Walk This Way

    There is a saying, a truth have you, that our ideas have consequences. Now some may disagree with that statement (who, I don't know) but they would be wrong. That may sounds like an intolerant idea, me pronouncing myself to be right, but it's not, like the statement, it is truth. Our thoughts, our ideas have consequences. Some of the greatest examples of this lay in the theory of evolution and the idea of Nazism. Both have changed our society forever, leaving millions dead, millions lead astray by a simple idea.

    It was a single idea that led to Eve grabbing that fruit off the tree and sinking her teeth into it, changing the universe forever. Every action begins with a thought, an idea. People do not commit adultery without thinking about it first (this is covered in my blog "Do What You Know To Do"). Every action is preceded by a thought. That is why jails are full of repeat offenders, why schools have repetitive trouble makers, and why you cannot stop a situation involving a person when deal solely with the action. You have to deal with the thought-life of a person. You have to deal with the root of the situation-the person's heart and though-life. The apostle Paul had some words to say about this issue.

    In Romans 8 we can learn about two different laws that govern the world-the law of sin and death and the law of the spirit of life. They both have to do with the condition of the heart and thought-life. In Romans 8:1-2, Paul writes, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,
who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." As I said above, every action begins with a thought. Walking according to the flesh or according to the Spirit is a conscious decision each and every one of us makes, Accepting or rejecting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, embracing Him and walking in God's will for our lives, what He has intended for us, is a conscious decision. It's a choice in our thought-life that leads to a choice in our actions.

    Romans 8:5-7 says, "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be." In these two verse the apostle Paul reveals so much, in just two verses! There are two ways of thinking-thoughts of the flesh and thoughts of the Spirit (carnality is another way of saying fleshly or immature in the Spirit). Paul is saying that thought who live according to the flesh (without God) thinking on things not related to God (concerns of things of this world and not of God and eternity). Even one who would say they are "spiritual" or "religious" would still be considered walking according to the flesh or carnal because they are concerned with those things and not God. Spirituality and religiosity is a nice veil for those who want a spiritual experience without everything that comes with it-humbling their life and way of doing things before God's way of doing things, turning over their beliefs and thoughts in favor of God's. There are Christians that still have problems with this as well, the Bible has some things to say about them as well. (But for brevity I'll leave that for you to look into)

    Paul also states that to be carnally minded, to have your thoughts on things that are not of God, leads to death, and to have your thoughts set on God, leads to life. Why is that, because your thoughts will lead to your action. In the book of James it says that the Christian is not saved by works or by doing anything on his/her own, yet his/her faith produces action. That faith is the faith in Jesus Christ. And that faith began as a thought. Thus, your thoughts will produces actions-if they are on the things of God, they will produce actions that are Godly. If they are not on God, then they will produce ungodly actions. Now if these actions continue in a carnal way, there will come a time when a person's heart stops beating, they stop breathing, and they die. After which they will find themselves in front of God to be judged and then spend the rest of eternity separated from God in Hell. The person how however who has walked according to the spirit will stop breathing and find himself in Heaven because He has believed and accepted God's payment of Jesus Christ for humanity's sin.

    But even before that time comes, there is this life, which one can spend living under God's law of Spirit of Life or under the Law of Sin and Death, subjected to the effects of sin in this world-lack, sickness, etc. And all of this has to do with how we think. This is why the Word of God has so much to say on our thought life and spending time putting our thoughts on the Word of God, because not only will it produce faith in our life, but it will cause our actions to align with the Word of God, and it will cause us to walk according tot eh Spirit and not the flesh, to enjoy life, and suffer death.

Go Preach the Word

    I was reading the Bible the other day, I know, I'm in the minority (and apparently that includes Christians as well), and I passed over some things that just jumped out at me. I remember back when I was in college that I used to have great conversations with people about spiritual matters. Of course they were also great because a lot of them were ignorant conversations. I'm not knocking them, we just didn't know as much as we think we did. That's the great thing about knowledge, education, etc. The more you learn the more you realize the less you know and knew.

    But we used to talk about how if people saw miraculous signs, then they would defiantly turn their lives around and live for God like He desires for the whole human race to do. Of course now I realize that that is not true in the slightest. I was reading John 12 the other day and specifically the verses 28 -30 and 37. And those verses actually back up the fact that people don't need signs to 'get saved.' John 12:28-30 says, "Father, glorify Your name."
Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again." Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him." Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.

    You see, the voice of God Himself came from Heaven and still people missed God. And that was back in a day with no technology. Imagine the same thing happened today. Even less of the people would be inclined to believe because they would pass it off as something else-loudspeaker or something. We are just such a disbelieving people. I remember reading a book by Ravi Zacharias and in it he talks about the idea of if God Himself descended from the clouds and stand in the sky and actually tell us to follow Him. He says, and I concur, that we might be obedient to follow Him for a little bit, but after awhile, we'd push away, really questioning if that was God, if it was us, if it was real. Then we'd go our own way and do our own thing.

    Of course, I'd have to wonder if we'd even do that. I mean, some of us would, but I think some of wouldn't. I believe it was Julius Huxley who said that his generation and friends so embraced evolution not because it was right in their eyes, but because it gave them a justification for their immoral behavior. I think, like Julius Huxley, some would not follow because, like now, they prefer their own way, their own lifestyle, over God's. And that lifestyle happens to be a sinful, rebellious own, and thus, they prefer their sin over God's righteous ways. So not even the physical manifestation of God Himself in the clouds would persuade us to change our lives for good. Some it might, some not so sure.

    The other scripture, John 12:37 says, But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him. See, not even miracles guarantee that a person will turn their life over to God. It's been said that healing is the dinner bell for the lost, i.e. healing brings people to hear God's Word but it does not get them saved. Miracles and the physical voice of God is not what gets people saved, what turns people around. It's the Word of God.

    Some people put so much emphasis on miracles of worship or other things, and those and other things are important and have their place. But it still remains that preaching the Gospel is the number one way that a person believes and is saved. Throughout the Word of God it states this over and over. One scripture that comes to mind is "How will they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" It doesn't say a miracle worker, or a worship leader. It is the preaching of the Word that gets people saved. I've heard it and seen it happen. I've seen people get saved when the message isn't even preaching on salvation. He's talking about something totally different and non-related, yet still a person ends up desiring Christ to be their savior. That's the power of the Word of God.

    I've heard it said that the Word of God is so anointed that a person could get saved reading the genealogies. Now you may not believe that, but I do. Haven't seen it, but I believe it. It's the Word that gets people saved, so preach the Word.

    In closing, I remember hearing a story of a preacher who asked a traveling minister to come and speak with a man who was an atheist because the preacher talked to him all he could with no avail. The traveling minister met with him, with hesitation, and just let the man talk. And this man went on and on about being an atheist and saying how he didn't even believe in God so why would he believe in Jesus and so forth. The minister just looked at the man, gave him on scripture (from Ephesians I do believe) and told him he couldn't help him and he was going to burn in Hell. Sounds harsh doesn't it? The traveling minister agreed. Of course he explained, that if the guy didn't even have faith to believe in God that he couldn't have faith to believe and accept Jesus. So he gave the man a scripture and prayed that one scripture would get into his heart and spring roots and so grow. As it happened, the traveling minister was back in the area about six months later and found that same man who had been so adamant about his atheism and denial of God just showed up one day at church and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.

    It wasn't about miracles or healing, though those are good, but it's about the preaching of the Word. That's what Jesus said to do. Go into all the world and preach the Gospel. That's our first commandment, our first commission, the Great Commission, so go forth and fulfill it, knowing that it is the Word that draws men to God.