I have performed six Christmas concerts so far this December. Todays concerts were especially interesting. At the Rehab facility there was a young man named Vang (I believe he was Hmong) who seemed very interested in my Gospel presentation. When I prayed with the group he may very well have prayed with me to receive Christ and was eager to recieve a Gospel of John. He started reading it right away. I also felt led to give him a copy of my CD and he said he was glad to meet me. I am very glad because I think we have a new member added to the family of God!
At my last concert this evening I felt impressed to share about a movie I had seen called Joyeux Noël about a three day treaty that happened on several of the frontlines of World War 1 in 1914.
Here is the trailer for this movie:
It all started with the singing of Christmas carols among the soldiers.
A man spoke up at my concert, “Yes, it’s true. My dad was there and witnessed this event.”
Wow.
Please be praying for me that as I continue sharing the Gospel that many will respond and also that I continue to be led by the Holy Spirit as I was today.
I just watched a few teaching videos put on by Answers in Genesis over the last few days. It explained various things like the geological evidence for the flood and how, contrary to popular views, the earth is indeed young. Like 6000 years young.
Is this surprising to anyone? Offensive to anyone?
I have to confess, I know people who would role their eyes at this post. “He went there. I cant believe it.” <shaking of head> “What a sad unenlightened fundy lemming”. At least that’s the response I imagine from a certain kind of person. I was once featured in a blog as being an imbecile for believing God created the world in six days… by someone I considered a friend who also happened to be a pastor. That hurt. So this blog post was influenced with these people in mind.
Seriously. Does it matter if we believe in a young earth or not? Isn’t this just another non-essential issue of the Christian faith? Many think so, but to think that flirts with dangerous ideas regarding the authority of God’s word.
I am not presenting this as an essential to the faith, but what I will say is that if you believe the essentials of the faith, biblically presented views of origins become an inevitable conclusion. It’s much like a mathematical proof.
I take the Bible at face value. I do this because Jesus did. He seemed to think Scripture was the actual word of God and was utterly trustworthy down to even the very tense of a single word.
These days it seems difficult to present and prove a case for something and convince anyone of the truth even when there are many Scriptures from both the old and new testament that plainly teach on a subject (can you think of an example of this?). But Jesus and the apostles often make a solid argument out of a single word or even the tense of a word!
What kind of world do we live in that cares nothing for truth or reality or the way things really are? No one is actually submitting themselves to the truth and this is sad because at the core of truth is love.
Why do I bother writing a blog about the age of the earth? Even if I can prove it, (and it can be proven) would anyone care? Could I change a single mind on the subject and why would that even matter?
I have a Christian friend who refuses to even think through the whole issue of origins or take a position on the subject because so many of his Christian friends believe in some version of theistic evolution and he doesn’t want to cause those relationships undue stress. It doesn’t matter to him.
I know other Christians who will mock and ridicule you for believing what those whacked out fundy’s like Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis teach. Besides, over half the scientists believe in and preach a big bang and millions of years.
Yes, there is definitely a majority among the scientific community who believe this devil inspired whacked out religion. This is because this “community” is very careful about who it lets in. (Ever watch Expelled? Great film by the way.) Would it surprise you to learn that almost half of scientists do believe in a Creator aka Intelligent Design? (To my knowledge “Intelligent Design” is the label they use to dispel the notion that their views are “religiously motivated”. Come on, who are they kidding?)
I will tell you why I think the whole issue of origins matters and why a young earth is true. Personally I wouldn’t care if the earth was millions of years old. I’m not sure why the Bible insists on it, but it does and the evidence is there to back it both Biblically, historically, and scientifically.
ORIGINS MATTER
The whole notion of macro evolution and millions of years is a ridiculous fable, a grand deception meant to distance the creature (you and I) from the Creator. In reading through the Bible I am struck over and over by the references to God being our Creator. God is almost always the one bringing it up. It’s as if he constantly needs to remind us where we came from, who is our source, and where are origins truly are.
Did you realize that Jesus is introduced by the apostle John as the Creator? Just read John 1 and see for yourself:
“In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God. 2 He existed in the beginning with God. 3 God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him. 4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone. 5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.”
“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16 for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.”
Have you ever thought of Jesus himself personally being the one who created all things? The one who personally created you?
HIGH VIEW OF SCRIPTURE
As mentioned earlier, I take the God’s word at face value. God cannot lie. He would not deceive us. The trustworthiness of Scripture is verified and affirmed by none other than Jesus himself and Jesus is verified by his resurrection from the dead. It can be proven biblically that the earth is about 6000 years young. (This is actually really old, but of course, not when you compare it to millions of years.)
It seems that the earth is actually a few days older than the sun, moon and all the googolplex of stars. This shows us that his plans for the physical world started here, with us, with earth, with you and me. The earth and every person created in his image is the center of God’s focused attention. You are the center of God’s attention and care. Do you realize how special that makes you and I?
Let’s not forget the character of the Creator. He is pure and unadulterated love. God is love and He created you to love you. You are created by love for love, to belong to love, to be loved and then to love. All you need is love. (Had to throw that in there. Did anyone else read that to the tune of the Beatles song?)
Honoring our Creator has profoundly personal and wonderful implications for you and I.
If you believe in the resurrection of Christ then you must believe that Jesus is who he says he is. He is God and the Messiah who attested to the veracity and reliability of Scripture as his true and reliable word. It’s time we think through the implications of that and start viewing Scripture and what it teaches in the same high regard as Jesus did.
Jesus believed in creation in six literal days. How ridiculous it is to say “he believed it” when he was the One who did it!
THE PROOF
Genesis 1 spells it out, ““And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day…the second day… etc…” Genesis 1:5 and following.
And the again in the Ten Commandments written by the very finger of God (Jesus) himself, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God… For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20: 8-11
Jesus on creation:
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’” Matthew 19:4
Jesus on the flood:
‘Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man.People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the Ark. Then the Flood came and destroyed them all.’ Luke 17:26–27
ALL of history is accounted for in Scripture and other historical accounts and places the earth at no more than 6000 years old.
If you are still not convinced, here is one final thought (not that there aren’t many other thoughts on this issue). Many seem to believe the days of creation were eons of time to accommodate for all those really brilliant haters of God scientists reliable and infallible interpretations of the “evidence” that makes it absolutely certain that the world and universe is in fact, actually and verifiably, millions of years old. If the days were eons of time, then how long was the seventh day? How long did God rest? An eon of time or a single day?
Adam was created on day six. We know his age was 930 when he died. He would be an eon older than his contemporaries if day seven was an eon. Think about it.
MADE BY HIM, FOR HIM
Let’s get back to that Scripture in Colossians 1 which tells us that everything was made through Jesus and for Jesus. I absolutely love this!
I was created by Jesus for Jesus. You were created by Jesus for Jesus. We are incredibly special to him and meant to belong to him.
Say it out loud: “I was created by Jesus for Jesus.”
Isn’t that powerful? You find your purpose and meaning in belonging to him, connecting to him, knowing him and nowhere else.
May the LORD bless your relationship with him today and increase your awareness of how loved you are. Allowing Jesus to love you is your primary responsibility.
Let him love you today! Spend some quality time with him and pray for me that I can do the same.
I went for a run tonight. I was a mile into it going strong at a good 8 minute mile pace when I thought to take some time to pray.
‘Jesus, speak to me’, I thought. He said, ‘I want you to stop running.’
‘What?’ I thought, ‘I am out here to run a 5K and I’d rather have it uninterrupted, thank you very much.’
I was thinking he was going to chide me for using my Mapmyrun app on my phone to boast about my fitness (I know I still brag and take pride in my achievements and use my fitness as a way to be admired and respected. I wrote about it here: You have God’s Permission to Brag.)
‘Just stop running. I want you to stop running.’
‘Why? Give me a good reason……….. Fine. I’ll pause my run so you can chide me for being so worldly and so full of pride.’
I took out my phone to pause my workout and noticed that my “Live Tracking” button was not enabled and according to MapMyRun, I had traveled .15 miles at a 32 minute per mile pace. “WHAT?”
‘Now you can continue.’
“THANK YOU JESUS!” I shouted! “You are SO awesome! You just wanted to make me aware that the app which I use to boast to the world wasn’t working properly.”
He didn’t chide me, he just loved me.
WHY RUNNING IS SPECIAL TO ME
Running for me was a special thing when I was young. As a twelve-year-old I would take my bulky yellow Walkman and go run three or four miles listening to David Meece, Candle in the Rain. (Listening to it now in fact! You can too below. So many memories.)
As a child I ran the famous seven mile Bloomsday race with my dad. My face was featured on the cover of National Geographic Young Explorer for a youth running event. The entire class at my elementary school would run a mile (every day I think) and I would almost always finish first. I remember running at an event at school and getting 5th place or something. (During this race there was this older girl behind me short of breath and saying, “Aren’t you getting tired? Don’t you want to slow down?” In fact I was getting exhausted but her comments spurred me on.)
While driving home from anywhere I would often ask me dad to drop me off several miles from home so I could run the rest of the way home. I was a regular Forrest Gump. “Run Forrest! Run!”
I’ve always loved to run.
THE BEST PART!
For the last ten years or so I couldn’t run over a couple of miles without my knees cramping up and being in extreme pain. If I pushed it I would limp for a while. This last summer I attempted a 5K. I was determined to finish running, no matter how slow, no matter how much pain. I did nearly the last mile limping and in extreme pain. Well, after that I decided running wasn’t for me anymore.
When I got my first smart phone through Republic wireless (cheap and great plan btw!) I was excited about checking out some of the free apps. Of course I was glad to see MapMyRun and other fitness apps. My brother-in-law inspired me to try another 5K. So on October 1st I ran a 5K.
The pain was gone! I was so excited that I have since just kept running. I have experienced pain-free running ever since!
God is good to me. I think, one way or another, he healed me.
My goal became to attain an 8 minute mile average. At the end of October I did it! Not a second over, not a second under. My facebook post: “I was shouting “Praise you Jesus!” “Thank you God!” for allowing me to reach my 8 minute mile goal tonight!”
I was shouting praise to Jesus at midnight in the park, just full of joy. He allowed me to reach my goal and he was right there in the midst of it smiling on me and sharing the moment with me. Awesome!
I am finally sharing this post after years of having a particular movie come back to mind time and time again. It continues to bless me with a glimpse of God’s redemption.
The Razor’s Edge is a movie in which Bill Murray plays Larry. Shortly after WWI, Larry goes on a quest to find truth, to find something worth living for, to find a purpose to life. He was not content to simply be who everyone else expected him to be, living the status quo life he saw all around him. No, he wanted more.
And so, he parts ways with Isabel, the girl he was seeing at the time, and goes off for a year to tour the world. Eventually, he finds himself upon a snowy mountain peak in Nepal. At the end of the year he returns to London to learn that Isabel had married one of Larry’s wealthy and influential friends.
One night, while the three of them were out to dinner together at a restaurant, they see an old friend of theirs named Sophie. Isabel relates the gossip about her. Evidently, she had gotten mixed up with drugs and alcohol and even worse, had now resorted to prostitution. Right then and there Larry decides to rescue Sophie.
Larry takes Sophie home with him determined to save her. He convinces her to stay with him each new day and they spend the days just enjoying life. Picnics, outings on the lake, long walks, good conversation. Soon the light comes back to Sophie’s eyes. She remembers what it was to have fun, to laugh again, to really be alive. She has hope.
It was in this unselfish daily outpouring of redeeming love, giving worth to Sophie, and restoring the beauty of her soul that Larry finds what he was looking for all along. He finds meaning and truth and purpose in life in true love. He never so much as makes a reference to her past. But instead he gently woos her, wins her confidence and trust and eventually her heart.
After many days Larry and Sophie become engaged, but Isabel, though married to another, is jealous and sabotages Sophie. She cuts her down with snide remarks and tells her that she doesn’t deserve to be loved by Larry. She doesn’t hesitate to remind her of her past and her words find their mark. Sophie is devastated and begins to drink a bottle of alcohol, a gift from Isabel.
Sophie leaves. When Larry learns that she is gone, he is soon in desperate search of her. Sadly, he learns that Sophie had returned to her old life and finds her at the brothel, drugged up, drunk, and surrounded by wicked men. He pleads with her to come home with him and she replies, “Don’t you see, you’re better off without me.” The men throw him out and beat him up as he struggles to rescue her.
The next day Sophie is found dead, floating in the river.
——–
In this story, I see the heart of God for us. We are “Sophie”. We all need a Savior to come to our rescue, sweep us off our feet, and show us how to live, laugh, and love again. But, our story could end as tragically as Sophie’s if we refuse to believe and receive God’s love. We have to choose to embrace the love of Jesus. While it may be true that we don’t deserve God’s outrageous love, that doesn’t matter to him. It isn’t about what we deserve at all. It’s all about his passionate love for us.
This verse saved my life:
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” – 1 John 4:18 NIV
or, as another translation puts it:
“Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.” NLT
This verse gives me hope. If we still fear, it’s only because we haven’t quite yet grasped God’s perfect love for us. His love never goes anywhere. It is is never retracted and therefore still remains to be discovered and embraced… and that’s encouraging! And then there’s that whole thing about punishment.
What if God, who is Perfect Love, isn’t interested in punishment?
Doesn’t God reveal that love holds no record of being wronged? It is all forgiving and forgetful. Every infraction against love is hurled into the depths of the Sea of Forgetfulness. Removed from us as far as the East is from the West.
Let me ask you, are there any sins left to be punished if Jesus took them all away at the cross?
Wasn’t Jesus introduced as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”? Did he remove them or not? He seems to think he pulled something off for us on the cross when he said, “It is finished.” Paid in full.
Jesus checklist:
Expunge sin from the world ☑️
Sin is no longer the issue. The issue that remains then is the question:
Will you believe and receive his love?
God will indeed receive you and lavish such love on you, never again to mention the ways you went wrong in the past. But, you must not allow the devil to lie to you, and tear you away from the one who loves you so much that he would die for you (and he did). You must hang on to the hope that Jesus offers you. You need to believe!
There is a similar story found early in the book of Hosea in the Bible. Through this story God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute. Hosea’s wife then leaves him and gets mixed up with other men. Hosea searches for her and when he finds her, he even has to pay a ransom to buy his own wife back.
God orchestrated this story in Hosea’s life to represent God’s relationship with his people. That even though we have been, and are, unfaithful to him, as Hosea’s wife was to him, and even though we cheat on him with our sins, God still loves us. He will not divorce us as his people but will restore us and redeem us… if that’s what we want.
“God has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”” Hebrews 13:5 NIV
He doesn’t even wait for our hearts to turn toward him to redeem us. He redeemed us even when we still loved our sin. Even when we are still pursuing our wicked ways, he died for us. This is what Jesus has done for you and me at the cross.
Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrated his love toward us in this, that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”
It is Christ’s death that redeems us from death (our sense of separation from the One who is Life). It is Jesus who came to our rescue while we were still “in the whorehouse”. He will restore life and beauty to our lives.
One final note:
We must be careful not to play the part of Isabel in other people’s lives. Jesus wants everyone to come to the table of his love and grace. We cannot be obstacles to people coming to Jesus. There is room for everyone and we must not make it about who deserves to come and who is more righteous than the next and who deserves his approval more. No one deserves or has earned the extravagant love of God. But God is desperate that everyone knows his generous love and redemption.
Redemption is such a beautiful thing!
Always remember this:
You are loved outrageously by an outrageously loving God!
Love, by Jaeson Ma:
ps. Read Luke 15. This is the Father’s attitude toward us, and relates perfectly to this post:
Luke 15 (NLT)
1 Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!
3 So Jesus told them this story: 4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”
11 To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.[b]’
22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
31 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”
I have been working out lately. By lately I mean the last few years. I have recently stepped it up a notch and wanted to share my milestones with the world so I got MapMyRun app for my new smartphone and logged a few 5K’s for all my “friends” on facebook to see and think I’m awesome! (Tip: By the way it’s more impressive to say “I just ran a 5K!” rather than “I ran just over 3 miles”). I also recently shared a status from my progress on hundredpushups.com program (that I happen to be currently failing at) with the caveat, “not meaning to brag or anything but check out how many push-ups I can do! Aren’t I awesome?” (I didn’t really say it like that).
Is anyone else as revolted by my behavior as I am? (To which I imagine hearing a chorus of people saying, “yes!”)
I am sorry. There is probably a perfectly healthy way to share your healthy lifestyle with others. I’m just not so sure I was doing that. Yes I will still post my runs on facebook (sounds disgusting doesn’t it?) but only to encourage you to get out there and exercise. You believe me right? =)
WE WERE CREATED TO BRAG!
We are all made to worship. Boasting is a form of worship, so boasting is part of the human DNA. We must give praise to something. But boasting about our accomplishments, our stuff, or our smarts is the DNA of the world. The follower of Jesus makes their boast in God.
John writes:
“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.” 1 John 2:15-16 NLT
Yes, it is a sin to brag or to take pride in most everything except this one thing:
God, and more specifically your relationship with God.
Check this out:
“This is what the LORD says: “Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the LORD who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things. I, the LORD, have spoken!” (Jeremiah 9:23-24 NLT)
I was thinking about how foolish it is for someone to boast in their intelligence for instance (or to put others down for lack of it). Do they fool themselves into thinking that they are the source and giver of their own intelligence? Last I checked, God was the source of all wisdom and dispenses it as he pleases. So we all have a measure of smarts that came from him. And then we have the gall to boast of it? Or compare ourselves to others?
Aren’t our accomplishments also God given? After all, He gives us the ability to achieve. But why are we achieving anything anyway? Are we simply achieving for ourselves? For others? Or is it to inflate our sense of self-worth?
Anything you can think of is all gift from the giver, so how can we boast in a gift?
One last thing. With the above Scripture in mind I had posted this a little while ago on my facebook:
I realized I haven’t posted anything ‘God related’ in a while. I just want you to know that I am enjoying life and my relationship with God a great deal more than I ever have and am probably less religious than I ever have been as well. I know God. He is a constant source of comfort and delight to me. He blesses me as much as I am willing to receive. He continues to forgive all my sins and showers me with affection and love just as I do my own daughter.
I want the same for you. I want you to experience life with God as well. If you haven’t yet begun a relationship with God through Jesus, make it happen. I am not going to give you some religious formula, because there is none. It is a relationship and will require investment and commitment on your part as any relationship does. God is already 100% committed to you. He is all in. If you want to know God like I do (or better than I do) then I recommend talking with him about it and asking for that relationship. Read the Gospel of John, and if you really want all that God has for you, then prayerfully read the whole Bible and always keep reading. God has shared his thoughts, his heart and soul with you in his book. I’d love to be a friend to you and help you along the journey.
Daniel Lovett 