Get This Right!

“Do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes.”  Exodus 15:26 

There are some things in life you need to get right.  You may not get the house, career, clothes, or your golf game right, but you cannot afford to NOT get this right!  Moses told the nation of Israel, “If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you.” Exodus 15:26. The people needed to get this right.  If they wanted deliverance, protection, victory and healing, they needed to get this right.  Today, it is vital for you to get three things right: your doctrine, your spirit, and your heart.  None of this is easy.  Neither was the wilderness easy for Israel.  But the wilderness was a far cry from the bondage in Egypt.  I would rather have the wilderness with God than Egypt without God.  

Get your doctrine right.  “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart.” Psalm 19:7-8.  The wilderness is no place for guessing.  The wilderness was an open field, a desert, basically an uninhabited and wild area.  Wild animals, predators, the dangerous elements of wind, rain, sand and cold rule in the wilderness.  Do not think you can navigate this world without your guidebook, the Bible! 

Get your spirit right! “Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. ¹⁰  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:9-10 (KJV).  We are all flesh and blood creatures.  We have a tendency to dismiss spiritual forces because we don’t see them.  Check your spirit.  How?  I’m talking about your general demeanor.  Your disposition.  Your mood.  The default position of your attitude.  The thought that your minds goes to without thinking.  Is it negative?  Critical?  Abusive?  Selfish?  Ask God to create in you a right spirit. Are you carnal?  Worldly?  In love with this present world?  Consumed with looks?  Vain?  Does style and fashion drive your decisions about life?  

Get your heart right.  “For their heart was not steadfast with Him, Nor were they faithful in His covenant.” Psalm 78:37. Now, we’re getting down to the critical message, the question that lays your whole life bare before God: Is your heart right with God?  Is there bitterness or resentment hidden away in your heart?  That was the downfall of Judas. Is your heart full of pride?  That doomed Belshazzar. Do you have reckless disregard for God’s Word?  Remember Samson. Are you lacking in forgiveness toward those who have hurt you, or that you think have hurt you? 

Simon, the Cyrene had to bear someone else’s cross.  He did nothing to deserve it.  It was an injustice placed upon him.  And you? Have you been unfairly singled out to bear a cross of someone else’s doing?  Do you resent having to feel undeserved pain or be humiliated by someone else’s sin?  But, even though you bear their cross, you don’t have to be crucified on it.  You are bearing the cross on which the Prince of Glory will die.  And, moreover, He died for you.  Remember what Jesus said while on His cross.  “‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’ And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.” Luke 23:34 (KJV).  Jesus forgave in His pain.  He forgave while being humiliated.  He forgave in spite of a gross miscarriage of justice.  He forgave when he could have justifiably cursed them and killed them.  He forgave though he had the power to reverse the entire situation.  His heart was right! If you want to be saved, if you want to spend eternity with Christ, get these things right!

Take the Mountain

“Now therefore, give me this mountain.” Joshua 14:12 

The Caleb character is legendary, almost mythological.  Out of our league.  We’re more likely to identify with murderous Cain, lying Abraham, deceitful Jacob, unfaithful Samson, promiscuous Mary Magdalene or cowardly Simon Peter than someone like Caleb.  But, if you are majoring in self-defeating, self-loathing miseries, if you are burying yourself in your troubles and traumas, you are not doing yourself any favors by continuing to wallow in the mud.  When you ingest, digest and regurgitate trouble, you will dig yourself a hole so deep you will never get out.  

It is time to identify with someone like Caleb.  At this time of this bold proclamation, Moses had been dead for over five years and Caleb had not yet gotten his inheritance.  He’d survived forty years of wandering in the wilderness, plus the five-year campaign taking Canaan.  Now, he intended to claim his promise, but there was a small catch.  The mountain was infested by giants. Israel’s enemies were strongest here.  A little late in life, one would think.  At age eighty-five, he should have been settling back into his rocking chair, taking off his army boots and putting on his slippers. I’m sure people tried to talk him out of it.  “Caleb, you’re crazy.  It’s too much. Just let God handle it!” 

Yes, there are times we should “let go and let God.” That time is when we have done all we can do, using the strength and good sense God has given us. Just know this: God isn’t into blessing laziness, cowardice, fear and capitulation to the enemy.  God won’t bless an evasive, pass-the-buck, non-committal kind of spirit.  Life is a struggle, a warfare. When you are faced with the mountain of adversity, don’t back down. “Take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day.” Ephesians 6:13. Caleb said, “The Lord helping me, I will drive them out!” Joshua 14:12. God didn’t call you to claim your mountain alone.  If God leads you to face a mountain, He plans to help you conquer it! 

When you run from your mountain, it will overwhelm you.  “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts. ‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain!’” Zechariah 4:6-7.  Caleb did not just want to climb the mountain; he wanted to possess the mountain!  Tell the devil today that you are not just going to beat him, you are going to own him!  Embrace your mountain.  You will find God is there.  

Jesus had something to say about the mountain.  “Assuredly if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.”  Matthew 21:21. Jesus used a Jewish idiom meaning to overcome a difficulty.  It’s a great word picture. Too many people let the mountain bully them.  “Ha! You don’t have a chance.  I will swallow you up!” Caleb said, “Give me the adversity.  The mountain may be bigger than me, but it is not bigger than my God!”  At the same time, you must be willing to be the tool in the hand of God to do the removal!  Don’t be so worried about the process that you forget about the outcome.  Don’t let the mountain talk to you; you have to talk to your mountain.  

Jesus conquered His mountain, Mount Calvary. “But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! Luke 12:50 (NIV).  Is your mountain talking to you today? Threatening you?  Shout your answer back! “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!”

Is It Really Better to Give than Receive?

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35  

WILL YOU STRETCH TO EXCELLENCE, or shrink into selfishness? I’m referring to generosity versus miserliness, manufacturing rather than consuming, being a giver rather than a taker.  Giving mystifies the uninitiated. First, they think in terms of “their money.” Then, they insist that rascals (i.e. the churches, pastors, missionaries) are out to take it away from them. When they occasionally wonder if they ought to give some of it away, they get an acute case of “I-Need-It-Myself-itus.” In my experience, however, it is when people give, and then stretch to give a little bit more, that they break into an awesome realm of faith. It is the financial version of sowing and reaping, asking and receiving, and suffering the pain to get the gain. In fact, so many good things arise out of a giving spirit that I am convinced that it is a major requirement of discipleship. 

Missions giving supplies an apt illustration.  Poor, remote believers worship in buildings givers bought, study in Bible schools givers established and use literature givers furnished. Dedicated missionaries that givers support preach the gospel. I have personally been showered with thanks by many national preachers and missionaries, humbly grateful for the givers. In the Philippines, Korea, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Jamaica, Brazil, France, Holland, Germany, Italy, Chili and Greece, I have witnessed the awesome results of giving to worldwide missions.  Many believers and churches renew their commitments annually to send the gospel to the regions beyond. I have never regretted giving even one dollar to this cause. When any individual or church gives to a cause bigger than themselves, it stretches into spiritual growth. On the other hand, when a church shuts down its giving impulse, it stagnates into selfishness and barrenness. The following motives form the basis of giving: 

• Give cheerfully. It’s a spirit God loves.
• Give purposefully. It means you build it into your budget.
• Give generously. It’s good “generousity therapy.”
• Give compassionately. It turns hard hearts soft.
• Give regularly. It’s a wonderful habit.
• Give responsively. It keeps you open to needs.
• Give sacrificially. It exalts the soul.

Giving captures the functional essence of Christianity. “For God so loved the world that he gave …” Two powerful ideas form this premise: the conviction that giving is right and the expectation of spiritual growth.  It is a two-way street.  Giving not only benefits the beneficiary, it profoundly effects the giver. Add that to the unprecedented need of missions—both home and abroad—and we have a compelling mandate to stretch to excellence.

I once complained to an elder about the perennial requests I received from those I called “beggars.”  He corrected me with one question.  “Would you rather ask or be asked?” I want to always be a source, a supplier.  That’s why it is more blessed to give than to receive. 

God Demands Your Best

“And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more.” Philippians 1:9

God goes above and beyond the expectations of man.  Even the poorest among us can do more than can be expected, even after comparing them to the greatest works of others.  The operative word is MORE.  God does more, God wants us to do more.  More is a comparative word. We do not judge our best by an arbitrary standard, but by the little word, MORE.  BEST and MORE are intrinsic to each other.  So, are you doing your best at what you do, or do you settle for mediocrity?  Who’s counting?  You may think it’s not anyone else’s business.  Well, it really is a concern for all of us.  If no one does their best, then the whole community, the whole family, the whole church is dramatically affected.  The phrase “doing your best” has become clichéd.  We now reward mediocrity and non-achievement so much that that exactly what society has produced.  Our best is called our best even when it is hardly more than our worst.  We’ve labeled our nothings as somethings until we have managed to fool ourselves into thinking it is true.  

Doing our best has come to mean just getting by.  Minimums have become maximums.  Many have lowered their standards, not to make them better, but to make them easier to reach.  But, the strangest and most ironic thing is that while we accept the lower standards for ourselves, we demand higher standards in others.  We all want the best brain surgeons, airplane pilots, financial advisors and building ontractors. True? 

God has a judgment system in place. “Each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.” 1 Corinthians 3:12-15. Don’t resent being compared to anyone else.  God is looking at the kind of sacrifice you give to Him. “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts.” Hebrews 11:4. More excellent? Than who?  Cain, his brother. 

Once, Israel was under siege and King Joash went to Elisha for advice. Elisha told him to take some arrows and strike them on the floor.  Joash struck three times.  Elisha was angry.  “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it!” 2 Kings 13:19. What did Joash do wrong? The prophet didn’t tell him how many times to strike the ground with the arrows.  How was Joash supposed to know? The mistake was that Joash did just enough to get by.  You may be saying that your reward is up to God.  You may think that it is all written down ahead of time.  You may think that God already knows the outcome and there is nothing you can do about it. Not true.

This incident tells me something different.  What happens to you in your life and in your relationship to God is more about your response to the opportunities that God has given you than in some predetermined result that is out of your control.  The true servant’s heart always leans toward MORE!  “And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.” Matthew 5:41. Do more than is expected; more than is required.  Just a little more praying, fasting, reading, sacrificing, giving, worshipping, loving, witnessing, serving, believing, teaching and helping.  (KJV).  It’s up to you to emulate God’s example. “Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done.” Psalm 40:5

Four Things to Know about Repentance

“I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13:3 

Repentance is a biblical command. “Therefore, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Repent, turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations.” Ezekiel 14:6. “And saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Matthew 3:2. “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’” Acts 2:38. Repentance is a prerequisite for receiving the Holy Ghost baptism.  “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” Acts 3:19. 

What are the four things to know about repentance?  It’s very simple.  1. Repentance is something you think. 2. Repentance is something you say. 3. Repentance is something you stop doing. 4. Repentance is something you start doing. 

1. Repentance is something you think.  Start thinking differently.  Think differently about yourself. Think differently about the world around you. Think differently about God. Understand that you are entering into a totally new world with different values, goals, and relationships. “Then Job answered the LORD and said: ‘I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:1-6.  

2. Repentance is something you say.  Express to God your shame and sorrow.  Admit your sins to him. “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.” Psalm 51:2-4. 

3. Repentance is something you stop doing.  We never stop repenting, but we stop doing wrong things. “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14. Stop entertaining false ideas about God. “Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.” Hebrews 6:1.

4. Repentance is something you start doing.  “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.” Acts 26:19-20.  What works?  Worship and praise. Seeking after holy and Godly things. Submitting yourself to the will of God instead of the will of the flesh.  World Evangelist Billy Cole saw nearly a million people receive the Holy Ghost during his fruitful missionary career.  He began every Holy Ghost crusade with a call to repentance.  God begins his re-creation of the soul in the repentant heart.

Energizing the Soul

Many therapeutic procedures have been developed to help people. Health care professionals can pinpoint disorders with amazing accuracy. They can trace the problems back to their source, identify contributing factors, and project new courses of action to solve them. Unfortunately, these programs hit a wall at the point of implementation and sustained treatment.  Medical experts cannot make anything happen. They can analyze, but they have no power to energize. They can offer suggestions and support, but, by their own admission, the real results depend on the willpower of the individual.  But, the Holy Spirit generates power for spiritual change. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8. 

Life functions through energy, and food metabolizes into energy.  Neither food nor metabolism are transformative without the other. Spiritually, the Holy Spirit energizes believers. Our spiritual food (the Word of God) becomes energy through the power of the Holy Spirit. Because of this, God confers the gift of the Holy Ghost upon believers to empower them to do spiritual feats. He begins where religion and reformation end. He supplies the actual power to implement change, plus He gives believers the power to perform the will of God throughout their lives. Jesus knew that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was critical to the success of the infant church, both as a corporate body and in the lives of individual disciples. His command for them to return to Jerusalem to be endued with “power from on high” emphasized this. He knew that even after training his disciples for over three years, they needed something more. Without the indwelling Spirit, they would have a form of religion, but would lack the power to make it work. 

How do you walk in the Spirit? Let’s use a familiar picture to illustrate. If you are going out for a stroll in unfamiliar territory, you take note of the terrain.  Is it mountainous? Rocky? Are there hazards that signal danger, or hostile animals or people to avoid? Can you read the signage? What about the traffic?  With all these factors, you are safest if you have a companion to walk with you. Spiritually, these same conditions exist in walking with Christ.  If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:1-3.

Walking in the Spirit presents challenges to your flesh, but the Spirit lifts you up to a victorious plane of living. I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5:16-18. 

Here’s the point: the Holy Spirit is pure and powerful, but we are leaky vessels.  Tension exists between the Spirit of God and our flesh, and the flesh does not surrender without a contentious fight.  Paul said, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.” Romans 7:13. We want to do right, but the flesh counters our every attempt to change. It’s not the fault of the law of God—His laws are perfect. The problem lies in our sinful flesh. It is self-willed, incorrigible, and ready to rebel against any restraint. 

The secret?  Stay filled with the Spirit.  Renew daily.  Live in a state of God-consciousness.  A spiritual birth survives through a spiritual lifestyle.

What Shall We Name the Baby?

Human interaction demands that we place everything that has any meaning attached to it into a specific name.  That’s why the naming of a baby is so important to us.  The name differentiates the baby from all other babies.  The name gives significance to the child.  In a very real sense, anything or anyone that doesn’t have a name doesn’t exist.  How?  In a legal, social, economic and political sense, you don’t exist if you don’t have a name.  Only a name confers identity.  Not only that, but it is the special right of the mother and the father to name the baby.  No one else has that right.  Naming is empowerment.  In penitentiaries around the country, once an inmate enters the system, he or she is given a number in lieu of a name.  It is a de-humanizing act that subjects the prisoner to the system.  If the system names you, or re-names you (even if it is with a number), the system owns you! In fact, names were so important in the Bible, that when something of huge significance happened in a person’s life, their name was changed.  Now, God himself began the act of naming.  He told Abram to name his first son Ishmael.  Furthermore, God attached such significance to a name that he changed the name of Abram to Abraham. 

No name in the universe surpasses the Name of Jesus.  This truth elevates Jesus’ name in baptism because that sacrament invokes the saving name of Jesus Christ over the believer. A careful reading of the New Testament reveals that the Apostles used the Name of Jesus Christ exclusively in baptism. “Who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them.  They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Acts 8:15-16. “And he said to them, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’ So they said, ‘Into John’s baptism.’ Then Paul said, ‘John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.’ When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Acts 19:3-5. This made the use of the name of Jesus highly significant, especially regarding the healing of the soul. God always manifested His power on earth through the use of His name.  Consider three blessings that come through the Name of Jesus: 

• The name of Jesus confers salvation. “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
• The name of Jesus puts devils to flight. “And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And he came out that very hour.” Acts 16:18
• The name of Jesus heals physical ailments. “Then Peter said, ‘Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.’ And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So, he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God.” Acts 3:6-8 

Baptism takes the abstract and makes it practical.  It places the use of the name of Jesus within our grasp. The very name which wielded so much power in the early church belongs to baptized believers. The therapeutic effects of such power are immeasurable.  Never forget the name invoked over you.  “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe.” Proverbs 18:10. 

“What a beautiful … wonderful … powerful Name it is, the Name of Jesus!”

Don’t Abandon Baptism

Spiritualizing and over-intellectualizing the sacrament of baptism has the ironic effect of insulting the very God who instituted the practice.  Unnecessary.  Superficial.  A human work.  Merely an outward show of an inward faith.  These and other disparaging assertions render the divine ordinance as silly, and call God’s intelligence into question.  Some who dispute the need for baptism have even voided the clear command for baptism in the Scriptures.  

Baptism’s prominence in the Scriptures is irrefutable.  “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  Acts 2:38. This was not a one-shot deal.  It was repeated at the Samaritan revival.  “For as yet He [the Holy Spirit] had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Acts 8:16. And, again when the Gentiles were added to the church.  “’Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’  And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.” Acts 10:47-48.  The Apostle Paul reinforced the command.  “’And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’” Acts 22:16.  

Moreover, the phrase “for the remission of sins” found in Acts 2:38 causes much angst for baptism deniers.  The foremost authority on New Testament Greek, Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, unequivocally states that the phrase means “in order to,” or “for the purpose of,” remitting sins.  It strongly indicates that baptism is essential from the perspective of atonement.  Paul evidently thought so when he said, “Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins.”   

Don’t pit faith against baptism as though it’s one against the other.  It’s a specious argument that erodes the power of the sacrament. Your faith in Jesus Christ should lead you to baptism, not excuse you from baptism.  Faith should enhance, not diminish baptism’s meaning.  In addition to the remission of sins, baptism represents the moment when the name of Jesus Christ is invoked over a believer.  In fact, Thayer says that the Greek word for “calling upon,” epikaleo, is “to permit oneself to be surnamed.”  In other words, we receive the name of Jesus Christ in baptism! 

Your baptism is more than going down dry and coming up wet.  It connotes a therapeutic process.  Baptism embodies the principle of identification. Through baptism, a believer enters into Christ. (Galatians 3:27.)  Baptism provides access to every victory Jesus won for us. His death, burial, and resurrection belong to the church. We become identified with Christ in the waters of baptism. “… Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:3-4. Baptism swallows up our blemished, corrupt identity. We then become one with Christ.  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17. 

Christ’s victory over Satan, the flesh, and the world belong to the church. His triumph over sin belongs to the church. Baptism positions you in an unbeatable place.