone from Ohio and said, "Oh... I have friends that live in Indiana." But for some reason, if two states include the same name, it is close enough.

Several years ago, the education system in America moved away from hard facts and tested the waters of 'close'. So many children were falling behind that they wanted to encourage them. In class, if a struggling child claimed that 5+5=9, they were praised for being close. I'm wondering if the teachers would be as happy or forgiving if they were being shorted on their paychecks. But 9 is close to 10, so that was close enough. Just putting forth the effort was worth more than truth.

Many people buy thing online today. I have a friend who sells hot tub parts on the internet. Sometimes customers buy the wrong part for their hot tub. Even though the description is very clear with tape measure, pictures and even videos, people will still buy the wrong part... because it looked like it was close to what they need. But a 2" piece will not work in a 1-1/2" space... I don't care how close you thought you were.

Nothing is more ironic to me today than the fact that we have access to more facts and information than any generation in history, yet we still work off of bad information. It is not unusual for people to make an erroneous claim to support their position, but then when their claim is proven false, they just go on as if it doesn't matter. Let me give you an example...

People who are 'pro-choice' (pro-abortion) often say things like, "Abortion needs to be legal because so many women are raped, or victims of incest, and many have to have an abortion to or else they would die during childbirth. And if we don't have safe legal abortions, many women will die from illegal 'back alley' abortions." This is a scary and dire picture. One may sit back and think, "Wow... things are bad. I suppose we should let women kill their children." But remember... decisions based on bad information are bad decisions. Facts are our friends.

The reality is, less than 1.5% of abortions happen because of rape and incest. Less than 1.5%. The number of abortions that occur to save the life of the mother are non-existent. Basically, no baby must be aborted to save a mother's life. These are true statistics provided by Guttmacher... a pro-abortion organization that keeps statistics on abortions. And what about all of those women who will die from illegal abortions if we don't allow them to have safe ones? Well, Guttmacher says that only 39 women died from illegal abortions in 1972... the year before abortion was made legal. These are facts... not ideas.

But sharing these facts with people who only want to put forth an agenda will not change their mind. They believe what they want to believe regardless of the facts. Even when their 'facts' are refuted by actual truth, they still believe the same bad ideas. This is a widespread problem. People without Christ will usually believe what they want to believe, regardless of the facts... or truth. They think their beliefs are close enough to the truth. And even if they aren't... it doesn't matter. This is extremely dangerous to civilization. When we can make decisions based on information we know to be lies, we set ourselves up for chaos and catastrophic problems. What we believe does matter. It will determine our standing with God, and our place in eternity. 

Believing that Jesus is 'a god' is not the same thing as believing He is the one true God. Believing that there is no Hell will not keep you from going there. Believing that there are many ways to God is not close enough. Here's the thing about believing well... Jesus said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32)

Truth has the natural ability to set you free... if you surrender to it. Trusting in something close to the truth, or something that you think is truth does not have the same effect in your life. In fact, it is those things which we believe to be true but are not, are the most dangerous lies. Lies keep us in bondage. They cause us to do things we wouldn't normally do... and justify such activity in the process. When we continue to make bad decisions based on known lies, we guarantee destruction. When we make hard decision based on real truth, we guarantee ultimate freedom.

Today, you need to be a fact-checker. Don't just believe whatever phrase comes across your desk. Don't allow someone to build a false reality in your life based on facts that are not factual. Don't accept 'close enough' when it comes to what is true. Be a truth teller and a truth hearer. Don't let lies go undetected or unchallenged. Don't let truth go unspoken or undefended. Satan is called the 'father of lies.' The only way he can get us to sin and make horrible life choices is to get us to believe things that look close, but are not true. We must be sharper than our enemy. The apostle Paul wrote to the young pastor Timothy, "I have written so that you will know how people ought to act in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth." 1 Timothy 3:15)

[Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.]
 
Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry.
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