Churches Closing in Record Numbers

A recent piece in the Wall Street Journal chronicles how churches are going bankrupt in record numbers as a result of the economic downturn. The economic short-sightedness of church leaders across our nation is creating a tremendous stumbling block for the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I warned against this very thing back in 2004. Here is an excerpt from my series entitled "The Coming American Depression":

Christians in America are about to face the greatest economic and political crisis since the Great Depression from 1930 to 1942. There are indisputable trends that portend terribly for our economy and possibly for our personal financial future. As responsible stewards, Christians need to be aware of putting ourselves in financially ruinous situations that would threaten the earthly security and welfare of our family. Some Christians have already been engulfed in the recent real estate crisis, having borrowed beyond their means during a time of easy lending practices. We need to tread very carefully in the days ahead, living within our means as we enter a very lean period of time.

In the next Great Depression, the church will need to be strong and ready for what I believe will be a massive influx of people who are in a desperate emotional and spiritual condition. A church incapacitated by economic ruin will be largely unable to minister to a mass of desperate seekers. Missions programs may collapse as well, due to the inability of local assemblies to support those who are in the field....

As unemployment rises and salaries decrease, church tithes will decrease accordingly. Church investments in the stock market or real estate will be severely affected. Ministries of the church that are supported in times of plenty will have to be scaled down or possibly eliminated as contributions diminish.

Christians and churches in America have a great responsibility to plan for the downturn ahead, that we may be in a secure position from which we can continue to effectively preach salvation to the lost. Financial wreckage and ruin may severely hinder the church’s ability to operate in this wicked world in the way that it does today. It is my sincere hope and prayer that Christians will not turn a deaf ear to these warnings, and allow economic collapse to become a stumbling block to the furtherance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

If we can, by God's grace, gain a secure position for the coming economic super-storm, we will be in a position to stand strong for those who will be looking for a foundation upon which to rest their weary souls. At that time, we will be ready and able to point the seekers to that which will always be secure: the chief cornerstone and our blessed Savior, Jesus Christ.

Summary - Prepare the Ark
The perfect storm of demographic, economic, and political trends that will come together near the year 2010 should frighten even the most skeptical American. The bright side is that responsible people have ample time to investigate these troubling trends for themselves and prepare for this economic super-storm. Kiyosaki likens it to "building the ark," in a reference to our ancestor Noah and the great flood that engulfed the globe in ancient times.

I believe that no segment of the American population will be left unaffected by the downturn ahead, unlike the mild correction seen recently from 2000 to 2002 and the ongoing bust in the real estate market since 2006. It is my belief that this downturn in real estate will continue into the coming depression and act as a further aggravating factor as our economy spirals downward. None of the economic models I studied from 2000 to 2004 included a real estate bubble and bust in their forecasts. I hadn’t included anything of the sort when I initially wrote this piece. However, the real estate crisis plus the soaring prices of commodities (oil), plus the multi-trillion dollar price tag of a “forever war” against “Islamo-fascism” all over the world nearly ensures that the predictions compiled together here will come to pass. There are simply too many hurdles in place for us to escape a major downturn.

Note: I edited and updated this series in January of 2007.

Part One in this three-part series can be found HERE.

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Why So Many Different Interpretations?

A frequently voiced objection and frustration of those who remain outside of the Christian faith is that "there are so many different interpretations" of Scripture. And so, people remain distant from their Creator and Redeemer because of the fallible and error-prone interpretations of sinful human beings.  

God is not the author of this confusion. That much is certain.  

1Cor. 14:33 (ESV) -- For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.  

And because this is true, it is also certain that all beliefs (or religions) do not lead to God. For all of the world major religions contradict, displace, and theologically repel one another. They are all distinct from one another specifically because of their widely divergent beliefs and dogmas. If this were not so, would they not all be one? The very fact that they are not is proof that they have serious and irreconcilable differences with one another.

This being the case, it is true that within the "Christian tradition" there are some differing interpretations of the Bible itself.  

Following is one of the many reasons why:  

"Most people intuitively interpret the Bible. They assume that their worldview and that of biblical times are identical. This intuitive approach leads to misunderstandings of Scripture because people fail to study the text within its own linguistic, cultural, and historical setting. All Christians must, therefore. learn to do proper biblical exegesis. Exegesis is the process of using the historical and cultural context of a passage to determine its original meaning. Effective biblical interpretation leads missionaries [and all Christians as well] to rise above their own fallen culture and to seek an absolute, eternal, God-ordained worldview." [1]  

1. Gailyn Van Rheenen, Missions: Biblical Foundations and Contemporary Strategies (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 118-9.

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Neanderthal Men Were Modern Men

An excerpt of an article from the Institute for Creation Research:

A set of fossilized human remains has been discovered in Iberia that shows partial Neanderthal characteristics, proving again that Neanderthals interbred with anatomically modern men. This adds to a growing list of evidence, consistent with biblical history, that demonstrates Neanderthal to have been fully human, rather than an evolutionary transition.

Though evolution models once held that Neanderthal man was one of the “missing links” between an ape-like ancestor and modern man, the repeated discoveries of Neanderthal remains right next to those of modern humans—instead of in separate, lower, older strata—have forced him out of the pool of “pre-human” evolutionary ancestor candidates. In contrast to ever-evolving naturalistic interpretations, the biblical creation model has consistently maintained that Neanderthal man was just that—man.

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American Church Sending the Wrong Message...Again

1Tim. 2:1 (NASB) First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,  2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.  3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,  4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus...

The conservative American church is foaming at the mouth yet again. This time, they are going to war with well-known pastor and author Rick Warren because he is giving the inaugural prayer for Barack Obama in January. 

Yet again, American Christians are sending a very loud and very clear message to the unsaved: in order to be a Christian, you must go along with our political agenda...or we will publicly harangue and slander you. We will even go so far as to charge you with not being one of us and threaten to kick you out of our club. 

From what I can tell, this type of goofy activity has been going on in American Christendom since at least the 1970s. The fusion of Christianity and politics is a deadly mixture for the pure gospel of Jesus Christ. Many unsaved people in America now identify becoming a Christian with joining the Republican Party. The fault for this lay squarely at the door of Christian leaders and congregations nationwide. 

The crazy thing about the outrage of conservative Christians is that it actually goes against a biblical mandate that supports the very thing Rick Warren is engaged in: praying for our leaders (see 1 Tim 2 above). Conservative Christians hate Barack Obama so much that they are willing to go against God's inerrant and infallible Word just so that they can sling mud at another Christian who is carrying out a biblical mandate. 

If you will notice, the command in 1 Tim 2 has no "out" clause if the leader in question doesn't belong to the political party of your choice. In fact, when Paul wrote this letter to his young disciple Timothy, he was not too long from being beheaded by the emperor Nero, a wicked anti-Christian leader if there ever was one. And yet, Paul urges that prayer be offered up for "kings and all who are in authority." 

The word "all" is the key word I want my Christian readers to notice here. The text doesn't say "all except for those wicked, evil, perverted, murderous Democrats." 

"All" means "all" and that's all that "all" means. And "all" includes, you guessed it, Barack Obama.

Reportedly, conservative Christians are all agog because Obama is pro-abortion and no Christian should even breathe the same air as someone who is pro-abortion, let alone pray for that person. 

So, the issue is the destruction of human beings made in God's image, is it? Okay, let's play this hand out then... 

My guess is that if Rick Warren had been invited to pray for George W. Bush, the religious right (I refuse to capitalize this phrase) would have absolutely no problem with it at all, even though George W. Bush has presided over the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people during his 8-year reign. Estimates of Iraqi civilian deaths resulting from the American invasion and occupation of Iraq ranges from the hundreds of thousands into the millions, depending on the source. Further, George W. Bush continues to deploy depleted uranium (DU) ammunition in his overseas adventures, ensuring the long-term genetic destruction of our own troops (and their offspring) and the native population of Iraq and their descendants. DU ammunition was officially declared an "illegal weapon of mass destruction" by the United Nations in 1996. Yet, Bush and his cronies at the Pentagon continue defy this resolution while they enforce other UN resolutions when it suits the goals of the furtherance of worldwide empire. 

Last I checked, Barack Obama hasn't been responsible for this type of carnage (at least not yet anyway).

So, the issue isn't really a "life" issue in the end. It has much more to do with the fact that Obama is a Democrat. And, judging from my personal experience with some conservative Christians, racism no doubt has a bit to do with this as well. 

Now don't get me wrong, I didn't vote for Barack Obama and wouldn't if someone put a gun to my head. My point here is to simply point out the fact that the American church is destroying the gospel in its zeal to promote a political party as the solution to all of our ills. Christians have, through their own words and actions, distorted the gospel so badly that the unsaved believe that Christians care more about the Republican Party than anything else. 

The religious right needs to get back to proclaiming the simple gospel message of repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ, while backing up their message with a life of dedicated, sacrificial living. Instead, conservatives are too busy wagging their self-righteous fingers at other Christians in unbiblical judgment. 

Closing note: I also want to say that I am not a big fan of Rick Warren. This is easily discerned from blogs I posted HERE and HERE. 

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God and The Nutcracker

Last night, I took my family to see The Nutcracker in Philadelphia. It was absolutely top-notch. Tchaikovsky's music is incredible and so were the performers.  

However, during the play my mind kept wandering to the Lord. I kept thinking about how He created people in His own image, with an innate sense of aesthetics, beauty, symmetry, balance, perfection, creativity, etc. This is one of the most powerful apologetics for a personal God as opposed to some random, impersonal, universal force (as in Eastern and New Age religions). 

The ballet was great because, in a sense, it told me something about my great God and Creator.

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A Walking Sacrifice

A Walking Sacrifice - A Sermon in Acts 20:17-38

Acts 20:17 (NASB)   From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.  18 And when they had come to him, he said to them,

 “You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time,  19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews;  20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house,  21 solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.  22 “And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,  23 except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.  24 “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.

Acts 20:25   “And now, behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face.  26 “Therefore, I 1testify to you this day that I am 2innocent of the blood of all men.  27 “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.  28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.  29 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;  30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.  31 “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.  32 “And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.  33 “I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes.  34 “You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me.  35 “In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Acts 20:36   When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.  37 And they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him,  38 grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were accompanying him to the ship.

I.               Introduction

Jumbo shrimp. Freezer burn. Virtual reality. Deafening silence. Act naturally. Hot-water heater. Government accountability. Working holiday.

All of these terms are oxymorons.

An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which contradictory terms appear together in conjunction.

The word “sacrifice” may bring to mind many different images. The basic word means to slaughter an animal or person as an offering to God.

The title of this message, “A Walking Sacrifice,” should appear to be a contradiction in terms and ideas...an oxymoron. For to sacrifice something is to offer it away to God by killing it. If your offering is walking away, your sacrifice probably didn’t go very well.

However, if we take a peek at the life and writings of the Apostle Paul, we see a stellar example of someone who lived his life as a walking sacrifice.

This man gave his entire life away and devoted himself completely to the task of Christian bondservice. He was truly a slave of Jesus Christ. For Jesus and the glory of God he was deprived, ostracized, persecuted, imprisoned, shipwrecked, beaten, attacked by Satan and demons, been a victim of mob violence, left for dead, and finally, executed.

Compared to this example of a walking sacrifice for Christ, what do we as American Christians truly understand about sacrificing for Christ? Do we really have a grasp on what it means to live, like Paul and others throughout history, as a slave of Jesus?

Today, we are going to look at a theme of one of Paul’s speeches recorded in the book of Acts. This speech is unique in that it is Paul’s only recorded speech where he explicitly addresses a Christian audience.

Paul gives this speech to a group of leaders from the church at Ephesus. It is significant that Paul believed he would not see these men again in this lifetime.

When you are saying goodbye to someone for the last time, what you tell them is not likely to be flippant or incidental. You will probably communicate things to them that are of the utmost importance! Since the time is short, you are going to measure your words to make sure that everything that must be said is said.

Calvin: “For we know what great force the words and speeches of men have which are uttered at their departure or death.” (Commentary on Acts 20:25)

And so, what we have here recorded by Luke is Paul’s final words to the Ephesian church.

II.             The Text (read text from 20:17-38)

A. First Paragraph – 20:17-24

1.     Paul speaks of serving the Lord with “tears” and with “trials.”

2.     Ministry, for Paul, wasn’t a cakewalk. It was a calling that filled his life with heartbreak after heartbreak. Paul’s heart desire was to see people converted to Christ and growing in faith and love toward Him.

3.     Paul’s young congregations frequently strayed into error and were attacked from within and without by false teachers (cf. 20:29-30). It seemed that Paul was constantly battling against conflict and strife within his churches.

a.     The Galatian church had “quickly deserted” Christ for “a different gospel,” being heavily influenced by Judaizing false teachers (Gal 1:6).

b.     The church at Corinth, through internal strife and sin brought Paul “much affliction and anguish of heart [and] many tears” 2 Cor 2:4).

c.     These examples and others show that Paul always carried a very heavy emotional burden for those churches the Lord had put under his care.

4.     Paul also experienced many trials and physical hardships as a slave of Jesus Christ.

a.     In 2 Cor 11:23-28 Paul states that, compared to others he has been “in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches [as we have just noted]…” 

b.     Paul had a hard walk, no doubt. In his letter to the church at Philippi, he calls himself a “bond-servant” or “slave” of Christ Jesus. It is no doubt because he considered himself, first and foremost, to be a slave of Jesus that he willingly endured such trials in his life.

c.     Paul knew that he was, at the time of this speech to the Ephesian elders, heading into “bonds and afflictions.” However, this did not phase him. Why did this not affect him more? Because he did not consider his life as dear to himself. He merely wished to finish his God-given ministry and be a good witness for his Lord Jesus (20:23-24).

d.     Christian, do you consider yourself a slave of Jesus Christ? Do you call Him “Lord” but find yourself living for another master?

e.     How much of your life is really lived like a walking sacrifice? Frank Farley: “Too much of our Christianity today is drenched with sentiment, but devoid of sacrifice.” 

B. Second Paragraph – Acts 20:25-35

1.     Paul knew about the heartbreak that his coming separation from the Ephesian church would cause. In 20:25 he states that he knows that they would “no longer see [his] face.”

2.     Even though following Christ demanded emotional turmoil, Paul followed Him anyway. Even though following Christ ensured that he would be separated from people whom he loved dearly, Paul followed Him anyway.

a.     Are we like Paul in this area of our lives? How often do we choose our family and friends over Jesus? How often do we give in to our emotional desires rather than walk the hard, narrow road that Christ calls us to walk?

b.     What does our Lord and Master have to tell us about such attitudes? Matt. 10:37   “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

c.     In another passage: Luke 9:59 And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.”  60 But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” 61 Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.”  62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

3.     Paul talks about working hard with his hands to provide for his own needs and also the needs of others. 20:35 - “In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

a.     How much of our work goes toward “helping the weak”? I’m not talking about tithing to our church. That should be a given for any Christian who has been saved for a little while.

b.     I’m talking about really giving of our time and abilities to help those who are less fortunate than we are in this life. Are we really serious about helping the weak and pouring ourselves out for other people? How much of our Christian life can be honestly characterized as “sacrificial”?

III.           Application

A. How Are You Using Your Blessings?

1.     Are you using your spiritual and material gifs and talents to serve others?

2.     Or do you spend most of your efforts on yourself for your own comfort and benefit?

B. What is the Ultimate Goal of Your Life?

1.     Is the ultimate goal of your life to accumulate possessions and provide for your own well-being?

2.     Or is your primary goal like Paul’s: living a sacrificial life in the service of Christ and others?

C. What Does Christ Mean to You?

1.     Is Christ the most important person in your life? It is easy to say that He is, but it can be much more difficult to live this out in spirit and in truth.

2.     Or are your family and friends more important than Christ? Have you, at a point in time, made a commitment to Christ and put your hand to the plow, but since have looked back and stopped serving Him as you ought?

IV.           Closing Uses

A. Honestly Assess Your Life

Christian, do you consider yourself a slave of Jesus Christ? Do you call Him “Lord” but find yourself living for another master?

            B. Commit to Becoming a Walking Sacrifice

Rom. 12:1   Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Follow the apostle Paul as he followed Christ. Start taking concrete steps today to present yourself as a walking sacrifice for Jesus, who presented  Himself as the ultimate sacrifice, offered once for all humankind for all eternity.

            C. Closing Quotations

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. - Jim Elliot

I never made a sacrifice. We ought not to talk of sacrifice when we remember the great sacrifice that he made who left his Father’s throne on high to give himself for us. -David Livingstone

The sign of our professed love for the gospel is the measure of sacrifice we are prepared to make in order to help its progress. - Ralph P. Martin

A religion which costs nothing is worth nothing. - J. C. Ryle

If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him. - C. T. Studd

God is looking for some wicks to burn. The oil and the fire are free. - J. Hudson Taylor

The only life that counts is the life that costs. - Frederick P. Wood

Nothing less than a living sacrifice is demanded. Not a loan, but a gift; not a compromise, but a sacrifice; not our poorest, but our best; not a dead but a living offering. Each drop of our blood, each ounce of our energy, each throb of our heart, we must offer to God. -Joseph Pearce

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