Hope in 2010

The Apostle Paul has some 'trustworthy' statements for us as we start the new year:


1).  1 Timothy 1:15 - "It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners..."
2).  1 Timothy 4:8b-9 - "...godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds the promise for the present life and also for the life to come.  It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. "
3).  2 Timothy 2:11-13 - "It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him;  if we endure, we shall also reign with Him;  if we deny Him, He also will deny us;  if we are faithless, He remains faithful; for he cannot deny Himself."
4). Titus 3:4-8a - "But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy statement..."

Friday the Thirteenth

I remember watching Hee-Haw when I was a kid and one line of one of the songs they sang every week went something like: "if it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all... gloom, despair and agony on me".  Today's another Friday the 13th, the third one of the year... and all the superstitious people are out in force.     You'd think that Friday the 13th was the blame for all that ails us.  I even read that Franklin Roosevelt wouldn't travel on that day.   As if the number on a calendar has anything to do with whether the events of the day have a positive or negative result in our lives.  Does luck have anything to do with anything?   Buildings with no floors numbered 13.  Athletes that won't wear number 13 on their jerseys.  There's even an official word for this fear of 13:  Triskaidekaphobia.   Can you believe it?!

I'm thinkin' there's a little more to life than good luck outweighing the bad luck.  Triskaidekaphobia should be non-existent in the life of a Christian.  In fact, any condition with a long name that ends in phobia should not characterize a Christian.  Amen?  When Paul wrote to Timothy, he stated emphatically that 'God has not given us a spirit of fear... but of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).   If we're exhibiting a spirit of fear, we didn't get that from God.  If we're afraid of 13, even when it coincides with Friday, that is not something that came from God.  How in the world did we ever let the enemy hijack a simple number to paralyze us?!  How did that prime number between 12 and 14 end up in the hands of the deceiver to terrorize us?!  Let's take back our number 13!

A Good Conscience

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

- 1 Timothy 1:5

This morning's Sunday School had us discussing 'conscience' - that inner knowledge, that little voice that God gave us all to know right from wrong.

We can sear our conscience and then the lines between right and wrong become very blurry. Or we can cultivate our conscience by staying saturated with the Word and confessing our sins regularly. Thinking on good things helps us in purity of heart and cultivating a good conscience.

Along with a steady diet of Bible study and the habit of confession, reading good Christian books helps us in this endeavor. Consider the following paragraphs that I quote from a book called 'A Sure Guide to Heaven', written by Puritan author Joseph Alleine. Reading things like this help us in our self-examination, making us think through issues like sin, salvation, purity, cleanliness and conscience.

When a man is converted, he is forever at enmity with sin; yes with all sin, but most of all his own sins. Sin is now the object of his indignation. His sin swells his sorrows. It is sin that pierces him and wounds him; he feels it like a thorn in his side, like a prick in his eyes. He groans and struggles under it… he cries out ‘O wretched man!’ He is not impatient of any burden so much as of his sin. If God should give him his choice, he would choose any affliction so he might be rid of sin; he feels it like the cutting gravel in his shoes, pricking and paining him as he goes.

Before conversion he had light thoughts of sin. He cherished it in his bosom. But when God opens his eyes by conversion, he throws it away with abhorrence. When a man is savingly changed, he is deeply convinced not only of the dangers but the defilement of sin; and O, how earnest is he with God to be purified! He loathes himself for his sins. He runs to Christ and casts himself into the fountain set open for him and for uncleanness. If he fall, what a stir is there to get all clean again! He has no rest until he flees to the Word, and washes and rubs and rinses in the infinite fountain.

The sound convert is heartily engaged against sin. He struggles with it, he wars against it; he is too often foiled, but he will never yield the cause, nor lay down his weapons, while he has breath in his body. He will rather throw his gain down the gutter, see his credit fail, or the flower of his pleasure wither in his hand, than he will allow himself in any known way of sin. He will grant no indulgence, he will give no toleration.

Reader, has conscience been at work while you have been looking over these lines? Have you pondered these things in your heart? Have you searched the book within? Make your conscience speak, whether or not it is thus with you.

First of All

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. - 1 Timothy 2:1-4

Tomorrow marks our first study in Sunday School on the book of First Timothy. I couldn't help but be struck by the first verse chapter two. The verse really should strike us right between the eyes because of our prayerlessness. The Apostle Paul writing to his 'child in the faith', Timothy starts chapter two by saying 'FIRST OF ALL...'.

What does 'first of all' mean? This is one of those phrases in the Bible that doesn't take much to figure out. It means of first priority - of utmost importance - before you do anything else! PRAY.

The church is crippled and crumbling because we do not pray as we should.
The church is polluted and diseased because we do not pray as we should.
The church is impotent and ineffective because we do not pray as we should.
The church is wandering and aimless because we do not pray as we should.
The church is stale and dead because we do not pray as we should.

Of first priority? Pray. For what/whom do we pray? And what are the results? For all men and for those in authority over us… so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is evangelistic prayer (2:4)

Dr. John F. MacArthur says, "Fervent evangelistic prayer is not only our spiritual duty, but is also an exercise of spiritual commitment that takes time and energy".

Charles H. Spurgeon says, "The soul-winner must be a master at the art of prayer. You cannot bring souls to God if you do not go to God yourself".

First of all... pray.