Am I the only one?

1 Kings 19

18Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.

Elijah, like many great men of the Bible, had moments of greatness and moments that were not so great.  One minute he was a brave warrior and prophet of the Lord and the next minute he was fearful.  In 1 Kings 18 Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal, a false god, then slaughters them after they failed to win the challenge.  Early in chapter 19, Ahab reports this to Jezebel and she threatens Elijah.  This sends him into hiding.  Verse 3 reads, “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.”

After being a fearless and victorious warrior, Elijah became fearful and ran from Jezebel.  His fear and apprehension were signs of his faith wavering.  This pattern is repeated by more than just Biblical figures.  Many of us have our moments of greatness when we walk in faith and witness the power of God at work in our lives.  We follow this with seasons of doubt, fear and hesitation.  Then comes guilt.  Then, sometimes, restoration and we’re back on mission.

Elijah retreated to the mountains and had an encounter with God.  God asked him on two occasions, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  Elijah explained his fear to the Lord.  He felt like he was the only one that was on mission and his life was threatened because of his faithfulness to God.  God’s answer, “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

Did you ever think you were the only one that gets it?  Is everyone else slacking?  Are you the only one making the sacrifices while everyone else simply plays church but does nothing?

This is pure pride and arrogance.  God answered Elijah that there was a remnant of 7,000.  Likewise, when you feel you are the only one that gets it, there are 7,000 others that feel the same way.

What is at the root of these feelings?  It was already mentioned that it involves pride and arrogance.  It also is fueled by fear.  We want to retreat to where we were when we comfortable.  We want to get back into the boat.  We are thinking about how much we are doing and wondering what other people are doing.

Christianity is not a competitive sport.  If you feel compelled to compare yourself to others, compare yourself to Christ.  When you measure up to what He did, then you have a right to complain about the lack of effort by others.

Focus on your relationship with Jesus and what He wants you to do.  There just might be a remnant of 7,000 or more.  God might even introduce you to an Elisha that needs your mentoring in the faith.

Peace with God

Romans 5

1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Struggles, worries, anxiety and selfish desires; all these are distractions from our relationship with God.  The latter is probably the catalyst of the others.  Our sense of entitlement is often more powerful of a force within us then the knowledge that we have been justified by faith.  

Why is it so important that we have this kind of peace with God?  First and foremost, there is no other kind of peace.  God is just.  Any claim made against God that He is not fair is an unjust claim.  Being just, holy, perfect, God cannot and will not tolerate sin nor will He abide in the presence of sin.  With sin in our lives we remain estranged from God.  There are no human solutions.  You may claim that you have no quarrel with God but your sin says otherwise.

Then comes the cross of Calvary and the blood of Christ.  Because of what Jesus did, God’s wrath is satisfied.  Our complaints that God is unfair would be true if He did not deal with all sin, including our sin.  A penalty had to be paid and that penalty was paid with the blood of Christ.  Accepting this is what puts us at peace with God.

The formula truly makes perfect sense.  God is just and must deal with sin.  God takes on the form of a human in the person of Jesus Christ and then gives His life as the payment for sin.  He satisfies His own wrath and by doing this He remains just.  He did not ignore sin.  He then extended His grace to us having satisfied His own standard of justice and allows us to retain our free will.  This gives us the freedom to accept His offer of grace or to ignore His offer of grace.  Imagine that; the only freedom we have to reject His grace comes from the work on the cross.

It is both clear and confusing; clear if we accept it; confusing if we over think it.  Once accepted it puts us at peace with God.  It really is that simple.

This simplicity does not give us leave to remain ignorant.  This peace allows us to have fellowship with God.  We become friends of God and as friends we have the privilege of working with Him as He continues to redeem those who have yet to accept His offer of grace and join in the fellowship of all believers.

A Treasure Trove of God's Wrath

Romans 2

5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

There’s a show on television called “I almost got away with it.”  The show documents true stories of criminals on the run and how they “almost” evaded escape.  Obviously, all the criminals featured in this documentary are caught.

This brings to light the age-old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”  What is less frequently asked but implied in that question is this: Why do good things happen to bad people?  For most people, our sense of justice is why do bad things happen to just-us?  

When we think of good things happening to bad people, a name immediately comes to mind.  It could be an infamous person known by the world.  Names like Hitler, Stalin, Charles Manson, all come to mind.  Or it could be a neighbor or co-worker known only in smaller circles.  The latter are more personal and more offensive to us and they beg the question, why doesn’t God do something about them?

An honest and sober self-assessment will find that we are as deserving of God’s wrath as any other man or woman we know.  Judging others is prohibited by scripture.  During His sermon on the mount, Jesus admonished His listeners to remove the log from their own eye before pointing out the speck in someone else’s eye. (Mt 7:5)  Many interpret this to mean we should ignore what others are doing wrong.  This is an offense to God and His justice and a great disservice to another person.  The true teaching of his passage is that we should remove the log, not just ignore the speck so both of us continue to dwell in our sin.  By removing the log we are then in a position to help the other person remove the speck.

The failure to do this results in the key passage for today.  If all we do is ignore the speck in a brother’s eye so we can leave the log in our own eye, we store up God’s wrath the same way one stores up a treasure, saves for a rainy-day, or sets aside money for retirement.  We accumulate a great deal of God’s wrath that will be dealt out on the day of judgment.  (Rev 6:17)

There’s an old saying that some Christians are so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good.  This is true.  Equally true is the fact that we are so afraid of alienating people, or of appearing intolerant and judgmental, that we are of no heavenly value.  To allow others to wallow in their sin like a pig in slop is the cruelest thing we can do for another sinner.  Lovingly pointing them to the grace of God that we experienced by faith in Jesus Christ is an act of love.  

The Devil made me do it! Not!

1 Corinthians 10

13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

This a frequently misused section of scripture.  Well meaning people looking to comfort Christians struggling with besetting sin will use this as the verse that will get them out of trouble.  If anything, it adds to guilt that follows succumbing to temptation.  The struggling believer surmises, “Am I so bad a person that God withheld my ‘way out’ of this sin?”  Used by judgmental Christians it becomes a tool of discernment to question that status of someone’s salvation.  “He wouldn’t give in to such temptation if he were a true believer.”  This passage is a summary of chapter 10 in its entirety.  

Paul gave the church in Corinth a comparative history lesson of the exodus generation.  It was time that required extreme faith on the part of the Israelites as they left Egypt after living for generations as slaves to the Pharaoh.  Even in the face of miraculous events, the Israelites faltered and engaged in idolatry, sexual immorality and grumbling.  For example, shortly after crossing the Red Sea and seeing the miraculous power of God first hand, they faltered in their faith and constructed a golden calf and worshipped it.  A day later they held a feast that turned into an orgy.  And, they grumbled about a lack of food and grumbled more at the lack of diversity of food when God fed them from His own with manna from heaven.

Paul warns the church in Corinth that they also lived in perilous times.  He not only showed the disobedience of the Israelites in the wake of God’s miraculous deliverance, Paul also showed them the consequences for this disobedience.  The Lord allowed the Levites to slay 23,000 Israelites that day and later struck them with a plague.

Paul’s warning to the church in Corinth is applicable to the church today.  We live in perilous times.  Each day brings us closer to the return of Christ and closes the time for repentance, salvation and restoration.  The text does not provide an antidote for resisting temptation per se.  It reminds people of God’s faithfulness.  God is gracious and just but this chapter is about His faithfulness.  A reminder of His faithfulness with an expectation of our future glory based on the work of Christ should be enough of a reminder that steers us away from temptation and towards our Savior.  Quoting Joseph, “How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (Gen 39:9)

Baptism of the Holy Spirit

Acts 19

1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”

“John’s baptism,” they replied.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is one of those divisive issues within the church.  Some teach that this passage indicates the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate act that occurs subsequent to the moment when the believer prays to accept Jesus as Savior.  Others argue the Baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs at the moment a person genuinely prays to receive Jesus as Savior.

God’s timing in the coming of Christ and the revelation of His Word is perfect. This is one of those moments when His timing helps us find clarity on a certain passage.  Roughly three centuries before the incarnation of Jesus, Alexander the Great conquered the known world and started the process of hellenization.  That means he made the conquered lands adopt Greek culture and the Greek language. Greek became the international language of trade and diplomacy.  It is a very exact language and there is less danger of misinterpreting what someone means when they use Greek.

When Paul posed the question to the disciples he found in Ephesus, his choice of words combines the aorist participle pisteusantes with the verb elabete makes Paul's inquiry very exact. The Greek used here means a very specific moment-period. This is not a gray area.

The explication here is a conditional question.  If you are a genuine Christian and have salvation that comes by grace through faith in Christ, this means you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit at that moment.  It is a way of judging whether the fruit is ripe or not.

The implication here is these disciples embraced the teachings and repentance baptism of John the Baptist.  In spite of John’s efforts to ensure he was not mistaken for the Christ, many of his followers believed he was either the Christ or equal with the Christ.  They may have had some head knowledge of Christ but had not yet prayed to receive Him as Savior and immediately receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the time of this prayer.

There are many testimonies of people praying to receive Christ but not getting serious about their faith until a later point in their lives.  They use these testimonies as evidence of a subsequent baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is not accurate teaching nor is it a deal breaker for fellowship with people who believe this way. Generally, those who believe in a subsequent baptism of the Holy Spirit hold to the core doctrines of the Christian faith.  God’s Word is perfect but subject to the imperfect interpretation and flawed translation by people.

Have you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit?  “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Rom 10:9)  You need not pray for a subsequent baptism.  Your salvation is secure and you are empowered for Kingdom work with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

On Fire for God

1 Thessalonians 5

19 Do not quench the Spirit.

The coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost is recorded in the second chapter of Acts.  On this day, the Spirit came, “like the blowing of a violent wind,” and, “they saw what looked like tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.”  The Spirit came to individuals that were gathered together as a group.  He came to empower individual believers to do work as part of a body of believers.  That He came and appeared as fire is a fitting metaphor, although, the visible manifestation of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost would look like tongues of fire.  This is not the first instance of the power of God being displayed as fire.  Moses encountered a burning bush that was not consumed. (Ex 3:2)  During the Exodus the Lord guided the Israelites across the wilderness as a pillar of cloud by day and as a pillar of fire by night. (Ex 13:21)  Moreover, those who are visibly and diligently working on behalf of the Lord are often said to be on fire for God.

So what is this quenching of the Holy Spirit?  Remember, the Holy Spirit came to those waiting in the upper room while they were gathered as a group.  There was individual empowerment for the benefit of the organization.  The individuals did not go their separate ways and serve the way they felt was fitting.  They served together as a corporate body, each them exercising the gift mix they were given at the point of their salvation.

These verses of scripture come as final instructions to the church in Thessalonica. Paul admonishes them as a church not to quench the spirit.  Allow people to serve in the area where God has gifted them.  Be open to ideas for new ministries based on the laborers that God brings.  Too often the church will move people into various ministries because there is-in their opinion-a real need that must be filled and the person they asked said yes.  When church leaders fail to equip the believers for the work of the ministry in accordance with their spiritual giftedness, they are quenching the Spirit.  

As individuals we can quench the Spirit the way we quench any fire: We cut off its supply of fuel.  The power of the Holy Spirit comes by abiding with God.  It comes from an active prayer life and time spent in God’s Word.  Prayer is talking to God.  Studying His word is listening to God.  Conversations are critical to all relationships.  

We quench the Spirit when we remove the source in ourselves when we cut ourselves off from God.  When we become too busy for God, we are busier than God intended for us to be.  We also quench the Spirit when we succumb to the temptations of the flesh.  Our salvation is never lost but our fellowship with God can be thwarted when our time is spent on those things that are not edifying to us or glorifying to Him.  We quench the Spirit in others when we fail to use our gifts to build up other believers in the church and when we fail to allow them to exercise their spiritual gifts in service to God and His Kingdom.

Pray that you will become on fire for God. Ask Him to reveal anything in your life where you may have quenched the Spirit. Repentance always leads to restoration; restoration towards fellowship; fellowship towards service. 

Perhaps it's time to move on

Acts 18

6 But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”


As Paul travelled on his mission trips, he made it a practice to go to each city and preach the gospel to the Jews in the local synagogues.  This was a logical step since Paul was a Jew and First Century Christianity was Judaism.  Jesus fulfilled all the Messianic prophecies.  Jesus is Messiah.


His message was frequently rejected.  Many times he was met with hostility and several attempts were made on his life.  He stayed the course and continued to carry out the mission God called him to fulfill.There comes a point when we must no longer “throw [our] pearls before pigs.”  (Mt 7:6)  This warning from Christ comes in the context of judging others.  We are not to judge but was are not to ignore.  For to allow someone to remain in a state of sin is itself a sin and shows contempt for that person.  It demonstrates an attitude of indifference towards the eternal destiny of that person.  It is paramount to saying, “He’s going to hell and I don’t care.”  A disciple of Christ will have the heart of Christ and such indifference is not Christ-like.


“Shaking the dust of our sandals,” (Mt. 10:4), or, “shaking off your clothes in protest,” (Acts 18:6) are acts that come after the gospel is preached in gentleness and love and the message is met with resistance and hostility.  To spend time preaching the gospel to those that have access to it and have heard and rejected it many times is bad stewardship.  Much of the world has no access to the gospel nor does it have access to Christians who are willing to disciple the lost who are hungry for the truth.


If you are eternally focused and seeking to live a life of service to Jesus, you are always on mission.  If your mission field is one filled with resistance and hostility, it may be time to move on. If you are abiding in Christ daily, He will make it plain to you whether you move on to a ripe field or stay and endure hardship for the sake of His Kingdom.  Do not be discouraged.  When people reject the message of hope that you offer, they are not rejecting you, they are rejecting Jesus.

Voluntary Enslavement

Galatians 4

8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?

Within the heart of every human is a god-vacuum.  There is an emptiness that only God can fill.  Mankind is the only being in creation that can demonstrate true cognitive thought.  He is the only being in creation that enacts and enforces laws.  Only humans appear to wonder about the after-life.  Whether it is religion, atheism, agnosticism, or infatuation with zombies, the thought process of people is different than all other animals on the face of this earth.

In the 17th chapter of the book of Acts, the apostle Paul comments on the many gods the Greeks worship.  He noted that they had an altar to “an unknown god” to ensure they did not inadvertently leave one out and offend this god.  This is the tendency of all humans.  In our ignorance, we will make up things about God or we will make up false gods.

Ignorance of the one true God is not innocent.  The false gods we create and worship are tools of God’s enemy.  If he can keep us focused on our own selfish desires and lead us to idolatry, he has secured a victory.  He is incapable of fighting God head-on so he goes after God’s prized created being--mankind.  Idolatry is a victory for the enemy.  Moreover, this ignorance of the true nature of God leads to more than just idolatry; it leads to all manner of sin.

There are false gods that become objects of worship in an effort to fill the god-vacuum in the heart of people.  There are also sins that become slave-masters over us as well.  This is when we, like Paul, fail to do what we should do and we do what we should not do.

What is it that you wish God would free you from?  Is it lust?  Greed?  Jealousy?  Gluttony?  These besetting sins have no hold on us.  We have been given the victory of these sins.  The shackles have been removed yet we willingly return to the terms of our enslavement and refasten the shackles to our own legs.  Like the Israelites during the Exodus, we long to return to our slave masters and subject ourselves to their cruel rule.

The victory has been won and it is your’s for the taking.  Claim it, Christian, and live a life of victory that will bring God glory and bring you blessings.  

Preparing and Serving: Concurrent Missions.

Galatians 2

1 Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas.

After his amazing conversion experience, Paul waited fourteen years before heading to Jerusalem.  This was a time of preparation for him.  We read earlier in this letter that the Gospel Paul preached came to him not by learning but by revelation of Jesus Christ.  This is not the scripture one should use to circumvent the process of discipleship nor is it usable as an excuse to do nothing.

There are many who claimed they are called and anointed and this calling, gifting and anointing precludes any need for preparation.  There others who do nothing since they are not ready or feel ill-equipped to do anything.  

Paul shows the perfect balance.  On the road to Damascus, he encountered a resurrected Christ, he was called to the gospel ministry.  He was saved to serve.  It was three years before he went to Jerusalem and met with Peter.  It was fourteen years before he went on the mission field to fulfill his calling.  During these fourteen years he prepared for the ministry while concurrently serving.  Evidence of this is seen in verse 23.  “They only heard the report: ‘The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.’”

Many new believers are on fire to serve.  After some time of trying, the fire is quenched and their desire is replaced with apprehension.

Pray to God to find the balance the way Paul did.  Retain the fire of a new believer while continuing to grow in knowledge of God’s written Word.  We are saved to serve.  Service begins at the moment of salvation as does the discipleship process.  Time spent waiting to spread the gospel creates nothing more than missed opportunities to serve God and advance His kingdom.

Beyond Grace?

Acts 15

8“God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to [the gentiles], just as he did to us.” (Acts 15:8)

A dispute in the church prompted a discussion about circumcision and keeping of the law.  Some of the believers in the Jerusalem church still held to their Pharisaical legalism and thought gentile believers needed to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses.  Others contended that grace was sufficient.  Peter said, “God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving to the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.”  Old ways or new ways.  Circumcision and the law or baptism in the Holy Spirit.  These were the questions of this conflict.

The church today is faced with different conflicts.  These conflicts can be over matters of doctrine, or over the color of the new carpet in the sanctuary.  There are conflicts over the best English translation of scripture or the type of worship music during service.  The most disturbing conflicts can be over who is capable of securing God’s grace.

At the heart of the conflict facing the church in Jerusalem was the division between Jew and Gentile.  That is hard for the modern church to comprehend since many contemporary Christians fail to realize the First Century church was, by and large, Jewish.  The exclusionary attitude of some of the Jewish believers of the First Century is present in the Twenty-first Century church only now it is held by the gentiles.

Who do you say is outside the saving power of Christ?  Who have you written off as beyond redemption?  Who have you put conditions on before they can be included in the membership roles of your church?  Paul writes to the church in Galatia, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  Perhaps it's time to love and witness to that lost cause who resides deep in your heart.