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Blessings: How To Get Them

04/04/2016 By Keith Burnett

Life Lessons Blessings

Life Lessons – God’s Blessings

Why is the title intriguing? Aren’t people always concerned with bigger, better, and more? Or, do some have an honest lack of understanding about God and His blessings? Is there a way to know we can receive His blessings? The answers to my questions, in order, are:

  • Intrigue: It’s about self-interest – not necessarily a bad thing
  • Bigger, Better, More: Yes, that describes many (dark side of self-interest)
  • Misunderstanding: Yes, it is widespread
  • Can we know: Yes!

Life Lessons: Blessings Are Not About YOU!

If we want to receive a blessing, why is it not about us? Because blessings are all about the character and nature of God. What we think of as blessings-to-receive are, in most cases, things He has obligated Himself to do. Said another way, God has made it possible for us to benefit when He keeps His Word. Our wise Father employs our sense of self-interest to encourage us. What is the point of His encouragement?

Life Lessons: It’s Not About Bigger, Better, More

There is a healthy degree self-interest. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said:

You have not because you ask not.

Our healthy self-interest should take over right there! We should be obedient to the Father and ask! Why? Because our asking Him is His idea. In His wisdom, He uses a healthy self-interest to promote our obedience. Why? Our obedient asking focuses our thoughts and intentions on the One Who knows best to give us what is best. See it clearly. His instruction is for us to ask, trusting Him with the answer. He did not tell us to demand!

There is also an unhealthy degree of self-interest. Scripture also addresses this:

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it upon your pleasures

Our motive matters! What should our motive be? To get the obvious out of the way, we don’t ask so we can have. We don’t yield to Him in obedience so we can get something. It’s true, He does promise to reward our obedience. But our motive is wrapped up in:

  • Love for Him (Greatest Commandment)
  • Faith in His Promises
  • His glory for what He does and provides

Life Lessons: Blessings Are NOT Payment-in-Kind

Is God a debtor to anyone? No. Does He say that giving to the poor among us is the same as lending to Him? Yes. Does He promise to repay in abundance? Yes. Now comes the misunderstanding part. Scripture makes statements like:

With the measure you use, it will be measured back to you, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

Even so, there is NO statement that if my gift is money God will give money in return. He may or He may not. What He will give is what is best for Him to give. He will give the best that’s possible and it will come abundance. Why? Because we exercised faith in His promises and faith in His goodness.

So how can we be sure we will receive a blessing from God? We must know what He says, believe what He says, and act on what He says. His blessing will follow and it will always be what is best, not necessarily what we think it ought to be!

Blessings To Be Claimed

Many of you are giving or your time, talents, and treasures to many good things. I am glad. For some of

Barahona

This Little Guy From Barahona

you, supporting this ministry is part of your giving. I am also glad about that! For others, you’re hesitant to trust and let faith guide you in helping others. May I suggest a small step is better than no step?

This Little Guy is a place you can help. Read about him in the link. ROW’s orphanage in Barahona, Dominican Republic is another place that needs your help. You can help financially and/or you can help with the construction of the new Orphanage Director’s quarters. We need to take a team in early June to do this work. I can’t think of better opportunities to experience the truth God tells us:

  • It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Soli Deo Gloria! 

 

Filed Under: Blog Page, Gospel of Luke, Life Lessons Tagged With: Faith, giving, Greatest Commandment, Life Lessons, ministry, obedience

Faith Difficulties: A Follow-up

01/21/2016 By Keith Burnett

Life Lessons Faith

FBC Belle Chasse

Before the previous post, it was my joy to be with Jason Allen and his family in Belle Chasse, LA. Jason is now serving as pastor of Belle Chasse’s First Baptist Church. Obviously, the Life Lessons series about faith difficulties was already on my mind. And as I looked forward to seeing them again and meeting their church family, something happened. During my travel time, it struck me that Jason is one more great example of the people God calls to help us take steps of faith.

Life Lessons: God Will Make A Way

Our Father’s ways are not our ways. Some of you know Jason personally. For those that don’t, I met Jason when he joined the staff of a church we were already serving. He came as our youth pastor. We have children a little older than Jason and some who are younger. So I saw two opportunities when we met:

  • The joy of working alongside a Godly young man
  • Doing whatever I could to help further equip him for his calling

That was my perspective, but it wasn’t the only one. I enjoyed knowing Jason and working with him. I did everything I could to share whatever wisdom and experience that might be helpful. Maybe I helped; I hope so. Those are good things. But God was at work for both of us in ways we could not possibly imagine!

Life Lessons: We Can Only See the Present

Life Lessons JasonJason eventually left our church staff and took his first pastorate in the Baton Rouge area. We talked about that when it happened and I was happy for him. Then, I also left my position in that church and took my current role at ROW. As I said in the previous post, God doesn’t just call us to tasks of faith. He calls us to do those tasks in community with others. Did Jason and I meet by random chance?

We enjoyed the time we worked side-by-side, but that was not the end! Jason called one day and invited me to preach at his church and share mission opportunities available through ROW. The result of that was Jason engaging that church in a mission project. Did I have any idea when we stepped into a faith ministry that God would use Jason to be part of it? No, I didn’t. While I was uncertain about many things, God was sure of everything. My job wasn’t to know, it was to trust and follow. And your job is…..?  🙂

Life Lessons: God Unfolds His Plan in His Time

Life Lessons Faith

Gabby busy on the slide. And guess who was fascinated by his spoon?

Jason and Heather’s life and ministry took another turn. Their current place of service is in the New Orleans area. Jason called a few months ago and asked about equipping his current congregation for missions and evangelism. The result of that conversation was my visit with them this past weekend. And as I spoke to the church, it was apparent God has placed a message of faith before that congregation. I preached about it and so did Jason. We had a great time and I met some awesome people. So, it almost goes without saying that I can’t wait to see what God does with this church (or any church!) that is willing to follow Him from faith to faith.

Please continue to pray as we schedule and coordinate mission opportunities for this year.  There is a place for YOU to serve!

Soli Deo Gloria! 

Filed Under: Blog Page, Life Lessons Tagged With: Faith, Faith: Why Is It Difficult?, Jason Allen, Missions, Romans 1

Faith: God At Work

01/19/2016 By Keith Burnett

Life Lessons Faith

Why is faith difficult? Don’t we know God is at work? And doesn’t work require a whole bunch of caution signs? Our list of faith difficulties isn’t complete, but it already includes trusting:

  • Others
  • The Unseen
  • The Unknown
  • The Untried
  • The Unusual

This series has only scratched the surface. This post will wrap up the series and I pray it has been helpful to you in some way.

Life Lessons: God Is At Work

I said this post would be a personal confession. I’ll be using one of my own faith steps to illustrate a point. This point is one we must quickly embrace if we are to experience the joys of living from faith to faith. Please notice what our Father tells us:

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

What does that mean? It means God planned and prepared every good work for us. When did He do that? Before He put it in front of us as a step of faith! More specifically, beforehand denotes before time began. It would be correct to say our works of faith were prepared in eternity past. Maybe the Life Lessons heading should be:

The Work Didn’t Start With Me.

So that step of faith that looks so scary to us is a done deal from God’s point of view. He is there, on the other side of our leap of faith, waiting for us to undertake and enjoy what He has prepared! How awesome is that?

Life Lessons: More to Faith Than Work 

Remember, we’re working to develop a point that will help us live from faith to faith. God’s beforehand work is about more than the tasks He sets before us. This was evident in my use of Paul’s encounter with Ananias in the previous post. God’s calling, and our steps of faith, will always include other people. We serve God in a community of faith. Remember: No Lone Rangers!

Life Lessons: Confession is Good

Our ministry was decades long in local churches. Then we faced this out-of-the-blue (?) opportunity to step away from that and do international missions work. Did I see all God had prepared before we were called to make that decision? Not really.

It was easy to look back on 25 years of mission opportunities. We had shared the Gospel in many countries. I had taken many church members into mission settings for two reasons:

Meeting needs on the mission field and meeting my responsibility to disciple others.

How would we go forward in a full-time missions position? There was so much to do and it all seemed so overwhelming. The t0-do list included:

  • Fundraising for mission projects
  • Speaking to churches and other groups
  • Fundraising for personal support
  • Staffing mission teams
  • Training mission team members
  • Planning mission opportunities
  • Working with pastors and mission committees

With a list even longer than that, it’s easy to wonder how one person could get it all done. But one person doesn’t have to do it all! Unseen by me were the people God would also call to engage in this ministry. The longer it goes the more amazed and humbled I am at the people God has chosen to use.

It would not be appropriate to name names, but it’s OK to make a list of things done. Various people have:

  • Been faithful in prayer support
  • Volunteered to staff multiple mission teams
  • Equipped mission teams (without being asked!)
  • Sent others on mission
  • Quietly & consistently made monthly contributions
  • Periodically made substantial contributions

I could say more. The point is, God never intended all these things to be done by a single person. The Life Lessons God at Workenemy wants people to believe: It all depends on me. As usual, he leads with a lie. His other weapons are doubt and discouragement. These two things will haunt and hamper anyone who fails to understand God has prepared good works and good people to meet our steps of faith.

Men at work means we should exercise caution. But if we understand God at work, caution will be overshadowed by excitement, gratitude, humility, and an awesome sense of amazement at what it means to follow the Father in faith. As Henry Blackaby wrote: See what God is doing and join Him in it.

I hope you will do that and I hope you have enjoyed this Life Lessons look at faith!

A Personal Invitation

Who Am I? Putting The Pieces Together

A great faith building resource!

He didn’t know his own strength! Ever heard that? Unfortunately, that line describes many Christians. They experience doubt, discouragement, and defeat because they don’t know who and what they are. The good news is: It doesn’t have to be that way! God has already equipped to overcome those things. We just have to know what He has given us. That’s the purpose of Who Am I? – Putting The Pieces Together. It’s a great resource and you’ll find yourself going back to it time and again for helpful reminders. Getting your copy will build your faith and allow you to help us Equip for Life all at the same time. Thanks. Enjoy!

 

 

Filed Under: Blog Page, Life Lessons Tagged With: Ephesians 2, Faith, Faith: Why Is It Difficult?, LL1, Romans 1

Faith: Can I Trust Others?

01/14/2016 By Keith Burnett

faith trust climb 2

The immediate response to the title question is probably, NO! Why? Being let down is one of the life lessons we have all had to learn. Now, at some level we must trust others because none of us serve the Lord as a Lone Ranger (see previous post). But when it comes to trusting others, what is the real object of our faith? Failure to answer this question will make us suspicious of others. That, in turn, will minimize our effectiveness in God’s Kingdom.

Life Lessons: Know the Object of Your Faith

Let’s use two examples as tools for understanding. The first is the Apostle Paul. Acts 9 records his conversion on the road to Damascus. Saul, later named Paul, was on his way to round up Christians for persecution/execution. God struck him with blindness and sent him to a believer in Damascus, a man named Ananias. This man was instructed by God to pray for Saul. Neither of these men had any reason to trust the other. Before the Damascus road conversion they would have been bitter enemies. Christians feared a guy named Saul and Saul hated every Christian he saw.

Faith brought Ananias and Saul together. Each was obedient to God’s instructions. Even so, Ananias expressed his apprehensions in Acts 9:13-14. It is very evident in this account that Paul and Ananias were trusting God, not each other.

Life Lessons: Seeing God in Others

Trust and cooperation?

Trust and cooperation?

Another example from Paul’s life is the young man, John Mark. This is the same Mark who eventually wrote the Gospel of Mark. Acts 12 records Paul’s first missionary journey. Barnabas and John Mark went with him. But John Mark turned back and went home early. Acts 15 records the beginning of Paul’s second missionary journey. Paul and Barnabas intended to work together again. Barnabas wanted to give John Mark a second chance by taking him on the mission. Paul disagreed. The disagreement was so sharp that Paul and Barnabas parted ways. Silas went with Paul on that missionary journey.

It seems Barnabas had an easier time seeing God in John Mark than Paul did. That obviously changed by the time Paul wrote 2 Timothy. That was one of Paul’s last letters. Timothy was to visit Paul in prison. Paul asked Timothy to bring Mark with him.

Life Lessons: Calling & Community

Faith, the Lone Ranger, Paul, Barnabas, John Mark, you and me; what’s the point? Our perspective on the world is oriented around me. It’s easy to understand why people used to believe the sun revolved around the earth. That’s how we see life. Unfortunately, that’s how many people see God’s calling on their lives. The thinking is something like:

God has called me. Now, what must I do and how will I do it?

The truth is, God calls us to a community of faith. Second, His call is for us to serve through a community of faith. When Paul answered God’s call on his life, he had no idea all the people who would be part of his ministry. There were many! The point is, God called those people just as He called Paul. As they came into Paul’s life and ministry he had to trust God in them.

Not all those people let him down like the young John Mark. And human frailty is just one difficulty of faith. We are tempted to say:

Well, I trust God — I am not sure about trusting you!

The problem with that is this: God is just as much at work in other believers as He is in you! Nobody ever said faith was easy. This is just one more reason why it’s difficult for us.

Life Lessons: Confession Is Good

The next post is a continuation. It will be as much about my personal confession as it is an insightful example of trusting God in others. Til then…

Soli Deo Gloria!

Filed Under: Blog Page, Life Lessons Tagged With: 2 Timothy, Acts 12, Acts 15, Acts 9, Apostle Paul, Faith, Faith: Why Is It Difficult?, LL1, Trust

Faith: Has Anyone Let You Down?

01/12/2016 By Keith Burnett

Life Lessons Lone Ranger

What this picture got to do with faith? Should I have asked a question with such an obvious answer? Maybe the better question is:

How many times has someone let you down?

This is one of the life lessons we’ve all had to learn. We’ve all been disappointed by others and we have all let someone else down. And believe it or not, this is a vital teaching point on faith. This element of faith will take us to some challenging a revealing places!

Life Lessons: Killing the Lone Ranger 

Hang with me here! I’m not advocating physical violence. 🙂 We’ve established the necessity, and the difficulty, of trusting what we cannot see. Yesterday’s post covered another part of that idea. But faith is also required for things we can see. Actually, it’s required for people we can see. God doesn’t call His children to serve Him as Lone Rangers. Too many people in the church (many church leaders?) believe their ministry opportunities begin and end with them. That isn’t true. Faith requires us to lose the whole idea of Lone Ranger ministry. So it’s the idea we must kill. And like the TV hero, this idea isn’t easy to vanquish!

Life Lessons: Faith In Community

Jesus made disciples. He called us to make disciples. The disciple-making process is intensely relational. Jesus lived with His disciples 24-7-365. Even so, they were still pretty clueless even after His resurrection. Imagine their state of readiness if Jesus had only met with them every Sunday. (Ouch!)

A Biblical search for the term one another is sufficient to make my point. God calls us to:

  • Love one another
  • Greet one another
  • Edify one another
  • Pray for one another
  • Forgive one another
  • Encourage one another

And there are more one anothers. You get the idea.

Now, add some other things to that. First, each of us has at least one spiritual gift. Why? For the building up of the body of Christ. Translation:

I am gifted by God in order to serve others in His name.

Second, we are commanded to assemble with one another. See the end Acts 2 for great examples of that. Third, through Peter God tells us we are His building. We are living stones, fitly put together (not Lone Rangers) as God sees fit. God places us in His wall by others of His choosing. And all of us are placed on the Cornerstone: Jesus Christ.

Life Lessons: See the Problem – Solve the Problem

This is a bit frustrating. We haven’t really gotten to the problem yet. This post just sets up the challenge we all face. Examples and solutions are in the next post. Til then, how about a self-check on that one another list? That would occupy most of us for quite a while. Think about it!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Filed Under: Blog Page, Life Lessons Tagged With: Faith, Faith: Why Is It Difficult?, I Corinthians 12, I Peter, LL1, spiritual gifts

Faith: Does It Look Like This?

01/11/2016 By Keith Burnett

Life Lessons Faith

Why is faith difficult? Why so many life lessons concerning faith? That’s what this series is exploring. To go further, let me challenge you to do an image search. Type ‘faith’ in your internet search box then click images. What do you get? You may see this image. Is this image, and/or ones like it, an accurate representation of faith?

Life Lessons: Faith & the Unseen

Life Lessons FaithThe image in question is not an accurate representation of faith. That fact is why I used it to create the image on the left. This is the picture I used for the first post in this series. So what’s wrong with this type of image? It’s important to answer this question in order to publish the next post in this series!

The problem with the image is the rock on the right side. That’s why I covered it up with the orange blob and the faith question. Per Scripture and previous discussion, faith must address elements unknown to you/me. The picture is about as accurate as we can make it. Why? We have no ability to draw an invisible landing place for the jumper. A truly accurate image of faith would be blank on the right side. OK, not blank but something not visible to our eyes!

Life Lessons: Acting on the Unseen

Faith’s first requirement is being absolutely certain I have heard from God. We can be sure through His Word, or prayer, or that still, small voice. But however He chooses to speak, He says His sheep know His voice. A pastor friend of mine often said too many church members couldn’t tell the difference between God’s voice and indigestion! But I am off track… 🙂

Life Lessons FaithWhen we know-that-we-know we have heard from the Lord, then we must act (exercise faith) on that revelation. It will look a little bit like the image to the left. But this image also has a flaw. Do you see it? That’s the flaw! We want our faith journey to look exactly like this picture, but it never does.

Our faith journey will in fact look like that staircase. We are pressing onward and upward. Everything is going fine. Then we reach that last step on the left and the only thing before us is a hole and a step we cannot possibly reach on our own. What do we do? How do we proceed?

That last step on the left side is where one or all of several things will happen. When we reach that point, we:

  • Pray
  • Study the Word
  • Seek Godly Advice
  • Listen for God to Speak

Our circumstances will vary, but the crisis of belief we experience on that step is real. When do we move on? When we are absolutely certain God has said,

Keep climbing. I’ve got this!

For Peter, it was the moment he got out of the boat and walked on the water. For Abraham, it was the Life Lessons Faithmoment he left his homeland for the land God promised to show him. For Gideon, it was when God reduced Gideon’s army to 300 men so there would be no doubt the battle was the Lord’s. In each case, there was certainty about God’s instructions. And in each case God was faithful!

O yeah! There’s one more thing. God’s hand was there for the events above. But nobody could see it! That’s the problem with the picture. God’s hand is real, but not seen by us. Figuratively, you may be looking into ‘space’ where a step is supposed to be. Trust the One Who promises to do more than you can ask or imagine. His hand is there!

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

Filed Under: Blog Page, Life Lessons Tagged With: Abraham, Faith, Faith: Why Is It Difficult?, Genesis, Gideon, John 10, Judges, LL1

Faith: A Lesson From Toddlers

01/07/2016 By Keith Burnett

 

Life Lessons FaithFaith: Why is it difficult? The second post in this Life Lessons series included the following observation about toddlers:

When the little ones are learning to walk they often fall down. They get up, take another step or two, and they fall down again. That is a beautiful picture of living from faith to faith. The longer the toddler does that the better they can walk. The faltering steps of our toddlers hold another tremendous lesson for the Church!

Life Lessons: Learning From Toddlers

Have you noticed faith is often followed by frustration? Even if we understand our lives are to be lived from faith to faith, that doesn’t mean faith is easy. That’s where we encounter frustration. There are many lessons here. Our faith families (churches) need to be taught by the toddlers. Actually, the lesson comes from the parents of the toddlers!

Life Lessons FaithThe toddler takes faltering steps. When the fall occurs, the parents gets angry and scold the child for falling down. That isn’t what you did when you kids were learning to walk?

More than likely, when your child took their first half-step you were probably cheering and clapping. By now, you may be ahead of me on this one.

See the toddler as a new Christian. They are learning to take baby-steps of faith. They don’t learn quickly and they don’t cover great distances without falling. Now, does the Church act like the parents I described? Not usually, and that’s the lesson we need to learn.

Life Lessons: Believing the Unseen

In our previous post, we looked at Hebrews 11:6. That verse says we must believe that God is… That’s part of our problem. Our language cannot fully express the differences between us and God. Many times we find this line in Scripture:

God is like…

We are finite while He is infinite. We have physical bodies while He is Spirit. We are imperfect and fallible while He is perfect and infallible. These are things we believe by faith. But then there is the work God promises to do. We must believe His promise to complete the work He has begun in each believer.

Since we cannot see God at work we are often tempted to think no work is taking place. Our toddler Christians falter in their faith and then experience our wrath (as if it was our place to have some wrath). If the body of believers acted more like you and I did when our kids were learning to walk, the faith of those young believers would grow much faster. How different would your church be if that happened?

You and I believe God is at work in us. We must also believe He is at work in others. But there’s more. Our mission is to make disciples. Disciples are like babies. They are born and they must grow up. The Apostle Paul mentions growing up in the faith. Our faith in the Lord’s command to us must include walking faithfully and patiently beside those whose faith is younger and weaker than our own.

Now, how is your faith? Think about it. More on the difficulties of faith next time!

Soli Deo Gloria! 

Filed Under: Blog Page, Life Lessons Tagged With: Ephesians 4, Faith, Faith: Why Is It Difficult?, Hebrews 11, Life Lessons, LL1, Romans 1

Faith: Why Is It Difficult? 2

01/06/2016 By Keith Burnett

Life Lessons Faith

Faith is the subject of so many of our life lessons. We know that, but why must it be that way? This is where we ended yesterday’s post. As much as we might wish for faith to be a once-and-done affair, by God’s design that cannot be the case! Let’s look at two of the reasons.

Life Lessons: God’s Requirement

Yes, you already know that it is by grace that we are made right with God through faith. But that is only the beginning of faith, not the end. In the great faith chapter of Hebrews, the Lord inspired these words:

Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

This is why faith cannot be a once-and-done deal. There is no such thing as believing once and then living without faith. Remember, God never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever! He requires faith in order for salvation. He doesn’t suddenly change and drop the faith requirement. Living a new life in Him is, because of His unchanging character, a walk of faith. And why is that challenging?

Life Lessons: Requirement of the Unknown

Faith, by its very definition, means any or all of the following:

  • There is something we do not know
  • There is something we cannot see
  • There is something we do not understand
  • Our strength and/or resources are inadequate

That’s the key! God invites us (challenges us?) to trust Him for the unknowns; all of them. We want to see and know before we take a leap. We want to see all the steps on the path before we take the first one. There is no place in Scripture where God provided that to anyone. Jesus said:

I Am the Vine and you are the branches. Apart from Me, you can do nothing.

Life Lessons FaithGod called Abraham to leave his home and journey to a land, I will show you. God called Moses to deliver the Israelites from Egypt. God didn’t tell him in advance how that would happen. Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up. When God said, Who will go?, Isaiah responded without knowing where, when, how long, or with what provisions. On and on this list could go. Without those unknowns there is no faith. And our Father requires faith.

Life Lessons: Recurring Opportunities

Since God requires faith, do you suppose He wants us to have weak faith or strong faith? The Apostle Paul gives us the unmistakeable answer in Romans 1. He says Christians live from faith to faith. That is why the faith lessons are never done! Babies are a perfect example of this concept!

Life Lessons FaithWhen the little ones are learning to walk they often fall down. They get up, take another step or two, and they fall down again. That is a beautiful picture of living from faith to faith. The longer the toddler does that the better they can walk. The faltering steps of our toddlers hold another tremendous lesson for the Church! But that’s for tomorrow.

When do my faith lessons end? When do yours end? When faith becomes sight. When is that? When we see Him face to face and know as we are known. Until then, get comfortable with not knowing. You don’t have to know everything on the path. You just have to know and trust Who is leading you. And don’t be frustrated when your recurring faith lesson comes around again. Take encouragement from those toddlers.  You are just getting better at that which pleases your Father!

Soli Deo Gloria! 

Filed Under: Blog Page, Gospel of John, Life Lessons Tagged With: Apostle Paul, Faith, Faith: Why Is It Difficult?, Hebrews 11, Isaiah 6, Life Lessons, LL1, Romans 1

Faith: Why Is It Difficult?

01/05/2016 By Keith Burnett

Life Lessons Faith

Why is faith such a challenge? Why is faith the subject of so many life lessons? Can’t we learn the faith lesson and move on to something else? The answers may surprise you, challenge you, and you may not necessarily like them. But faith is not only the key to eternity, it is the key to meaningful, daily living! Let’s see how that’s true.

Life Lessons: It’s NOT Pick-&-Choose 

Life Lessons FaithMost readers of this blog would connect this discussion with the great faith chapter in Hebrews. But the author of Hebrews has a great deal to say about faith before chapter 11. In the second warning (chapters 3 & 4), a negative example is used. The writer points out Israel had faith in God to get them out of Egypt but no faith God could get them into the Promised Land. Seems odd, doesn’t it?

God the Father promised to rescue them from Egypt. He displayed mighty power in doing that very thing. The Promised Land was His provision of rest and reward to His own people. Their part was to believe (have faith) God would enable them to conquer the land. They failed the faith test. How dumb was that?!? We see their failure, shake our heads, and just know we would never do such a thing. Really?

Life Lessons: One-time Faith is a Myth

Many people in the Church today are repeating the mistake of those Israelites. Don’t think so? Let’s see the similarities. As a Christian, you have:

  • Been freed from captivity (to your sin)
  • A Guide (the Holy Spirit)
  • A Journey (through an earthly life)
  • A Rest & Reward (eternity in the presence of your Savior)

Israel looked back and saw God’s mighty deliverance. It was historical fact. It had already happened. That thing about going into Canaan by faith was in the here and now. There would be battles and struggles and someone was going to get hurt. Fear would say:

The person who gets hurt or killed might be me! I can’t take that step.

Today,  we see our own deliverance (our salvation experience) as historical fact. That exercise of faith is over. People trust what God has already done. And like those Israelites we also have to face some giants. Here’s a short list:

  • Daily integrity
  • Forgiveness
  • Loving the unloveable
  • God-honoring stewardship of what we have been given
  • Following God-ordained leadership in our lives

Each of the things above requires faith. We either handle them in the ways God prescribes (by faith) or we don’t. When we don’t, it’s just like saying:

God, I am glad You rescued me from eternal punishment, but I can take it from here. 

Faith is never a pick-&-choose affair! Those ancient Israelites tried that. And didn’t we shake our heads in amazement at their mistakes?

This is just the beginning of Life Lessons on faith. It is absolutely necessary for faith to be a recurring lesson. Why? Tomorrow…

Soli Deo Gloria! 

Filed Under: Blog Page, Life Lessons Tagged With: Exodus, Faith, Faith Journey, Faith: Why Is It Difficult?, Hebrews, Hebrews 3, Hebrews 4, Life Lessons, LL1, Promised Land

In Loving Memory

10/28/2015 By Keith Burnett

Carol

The faith of our friend Carol is now sight! And I am so happy for her. The pain of missing a friend (for a while) is real. But we can celebrate her life and her faith even through our tears.

Carol loved many, served many, was generous, and she did it all with that beautiful smile. In honor of the life she lived so well, here are just a few snapshots of Carol being herself – loving God and loving others.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Carol loved this young man – Chaggy
And she loved on people regularly

Fun with other mission volunteers
Sharing the Gospel

Working and having fun – they had to go together in her world!
Loving more people

Loving with deeds
And she loved to ride in that red truck!

Sharing the Word – again and often.
Carol was a student of the Word.

Sharing the Good News

Filed Under: Blog Page, Evangelism, Missions Tagged With: carol, Evangelism, Faith, Missions

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There's a lot of meat in this book; the more times you read it, the more you get from it. Challenges you to see scripture you have read many times in a fresh new way and apply to your daily life.

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There's a lot of meat in this book; the more times you read it, the more you get from it. Challenges you to see scripture you have read many times in a fresh new way and apply to your daily life.

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