In Acts 18:13 it says that the Jews brought Paul up on charges. What were those charges? “This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law?” The phrase, “contrary to the law” stands out to me and makes me wonder. If you read scholars they will ask the question what law? Was it the Roman law forbade anyone from trying to convert Roman citizens to anything deemed “a cult?” Or maybe it was the Jewish law (Torah), which Paul was definitely not preaching against but was in stead preaching of its fulfillment? We know Paul was teaching the doctrine of Christianity, which was protected politically for at least another 10-12 years until Nero became Emperor.
So my concern this morning was, “what was contrary?”
Always trying to find the modern day application for the text I am convinced that many people today are persecuted because they are still persuading people to worship contrary to the law. The problem is that much of our “law” is not a law that is based on truth of scripture or even of the leading of the Holy Spirit, but most of the “laws” that exist in our churches today are traditions of men. Therefore if I can be permitted to make an alteration on the text, I pray that I am a man that persuades others to worship God contrary to tradition.
Traditions are not evil. The problem they present is that we sometimes become so willing to accept traditions that we never learn their foundation or premise. The further away we get from their foundation the further we get from their truth! I want to be as close to the truth of God as I can possibly get! Therefore I pray that God would remove every tradition from my heart and fill it with his truth. I want to worship You, Lord, contrary to my own traditions!
Category Archives: Teaching
Goal Setting
I’m not an administrative person. One thing you need to know about guys like me who are not administrative; we don’t like lists. My wife on the other hand; she’s a list person. She has a list for almost every area of her life and I would not be surprised if she had a list of her lists somewhere. She’s is administrative. It’s a gift she has learned how to use very well. Me, I’ve learned to trust her lists.
On the other side however, I have found the need for lists. As someone that doesn’t come by this gift naturally, I have to make myself think administratively. I have to make myself begin each day with a list of things to do, then I go back over that list and prioritize them. For me the going back over them is important because if I didn’t then my day would start off with (1.) Go to lunch, (2.) Read, (3.) Get afternoon snack and drink, (4.) Go get candy out of Scott’s office.
It doesn’t seem wise to me to start my day with lunch, so I have to prioritize. (I know many of you are asking, “He puts lunch and snacks on his to do list each day?” Yes! I do!) Prioritizing my day allows me to be effective. If I don’t, things get out of sync and I am not as productive as I could have been. As a result, I go home feeling like I failed or didn’t get anything accomplished. While I don’t always like lists, I have learned the benefits of them.
The other type of list I have found a great benefit for is in goal setting. I routinely set six month goals in two categories, work and personal. While there are great benefits in setting work goals, I really want to challenge you today to set personal goals. Not just any type of random personal though, I want you to begin thinking about personal goals that will strengthen your relationship with God. If you are not in the habit of working toward goals, I would not advise you to set six month goals. Instead start with a 30-day or 60-day goal.
One of the first things you need to do in setting this goal is to ask yourself, “What’s my purpose of setting this goal?” Are you wanting to strengthen your knowledge of the Bible? Do you want to strengthen your faith? Do you want to become more bold in your faith? It’s important to set the purpose because then you have built in motivation. And goals are important because if you don’t have a plan to strengthen your faith, how do expect it to grow? You must be intentional about your process of growth.
For example, if your goal is to strengthen your knowledge of the Bible; pick a chapter and spend the summer studying that passage. Read it at least once a week in entirety. Read several verses or sections of it every day. Try to memorize the chapter. Break it into different categories you set up. Use commentaries from to learn more about. Find a good resource and look at the original language. (A good online resource with commentaries and helpful in understanding original language is www.blueletterbible.org.)
It is important to have a goal. Here is the one thing I am positive of; if you don’t have a plan; you have a real good possibility of being in the exact same place with your relationship in 60 days as you are now. As a believer, you can’t be satisfied with that!
Be blessed,
craig
Fallen Faith
This week we are looking at how Abram dealt with trials in his life. No one in Hebrews 11 is hailed for their faith as much as Abraham. Hebrews praises him for his faith. Abraham “obeyed going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out not knowing where he was going,” (Heb 11:8). He “lived as an alien in the land of promise,” (Heb. 11:9). In verse 10 we have that great proclamation that he “was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” In verse 16 it says that Abraham’s faith was not a waste because “God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”
After Abram got to Canaan Genesis 12:7 tells us that Yahweh came to Abram. In Ur Yahweh called Abram to a place that He would show him. Now in the story, The Lord shows up and presents himself to Abram. Abram’s display of faith is an example of the faith all believes should have and should strive to exemplify.
Then famine hit Canaan!
Abram may have thought God would take him to the Promised Land and roll the red carpet out for him. He may have thought once he got to the Promised Land all his worries would go away. He may reasoned in his own heart that since he showed such great faith in leaving, maybe, just maybe God owed him.
Do you ever get to a place where you feel like God owes you? “God I did this for you, where is my blessing?” It is easy to think our relationship with God is give and take. Most of our relationships are. So, when we do something for God and He doesn’t respond with the appropriate blessing; we feel cheated and we begin to question God’s love for us.
Abram left everything and walked into a land that was experiencing a famine. So he did the obvious, he went to where there was food – Egypt! The problem was he didn’t ask God what he needed to do. He just assumed God “had his back” and did the reasonable thing. He didn’t deny God, he just chose to forget about Him.
God will always test our faith with trials. It is a guarantee. Even Jesus was tested, why should we different? Abram was tested and this great man of faith; showed none! He did not trust God and he missed out on what God had for him. We will never know how God wanted to deliver Abram from the famine because Abram did not show enough faith in God to simply call out to Him.
How about you? How many blessings are you missing because you have not trusted God for His deliverance? Prior to this Abram’s life was defined by the altars he built for God and faithful calling on the name of Yahweh.
Trials are going to come, when they do… learn from Abram’s mistake and remember your call. Build altars and worship the only Savior who has the power to save. Faith only happens when it is lived!
Be blessed,
Craig
The Power of God
While the Jewish Leaders were questioning Jesus during the five days leading up to the Passover, the Bible tells us that some Sadducees came to Jesus and questioned Him. Under the Jewish law, if a man dies without children, his brother must marry his widow. In this way he can raise a son and heir for his dead brother. This is called levirate marriage, and enables a man’s name to live on after his death and is recorded in Deut. 25:5-6.
Let me give you a little background of the Sadducees; The Sadducees are the Jewish ruling class. They are an elite group with an intellectual and sceptical faith. Their breeding, marriages, religion and politics are all geared to keep them in power. While the Pharisees avoid all contact with Gentiles, the Sadducees are prepared to compromise with the Romans in order to have some influence in government. While the Pharisees believe in the resurrection of the dead and a future life, the Sadducees live for this life only. In addition, they only accepted the five books of Moses as inspired from God. They would often challenge the Pharisees to prove the doctrine of resurrection, but the Pharisees were rarely successful.
Now if you are like me, you may have wondered what this type of question had to do with whether or not Jesus is the Messiah and how a question like this would cause Jesus to stumble. The Sadducees hope to show that resurrection is ridiculous and impossible. Supposing a woman has a number of levirate marriages. To which of the brothers will she be married in heaven?
While the line of questioning from the Sadducees may not have been a very strong line in our opinion, for them it was one of their most critical. Therefore, Jesus response must have been a very tough pill to swallow. Jesus said, ” “You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not heard I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
Once again Jesus words are so direct and to the point that His accusers have no rebuttal. But to His words, the portion that challenges me the most is the first part. “You do not understand the scriptures or the power of God.” While I will admit that I do not understand all the scriptures, I can honestly tell you that I am studying. I am learning new things each day and while I may never be able to understand them on this side of heaven, I press on! However, it is the second portion of this statement that haunts me. “You do not understand the power of God.”
The only way we as believers on earth can understand the power of God is that we must see it work in our lives and in the lives of people around us. The problem is not always believing in the power of God, but allowing the power of God room in our life. The more we deal with God, the more He reveals His power to us. The more we experience God, the more we are introduced to His power. The more we surrender to God, the more we witness His power first-hand. Surrendering to God’s power is asking God to do the impossible. Too many times we are able to explain away the things in our life, but how many of us can only throw our hands to the sky and say, “It was God!” When was the last time you experienced the power of God?
This Easter season, allow for the power of God to work in your life.
Be Blessed,
Craig
…And to God the things that are God’s.
During the five days between Palm Sunday and the Passover Jesus was questioned more scrupulously than at any other time in His ministry. As you may remember Palm Sunday was Nisan 10th. The day the Jewish families selected a lamb (Ex. 12:3) to be their sacrifice. During the next five days they would bring the lamb into their house. The purpose of bringing the lamb into the house was for the benefit of scrutiny. They would scrutinize the lamb and determine if it truly was unblemished. If it passed and there were no faults with the lamb, it would be used as the sacrificial lamb for the entire family on Passover.
On Nisan 10th Jesus entered into Jerusalem at the praise of the people. They proclaimed, “Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.” As Jesus entered the city with the crowds shouting and rejoicing the Pharisees and the other Jewish leaders took notice and the scrutiny began.
In Matthew 22:17-22 it tells of how they tried to trap Jesus. They asked about the poll-tax. They said, “Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar?” Jesus knew their hearts and their intent and asked for them to bring him a denarius (the coinage used to pay a poll-tax). As Jesus looked at it He asked, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” The leaders responded, “Caesar’s.” Then He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” After hearing this they were amazed and went away from Him.
While some may look at this and ask the question, “Are you giving God the things that belong to Him?” I want to ask a different question. When people look at your life, does it have the likeness of God? Or, better put, “Whose likeness and inscription are on your heart?” The first century believers were called “Christians” because they lived their life like Christ. The term began as a derogatory term meaning, “little-Christ’s.” They were called that because they resembled Christ and His inscription was on their heart. Today, do you look like Christ or do you look like the world? Would we be able to tell by examining the things you are giving to Him?
Be Blessed,
Craig
What a difference a week can make!
This week at HBC we are looking at Matthew 21:1-9. Most interpret it as the Triumphal Entry of Christ. It was the last time Jesus would enter Jerusalem in His earthly body. I want to look at it also Luke 19:28-40 in this post.
Now in Jesus day it was not uncommon for a hero to ride into town at the cheers of the people. They would throw their coats to the ground and shout praises to their hero. There are some differences herehowever; 1. Jesus was not decked out in his most regal uniform. Many times when this happened it happened as the hero was returning from war. He would wear his best military uniform in all its majesty and may even be adorned with a medal either given to him by the king or taken in battle. Not Jesus, he wore simple clothes. 2. Jesus was not riding a great war horse. He rode a young donkey. It was a donkey that had never been ridden, but it was a donkey. I have never seen any one ride a donkey and think to myself, “how majestic.” Even the name, “donkey” makes me almost laugh. There is nothing king-like in riding a donkey, even if it has never been ridden.
Revelation talks about Jesus riding a white horse and leading a great army one day. But this was not that day, so for Jesus a donkey would do. After all, this battle was not going to be fought on a battle field, or a fortress. It was and still is being fought in the hearts and lives of person on earth.
Jesus rode into Jerusalem and the people began praising Him. The Bible tells us that they proclaimed, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Jesus was receiving His praise. They had seen Him cause the blind to see, heal the sick, make the lame walk, bring the dead back to life and now they were praising Him as the hopeful Messiah who came to rescue them from the Romans.
In Luke 19:39-40 it says that some Pharisees came to Jesus and asked Him to rebuke His disciples. They were afraid that the Romans would hear their cheers and think the Jews were causing a riot against the Roman government. The Romans would have quickly sent in an army to squash the rebellion and the Pharisees did not want that. While the Pharisees did not like the Romans they had become accustomed to a very comfortable life under the Roman rule. They had power, status, money and protection. They may have been opposed to the Roman Empire, but they were not opposed to the life the Romans allowed them to have. If a riot broke out, they would be in danger of losing all of that. Jesus response was short and pointed. He simply said, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
Did he just say that the stones would cry out? Now many scholars have debated on the meaning of this passage. I for one am naive enough to believe that Jesus meant the stones on the ground, on the sides of the mountains, all of creation itself! Creation had been waiting for this moment. This was the day the Creator had ordained that the Son of Man would be lifted up. I can see creation now, waiting in anticipation for it’s moment. As Jesus comes into the city, creation was prepared to shout and give praise to Jesus. Why, because it was ordained to be that way. God had ordained this moment in time at this place to bring praise to Jesus. If mankind did not follow through with this moment, creation itself was prepared to step in.
There are times in creation where Jesus is to be lifted up and praised. At those times, I challenge you to praise Him for all He is worth. Don’t let creation speak for you because you were not paying attention or too embarrassed to give Him praise. But when the time is right, shout! He is worthy! He is OUR KING! In the next couple of weeks we will celebrate Palm Sunday and Easter. In one weeks time the crowds go from proclaiming, “Hosanna” to “Crucify.” What a difference a week makes! What kind of difference is Jesus going to make in your life in the coming weeks? From Palm Sunday to Easter, will you proclaim Him? Will you just go about your normal routine? Are they the same? It is the time for the Son of Man to be lifted up!
Be Blessed,
Craig
The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Mt 21:9.
The Eternal Fire
I was reading the other day in Leviticus. I know what you are thinking already…why? I sometimes like to read Leviticus or Deuteronomy to try and find some nuggets that I haven’t seen before. Well, I was reading in Leviticus 6 and I came across this:
Fire shall be kept burning continually on the altar; it is not to go out.
It is actually in verse 13 and it is a command. It is a command to keep the fire on the altar going at all times. It is stressed because it is also mentioned in verses 9 & 12, so that is why it stuck out to me. Why would it be mentioned three times? Is God a pyro? Does He just really like fire? Is it really safe to have a fire going at all times in a tent? I remember one time I wanted to start a fire in a tent and my dad got furious… wait, I’m getting off topic. If you study the Bible for very long, you learn to look for things. Anytime you see something twice, there is usually an important meaning surrounding it. If you see it three times, you can be assured it’s important.
God tells Moses three times, “Do not let the fire go out.” Why is it so important to God that the fire burn continually? Why was this an issue? As I looked at this I came away with several conclusions.
God kept the fires of the altar going all the time as a constant reminder to the people that forgiveness was final. The priest would offer a sacrifice each day for the people and He wanted them to know that His forgiveness was eternal. The constant reminder of the fire let the people know that their sin was dealt with eternally. Each morning at the beginning of the day, the priests would get up and take away the ash heap and place new wood on the altar in preparation for that days sacrifice. The sacrifice was for the people and their sin. But not just their sin, it was also a symbol that God was with them; He was in communion with them. When Israel was being led through the desert they followed a cloud by day and a fire by night. God was in the cloud and the fire. The fire in the Tabernacle represented His forgiveness and His presence.
Today in our churches we need a fire that will burn constantly. We need a fire that will burn in our churches and serve as a reminder that God’s forgiveness is eternal. We need a fire in our churches that families can come and draw from and take it back to their homes and offices and schools and spread light and hope in those places. As the church becomes a place with constant fire, the children of God can borrow from the altar and fuel their families, their relationships and their lives with a consuming fire that cries out to Jesus as our Savior and Forgiveness. Let’s not get bogged down in the entanglement of sin that discourages and wears down our desire to know God more. Instead let’s carry our torches for all to see! A torch that was lit in the sanctuary. Church, that is your call! Be that fire that will fuel God’s children to action and love.
Judgment Day “The Day of The Lord”
The book of Zephaniah(1:7) in the Old Testament speaks of “The Day of The Lord” and looks forward to this day with great anticipation. The “Day of the Lord” is actually used by several other OT prophets such as Amos, Isaiah and Jeremiah. They all speak of a day that is coming where judgment will be dispensed on all the land and everyone will be judged and sin will be defeated. Now I can get excited about the defeat of sin. We have all had our struggles in this arena for far too long. But I don’t look forward, as probably most Christians, about the day of judgment.
Don’t get me wrong, I know that I am a believer and I am secure in my salvation and my redemption by God’s grace and the sacrifice of my Savior, King Jesus. But, I don’t look forward to the whole judgment thing. There is something that causes a nervous twitch inside me when I begin to think that God will examine my life. I begin to think, have I repented of all my sin, what if I miss one? Now I could stop here and talk about the doctrine of justification and sanctification and how I am secure in my salvation not only with me, but even more so with God… but that is not the point. There is still this uneasy feeling at times.
Then I read and examined the judgment that the Old Testament prophets spoke of. As a westerner (someone who did not grow up in the east or middle east of the world) my view of judgment is different. I look at the verses that tell of the coming judgment and it worries me. I look at verses like 1 John 2:1 however and am relieved that Jesus stands in my defense. While this is a beautiful picture, it is not accurate. The picture of Jesus coming to our rescue as our lawyer has always been appealing and pleasing to me. When I would think of having to face judgment I was at least encouraged by the thought that my Savior was at my side ready to plead my case. But, once again this is not the correct view. To the Jews, this made sense and saw it in the correct light; hence they were excited for that day to come!
So what is the correct view? Well, according to the Old Testament prophets and the understanding of “The Day of The Lord” there will be a judgment. The difference however is not that we are the defendant, but we are the plaintiff! Pslam 96:12-13 tells this most beautifully.
“Let the field exalt and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy Before the Lord, for He is coming. For He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness And the peoples in His faithfulness.”
Jesus is coming back to judge the world! We as believers will be the plaintiff bringing the complaint against the ills of this world. We will rejoice at His Great Judgment because we know our case is airtight. We know our case will bring victory for us. We excitedly await our day in court when God will rule against the unjust of this world and the sin that so easily entangles. It is on that day that we will not only finally receive victory over sin forever, but we will be awarded for damages as well. The Righteous Judge will rule in our favor and reward us with a new world in which to live, a new home in which to dwell and a closer view of our Savior. No wonder we are told to rejoice for “The Day of the Lord” or over the coming judgment.
So, rejoice! Rejoice and lift up your head for the King is Coming!
Simply Craig Yates 