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What you believe shapes how you see things

Have you ever noticed that multiple educated people can evaluate the same sets of data, and come up with two completely different conclusions?

One Wall Street analyst looks at a particular company and recommends buying their stock. Another looks at the same company, with the same financial statements and business prospects, and recommends selling their stock.

One football scout watches a prospective quarterback and sees vulnerability and liability. Another sees the same quarterback in the same game and sees the future of the franchise.

Multiple experts, same information, different conclusions.

Today, we see the same things happening in the debate over evolution. The evolutionist sees evidence such as carbon dating and fossils, and concludes that evolution is true. The creationist sees the exact same evidence, and concludes that the fossil record proves the existence of the flood from Genesis 6-9, and thus creationism is true.

Both the evolutionist and the creationist are highly educated and well-reasoned in their conclusions. So, how do they look at the fossil record, carbon dating, canyons and rock formations, and come to such different conclusions?

It has to do with their faith.

The evolutionist has a faith that the world was created by various physical forces and chemical reactions without the intervention of a divine creator. Thus, when he examines the fossil record, his faith is validated by what he sees as evidence of an old earth. Through his faith, he believes in evolution.

The creationist has a faith that the world was created by God, so when he examines the fossil record, his faith is validated by what he sees as evidence of God’s intervention (such as the worldwide flood).

You see, faith is not shaped by evidence, but rather, faith shapes how we evaluate evidence. If you are looking for proof before you believe, then you will never find the evidence you are looking for. However, if you believe, you will see things that validate your belief.

Thus, we find in Hebrews 11:3 that “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”

Our demand for proof of God’s existence will never be satisfied, at least, not until the end time. However, when we decide to trust that God exists and that He is good, then God responds to that faith and rewards it (Hebrews 11:6).

So, the question is, what do you believe? And how is that belief shaping your worldview?

Faith makes the intangible tangible

Many Christians mistakenly define faith as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” That definition, which is a quote of Hebrews 11:1, doesn’t really tell you what faith is, rather it tells you what faith does.

Faith is a deep-rooted trust in the Lord and a deeply held conviction of His truth. Faith means having a belief that cannot be deterred by circumstance, blessing or curse.

When you hold this level of faith in the Lord, the intangible things of God no longer cause you to question His existence or goodness.

That’s why Hebrews 11:1, which kicks off an entire chapter demonstrating faith through the lives of the Old Testament saints, states that “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Because we strongly believe in the Lord, He is real to us.

It’s not that faith can create a being and alter reality, but rather, because of our faith, we can see the unseen God move. We can see His work. And because we see His work and the effects of His working, we see further evidence of His existence, power and goodness.

It’s like Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:8, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

We don’t see the wind, but we know it exists because we feel its presence and we see the effects of its movements. Likewise, because we believe in God, we can feel His presence and see the effects of His movements.

This faith, in turn, shapes our worldview, which then influences our actions and our choices. It’s this faith that pleases God and guides us to where He wants us to be and what He wants us to do.

It’s this faith that gives substance (tangibility) to the things that we hope for, like Heaven, healing and peace. It’s this faith that shows us the proof (evidence) of the things of God that we do not see. And it’s this faith that helps us understand that God created all things by His word (Hebrews 11:3).

And it’s this faith that pleases God (Hebrews 11:2, 6) and brings us salvation (John 3:16, Romans 5:1, Ephesians 2:8-9).

Do you trust the Lord? Do you have this level of faith?

No More Hidden Agendas

John 12 records the powerful moment that Mary anointed the feet of Jesus with the expensive spikenard ointment, which John records was worth about 300 pence, approximately a year’s wage for a laborer.

Why would Mary pour such an expensive ointment on Jesus’ feet? That was the question posed by Judas, who noted that the ointment could have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor. While John notes that Judas was being dishonest about his intentions, Jesus answers the question.

“Against the day of my burying has she done this.”

This is Mary, the same Mary who sat at the feet of Jesus as He taught, while her sister Martha served dinner. This is Mary, who fell at the feet of Jesus when Lazarus died. And here is Mary, anointing the feet of Jesus.

It seems that every time we see Mary in the scripture, she is at the feet of Jesus. And why wouldn’t she be?

Jesus had given her hope. Jesus had given her redemption. Jesus had lifted her from a life of want, hopelessness and despair to a life of hope, fulness and meaning. Mary was truly living now that she met Jesus, even though her social and financial situation hadn’t changed.

So, since Jesus gave Mary everything that was dear to her, and since He became everything she was about, it makes sense that she worshipped Him with everything that she was, and everything that she had.

Do we see Jesus the same way that Mary does? And do we look to Him for hope, fulfillment and meaning? Or are we still looking to ourselves?

Check out Pastor Leland Acker’s sermon, posted above via YouTube, or below via Soundcloud, and reflect on whether you have the love and faith toward Jesus that Mary had, or whether you are looking for something for this world like Judas was.

What is the Gospel?

“Gospel” is a buzzword that is widely circulated in Christian circles. There’s Gospel music, Gospel preaching, spreading the Gospel and standing for the Gospel.

There are full Gospel churches and Gospel revivals.

With all this talk about the “Gospel,” what is it really? What is “The Gospel?”

Some say that the Gospel is the entire word of God from Genesis to Revelation. However, while the scriptures contain the Gospel from Genesis to Revelation, the scriptures themselves are not the definition of the Gospel.

The Gospel is defined in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, which states that Paul delivered unto the saints at Corinth how Christ “died for our sins according to the scriptures, that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” Thus, the Gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our sins according to the scriptures.

By giving His life on the cross, our Lord endured God’s punishment for sin, thus removing the condemnation of sin from us. We have been forgiven because our sins have been paid for, and it was Christ that made that payment.

By rising from the grave, Christ defeated death, and brought eternal life to all who believe.

This is the central message of the Bible, and the theme that runs through all the scriptures. The deeper you dig into scripture, the deeper an understanding you gain of the Gospel.

It is through the Gospel that we have salvation. It is through the Gospel that we find peace, and we find deliverance from shame and regret.

In His messages of repentance, Christ urged the people to believe the Gospel. By believing the Gospel, your faith is placed squarely on Christ and you will have salvation. With that salvation, you have the blessed assurance that you will spend eternity in Heaven.

To explore the theme of the Gospel throughout the Bible, check out The Gospel Expedition, posted via YouTube or Soundcloud below:

Gospel Expedition Podcast Expands to YouTube

As part of our ongoing effort to promote the Gospel across all platforms, we are adding the Gospel Expedition podcast to our YouTube channel. By adding the Gospel Expedition to the YouTube platform, the podcast will be available to more listeners and will be readily available to users on an app that is often pre-installed on their smart phones. If you haven’t checked out the Gospel Expedition, give it a listen and let us know what you think.

Demystifying Faith

Here’s a challenge for you… go to any Bible study, Sunday School class, or online Bible forum, and ask the question, “What is faith?”

You will get a variety of answers. One common answer is, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, thge evidence of things not seen.” That answer is a quotation of Hebrews 11:1. Your next step is to ask, “What does that mean?”

The tragedy of modern Western Christianity is that salvation comes by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), but most don’t even know what faith is.

So, what is faith?

Photo by Ric Rodrigues on Pexels.com

If we don’t know what faith is, how can we be saved? If we don’t understand faith, can we truly experience redemption and reconciliation?

In John 3, Jesus is approached by Nicodemus, who recognizes that Jesus was sent by God, but the Lord’s radical teaching of repentance and faith did not always line up with the religious traditions that Nicodemus followed.

Nicodemus, unlike his fellow Pharisees, wanted the truth. Recognizing that Jesus came from God, and that what Nicodemus believed didn’t line up with what Jesus taught, Nicodemus came to Jesus to reconcile his personal belief system with what God actually wanted.

Jesus knew this, which is why Jesus said that a man “must be born again” in order to be saved.

The rest of the conversation in John 3 is about how to be born again, that is, how to be saved, or how to be redeemed and reconciled to God. John 3 is one of the most important passages of scripture, because it is here that Jesus, the only Begotten Son of God who went to the cross to pay for our sins, tells us how to be saved.

These instructions on how to be saved are as valid and true to us today as they were to Nicodemus. Nothing has been added or changed since, for if it were, this passage would not have been recorded in scripture.

In John 3, telling us how to be born again, Jesus tells us that “whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” And just in case we confuse ourselves on what it means to believe, Jesus tells us (and Nicodemus) and Old Testament Bible story.

In John 3:14, Jesus said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

In this verse, Jesus references an incident from the book of Numbers, where Israel complained and rebelled against God. Because of the severity of their rebellion, the LORD sent what the King James Version refers to as “fiery serpents” into the camp. Fiery serpents were more than likely poisonous snakes, as the scripture described how they bit the people, and the people began dying.

As they died, they cried out to Moses for help. Moses prayed to God, and God told Moses to make a bronze serpent, place it on a pole, and set it up in the middle of camp. If anyone is bitten, they can look at that bronze serpent and live.

Being saved from the snake bites in Numbers was as simple as looking to that serpent on the pole. No sacrifices, no offerings, no religious works. Just a simple look.

In John 3, Jesus said in the same way, He was to be lifted up on the cross. And in the same way, if people look to Him on the cross, they will be saved. Looking to Jesus on the cross constitutes belief, because that is what you are depending on for your forgiveness and salvation. Because Jesus went to the cross, you know you have been redeemed and reconciled to God.

Belief in Jesus is as simple as looking to Jesus and remembering that He redeemed you through His death on the cross. And that belief is the ONLY condition that must be met in order to be saved.

Faith and belief are used interchangeably in the New Testament. They are both translated from the same Greek word. So, with that in mind, we conclude that faith simply means a belief, a trust in the Lord. We have faith because we believe that Jesus will receive us into Heaven, because He paid for our sins on the cross. That’s faith. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Faith is not a religious system. Faith is not an expression of religious works (on the contrary, your works reveal whether or not you have faith.) Faith is belief.

Do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe that He died on the cross for your sins? Can you look to Him on that cross and know that because of His death and resurrection, you are going to Heaven? If you can, and if you have done that, you have been saved, and you have become a Christian.

While that faith will change the way you live and think, please know and be assured that it is the faith that has saved you.

May God bless you.

The Great Invitation

How’s everything working out for you?

Are the things you are doing bringing you peace and fulfillment? Do you find purpose in those things, and are they rewarding? If not, why do you continue to do those things?

It is those questions and more that the Lord poses as He issues a great invitation to Israel in Isaiah 55.

In Isaiah 53, the Lord showed how Israel’s sin led them astray, but how God would redeem and restore them through Christ, who would give His life as a sacrificial lamb to satisfy the judgment and wrath of God.

Following that message of salvation, the Lord calls the nation to break forth into singing, because He would bring in a time of everlasting blessing. That promise was made in Isaiah 54. In Isaiah 55, the Lord invites the people to come, and to inherit that blessing by repenting of their sins and trusting in Him for salvation.

The picture the Lord paints in Isaiah 55 is of a benefactor offering water, wine and milk to the thirsty, and food to the hungry. He then questions why anyone would work for, or spend their money on anything less.

In the message posted above, Pastor Leland Acker addresses God’s invitation, and discusses what it means to “come to the waters.”

Agents of Distraction: How We Wander from God

In this message, Pastor Leland Acker discusses how multiple, seemingly small decisions made to please ourselves lead us away from God. Scripture reference is Isaiah 53:6, which says, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

Have We Forgotten?

Ancient Israel was falling apart. Their kingdom had split into two kingdoms, the economy and military strength were declining, and the culture was rotting from the inside out.

As Israel addressed their problems, they looked to everything but God for the solutions. In Isaiah 40, God asked, “Have you forgotten Who I am?”

All too often, we look to everything but God for the answers to the problems in our lives. Have we forgotten Him too?

Asking for a Sign

In Isaish 7, the Lord promised Ahaz, an unGodly king, that He would protect the him and his kingdom from a pending invasion. The Lord then invited Ahaz to ask Him for a sign. In essence, God extended His grace and provision to Ahaz, who rejected it out of his own pride.

In this message, Pastor Leland Acker shows how this fits into Isaiah’s theme of reasoning with God, and how we can align ourselves with God in our lives so we can experience the peace He offers.