Teach or Destroy

by Roger Talbert

James 1:12-17 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord  has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, " I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. 16  Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

One of the biggest lies which I believe came from Satan that is unintentionally passed on by well meaning Christians is that God allows things to happen in order to see what we are going to do. Now hold on, let me explain before you think that I have lost it. A good lie consists of its majority being true and therefore believable but with a twist. The truth is that God does allow things to happen that can be harmful which we don’t understand why ( which we see in Job’s case) but the twist that makes it a lie is that God wants and /or allows it to see how we react.

                 God is omnipotent… Time has no rule over Him. Revelation 1:8  "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, " who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty ."  God is not only over time but also knows the future. There are over three hundred prophecies fulfilled by the birth, death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The  first prophecy was in Genesis 3:15 at the fall of man which was thousands of years prior to Jesus’ birth. But the prophecies are not confined to Jesus; Jeremiah 1:5  "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations ." .  Another example is the birth of John the Baptist and still another is that Peter would deny Jesus three times. There are many more examples of God’s knowledge of the future showing that God knows what we are going to do. So why does God allow things to happen that we don’t always succeed at but often fail at?

                God knows what we are going to do but we don’t. God allows things to happen so that we will know how we react in different situations. We conquer some and fail at other times. This is done to teach us our weaknesses, encouraging us to grow, learning from our shortcomings. Once we have failed there is the tendency not to repeat the failure which makes us stronger. It also keeps us humble, reminding us that our salvation was bought with the blood of Christ, and not because you nor I are good enough. It reminds us that we are sinners and that left to ourselves it would destroy us. We cannot save ourselves. This is the purpose of The Law, to show us that we are sinners in need of a Savior.

                Satan is the father of this lie in order to destroy. He takes the blame off himself and puts it on God. Many a person has turned from the Faith because of this. Something happened in their life and they fell but instead of learning form it they listen to that little voice in their head bringing doubt that God is real and that He does care about us. Satan twists the truth around blaming God for evil taking himself out of the picture, dashing all hope. Satan is the destroyer, the father of all lies out to devour us.

                God is the builder and loves us enough to sacrifice His only Son to pay for our sins not to leave us or forsake us but to teach us.

Remember, when you fall

God is there to pick you up

Satan is kicking you while you are down.

Good News Lie

by: Roger Talbert

Matthew 24:9-14 "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.  10 "At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.  11 "Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.  12 "Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold.  13 "But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.  14 "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

There is a lie going around about the “Good News” of being a Christian. The lie is that when you become a Christian all your troubles will be gone. It is like in the fairy tales, you will live happily ever after. There are many variations to this lie but the main gist is that once you become a Christian you will have it made here on earth.

That could not be farther from the truth. As you see in the Scripture reference, Jesus himself says that we will have difficulties while we are here on earth. The Devil is out to get you, for once you become a Follower of Christ you become Satan’s enemy. Again in Luke 21:16-19 ("But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, 17 and you will be hated by all because of My name.  18 "Yet not a hair of your head will perish.  19 "By your endurance you will gain your lives) Jesus warns of the hardship Christians will endure. So what is the “Good News” the “Gospel”?

The true “Good News” or the “Gospel” is that Jesus has paid in full for all our sins and all we need to receive this gift is to accept it. And with this gift you will also experience eternal life in Heaven. The “Good News” is that our Salvation (being saved) is not about here and now but eternity, the next life.

The oppressed people in not only “third world” countries but also in the world’s leading countries less the United States realize this. When a person in a persecuted country accept Jesus Christ as their LORD and Savior, their lives become harder even to the point of death for some. The work doesn’t get easier their troubles become greater. One could lose one’s family, friends, health, jobs, freedom through imprisonment, and even one’s life. So why is Christianity growing in theses countries and not in ours the United States?

Not because of the promise that their lives will change here and now but because the future, their eternity is going to be better. The oppressed people would rather die in prison with hardship unimaginable, put their life at risk for the promise of a better life for eternity; whereas, American’s being the microwave society that we are must have the good life NOW!

It is not wrong to want a better life now. What is wrong is to lie about it to tell people that they are going to get it. Because when troubles come and they will a relationship started with a lie will crumble. That is why Jesus told us up front that as followers of his we were going to have troubles not to give us false hope but the true hope of a better life with Him for eternity.

People said to be living in Hell now don’t want to keep living there for eternity. Do you?

Truthfully; each and every one of us deserves to spend eternity in Hell and without the price being paid for by Jesus Christ, we would.

Matrix Faith

Matrix Faith

by: Roger Talbert

2 Kings 6:15-17

 Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?" 16 So he answered, "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." 17 Then Elisha prayed and said, "O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." And the Lord opened the servant's eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

2 Corinthians 10:3-6

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, 6 and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.

First off, I am not advocating the movie “Matrix”. But I do believe that it shows a correlation between the physical world and the spiritual world. For in the movie there are two worlds. One is physical while the other is a computer generated world.

While this is science fiction, I see a depiction of our lives. We live in a physical and spiritual realm. Our lives are reversed from what is reality in the movie “Matrix”. For in “Matrix” the computer generated world is what the majority of the human population believes is reality and understand. They do believe that it is in fact the physical world, not realizing that there is another real physical world. While in our lives, all live in the physical world and don’t have a clue about the spiritual world.

If you talk to the general public about a spiritual realm, you will get a lot of ghosts, goblins and the like. A follower of Christ knows that there is a spiritual world and the two Scriptures listed in the beginning show this to be true but they do not understand it. The movie “Matrix” shed some light on this for me and I hope that it will do the same for you.

To give you background of the movie “Matrix” for those that have not seen it (I don’t want to ruin it for you if you haven’t seen it but I must elaborate on it) or have forgotten it, there is a war between man and machine. Mankind is losing or all but lost only a few humans have survived outside the matrix in the physical world. The matrix is a result of this war. In order to try to defeat the machines, humans cut their power even to the extent of cutting off solar power by messing with the atmosphere. This seemed to be working until the machines discovered that humans create electricity and power by living. To harness this energy, the machines turned humans into slaves from birth putting them into a stasis unit plugging into their mind and bodies creating a reality where the human slaves thought they were going through a normal life but in reality they were producing energy for their enemies the machines. This created the matrix. The ones that were awakened from the matrix tried to free the rest of the slaves. The machines were still winning the war but a prophecy of the one was their only hope.

I find familiarity between this science fiction and the battle Christians face every day. But it goes much deeper than that. In the movie, parts of the battles fought were fought in the physical world while most of the battles were fought in the matrix. This too is a comparison as to what Scripture instructs us to do.

I see connection between the matrix realm and the spiritual realm. They are very similar with the exception that spiritual realm is very much real the matrix is not. I know that what goes on in the spiritual world effects this world. I also realize that most don’t believe in this realm and the ones that do believe do not understand it. Now I do not claim to understand it completely but I have been given some realization. Our battles are not to be fought in the physical world alone. Christians agree with this but are fighting the spiritual battle with physical rules, the limitations if you will. This is where the movie “Matrix” can shed light on this dilemma.

In the movie when the battles were fought in the physical realm they fought with technology, firearms, hand to hand, all the weapons we understand and with the limitation that we know. If you got shot you were wounded or even died. But the battles fought in the matrix changed the rules. They fought with the same types of weapons and hand to hand techniques but the outcome was different. Their reflexes were faster, stamina greater, they were able to leap great distances, run up walls dodge bullets and even stop bullets in midair. In short the real world laws didn’t apply to the matrix. This is how our spiritual life is meant to be lived.

Okay so how do we accomplish this?

We fight through prayer. Prayer links us with God. In your prayers don’t limit yourself to what you know in the physical world. What made the difference between the matrix and the real world laws is what you believe. If you didn’t believe that you could jump a great distance, you won’t. Believe that healing can happen, that Bibles can be brought to anti-Christian countries, that Satan’s strongholds can be destroyed and that the you are free in Christ. I am not saying that if you have the right faith or enough faith your prayer will be answered as you see fit for all our prayer will be answered as God sees fit. But I am saying that without faith prayers have no chance nor do we have a chance in the spiritual realm without faith. Satan knows this, why do you think he attacks your faith so much?

Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight

Belly Button

Belly Button

by: Roger Talbert

Romans 3:22-25

22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (NIV)

One Sunday as the Pastor was recapping his series on the importance of the many different parts of the body of Christ (the Church), he told a story about a lady and what part she wanted to be. The lady said that she didn’t need to be one of the “big parts” like the head, eyes, arms or legs any part that God wanted her to be would be great except the belly button. This hit the Pastor strange and he asked why not the belly button. She simply said that the reason was that the belly button was useless and that she wanted to be useful for God. This got a laugh from the congregation and led the Pastor into his sermon.

All through the sermon I couldn’t stop thinking about the useless belly button. I take the Bible literally and could not except that since God said that every part of the body is equally important that any part is useless. So I kept thinking about it. What does the belly button do? We all know what it did but what does it do now? Then it hit me it is a scar. Okay it’s a scar, so what good is it. What does any scar do? It reminds you of the past it reminds of a lesson. Just as a scar from a burn reminds you that what burned you was hot and that you should be careful around it, the belly button scar reminds you where you came from.

All right we all have a scar that reminds us that we are human and have a mother how does that help the church (body of Christ)? I feel that we need to look past the obvious and think of the belly button as a symbol of where we came from before our salvation. Each of us must humble ourselves and remember that we are continuing to grow in Christ and that we were not always as mature as we are now. Don’t look down on new Christian but lift them up by remembering where you came from. If we had more belly buttons in the churches and less noses sticking in the air, we would have a stronger more unified church body.

So the next time you clean the lint out if your belly button, praise the Lord that your past can help someone in the present. Are you going to be a belly button in the body of Christ? ©