State of the Heart Address

Wow! I just heard Ken Ham's State of the Nation address, and it was life changing. He spoke about the state of the church's heart and mind and how that it has affected or rather stopped affecting the state of our nation and our culture. He spoke about how we have removed reminders that would have reminded us of God's faithfulness, holiness, justice and mercy. He spoke about how we as a church have forgotten the Lord and compromised His Word by adding to it things that are more acceptable by the culture. We have not esteemed His Word as the ultimate authority. It is not the "end all". We rather treat it as a "good suggestion" or one of the many ways that one might come to the right conclusion. Kenn Ham spoke about how that we as Christians have lost the debate against evolution, abortion, and all other cultural abominations because we have accepted a neutral position on these subjects. We are being called to repentance and a complete reformation of our way of thinking.

Compromising and forgetting GOD's Word:

Matthew 12:30 "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. "

Basically that means that if we are Christians who are "riding the fence" so to speak, in cultural and spiritual issues we are decieving ourselves. The fence is on the side of God's enemies, and so are we. We try so hard to relate to the world in order to explain our position. But the only way we can possibly relate is by laying down Christ and His Holy Word... which we do. And by doing this we are siding with the world who are doing all they can to forget God or pretend that there isn't a God. We cannot be nuetral. To be nuetral is to side with the world, beacause nuetrality is a rejection of God's authority. Rejection of God's supreme authority is rebellion.

NOT KNOWING THE WORD:

Romans 8:6 "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."

Another way we lose the debate is by not knowing the Word of God. Generally speaking most of us can't explain to others why we do or don't do what we do. We, and I totally must include myself in this (ahhh!) do not know how to answer those who ask us about what we know is truth. Yes, I know that abortion is wrong and sodomy is wrong. I know that it is not right or pleasing to God that I should commit fornication or speak or think of men in a lustful way. How do I know? Bible verses. When I am tempted,those verses come to mind and the Holy Spirit strengthens me to resist these temptations. But when the girls at work ask why I don't flirt or "go after" guys I don't answer "Oh well the God says in 1Cor 6:18 to flee fornication, because it is an offense to Him. He says that He delights in steadfast love, not lust, in Jeremiah 9:24." But that is why I don't, so SAY it for crying out loud! When we don't know where God stands on current and relavent issues, when we say "Oh the Bible doesn't really say anything about this and so", what we are really saying is that we don't know what God says about it. God says that He has provided for us "all things that pertain unto LIFE and GODLINESS, through the KNOWLEDGE of HIM" (1 Peter 1:3). So we can't say that God doesn't have an opinion on this or that subject. We must KNOW what His opinion is through the study and submission to the authority of His Word.

Hosea 4:6 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children."

Amos 5:21 " I hate, and despise your feast days and I will not smell your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the nose of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment and run downas waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream."

Pretty rough stuff. But praise God for the grace to repent! Praise God for the revealing of sins and for The Way (Christ Jesus) to restore our relationship with God! Praise God for forgiveness, and this sanctification.

I was talking to a good friend afterwards and we both just were overwhelmed with conviction and the desire to repent and to be changed by the Holy Spirit. Yet we knew that in our own strength we were powerless. But both she and I know that it is "God that worketh in you both to WILL and to DO of His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13) And we got pretty excited because we know that the Lord will change us as we commit ourselves completely to Him. (Ephesians 3:20)

You know, there are rough times in a Christians life. A lot of them. And it is easy to get discouraged these days, by persecutors, by the culture in general, by the oppression of authorities, or even by other Christians. God continuously allows extreme difficulties that reveal to us our sin or try our patience and build our faith. But being a child of God is amazingly wonderful. And I wouldn't/couldn't trade even one of my difficulties for knowing the Lord and being loved by Him. Not one. He truly is the best part of my existance and the crown and glory of my life.

One of my favorite chapters in Scripture is Isaiah 12. I can't write it all in here, because it is late and I have a midterm for which I have to finish studying. But read it, because it is like first aid cream to a repentant heart. His anger has been turned away from us, His children, through the appeasement that Christ supplied at the cross. Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord. Just. Saying.