And now, the rest of the story...

Revelation 13:10 If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints. NIV

This verse comes during a phase in earth's history when evil will rule. You might say "well, I think if evil isn't ruling its doing a great job of back seat driving!" and this is true. But there is coming a time when the worst things you can possibly imagine will be commonplace.

As God prepares to return to earth He prepares the earth for His return. This includes allowing the powers of darkness to be unleashed as never before. Those powers will be focused primarily on wiping out anyone who belongs to God on earth. I believe during this period, known as the Great Tribulation, that those of us who have received Jesus as Lord and Savior will be snatched off this rock and will be enjoying the marriage supper of the Lamb.

But there will also be many who come to Christ during this period, when environmental disaster, the forces of man, and the forces of darkness all seem to have become the norm. Being a Christian during this time will be awful. I think that's why John wrote the words above. He is sending a message to those Tribulation Saints that bad things are going to happen. They might be killed or taken captive by the Beast. But what he is saying is for them to hang on, for the Lord will be their ultimate rescuer.

Here is the end for those that give their hearts to Jesus at this time:

Revelation 20:4-6 Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. ESV

So if you know Him, rejoice that you are going to be with Him, and live a life that echos His character now so that many who do not know Him will also escape these times. If you don't yet know Jesus then get to know Him now. A little humbleness will allow you to escape terrible times later; times that make today's disasters look like nothing.

Pastor Tom

How to Overcome

Do you sometimes feel like the odds are stacked so high against you that you can't see the top of the stack? Do you experience attacks from the enemy or personal struggles that are too much for you? Take heart!

Revelation 12:10-11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony ESV

How do you overcome? It's not by being the "best that you can be" or by having some super secret weapon or by bucking up or depend on anything here in this world. You conquer by two things:

1. The blood of the Lamb. Jesus' blood cleanses you from sin; sin being anything that is outside the character of God. So anything Satan tries to throw your way in terms of accusations just bounces off. It's like double jeopardy (not the game show kind but the criminal kind). You can't be tried to the same crime twice. Jesus already paid the penalty for your crimes so there is no more trial or punishment.

2. The word of your testimony. The only way for Jesus' blood to take effect in your life is for you to make Him your Lord and Savior. If you can say "Jesus is my Lord" and mean it in your heart, then that is your testimony.

He paid the price, you took the deal. That's overcoming. You can now ignore the taunts of the enemy telling you you are no good and don't deserve God's love. We already know that - but He gave us His love anyway.

No matter what odds are stacked against you, you can rise above them because you are clean and loved and accepted by God who is much more powerful than any accusation brought against His children.

Pastor Tom

Feel Condemned?

Do you have a hard time recovering from sin? I'm talking to those of us who know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. If you don't know him you will never be able to recover from sin - sin being anything that is outside the character of God.

But if you do know him, do you find yourself often feeling under the pile when you fail?

I just want to share some comforting words from the Apostle John: 1 John 3:19 "By this we shall know we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything."

What does God know? He knows that you will fail. But He also knows that your failures have been paid for the blood of His Son Jesus. He also knows that He is in the process of changing you from the inside out. That process does not happen immediately, and often our life in Him is a series of failures, followed by discipline, followed by Holy Spirit empowered change of character.

When we find ourselves not able to accept the fact that God has forgiven us we need to go back to this verse and let Him reassure us that we are no longer condemned - ever. Accept this as truth and move on towards letting God make you more like Him!

Pastor Tom

Cleverly Devised Fables

It's sad to say that many people believe the Bible was written by men and not by God. I remember a recent Discovery Channel special on the flood of Noah. One conclusion the producers came to is that rabbis made up the story of the flood in order to keep unruly people in tow by proclaiming the judgment of God on the unrighteous.

Some also do not believe that Jesus Christ was a real person, or if He was real He was just an historical figure, but not a messiah or anything like that.

In a court of law what is the most important type of evidence? It is an eye witness. "I saw him shoot that guy!" So too in choosing whether to believe the Bible and Jesus Christ as the Son of God we need eye witnesses. We have them.

1 Peter 1:16 "For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty."

And: 1John 1:1 "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life ... that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you."

Both Peter and John saw Jesus, they witnessed His miracles, they heard His Words, they saw Him die, and also saw Him alive again and taken up into heaven. They didn't have to make anything up; God came down and gave it to them in person, then through His Holy Spirit gave them words to write down for us.

When someone puts doubt in your mind about the Bible or Jesus, just remember these verses and the men who later gave their lives to testify to its truth.

Pastor Tom

Why Stop Sinning?

Peter was a very practical person. His writings of 1st and 2nd Peter bear this out. They are filled with advice for workers and taxpayers and those who undergo the everyday stress of life.

Read through the first 3 chapters of Peter and you get the idea that Peter wants us to live a life that reflects the character of God in a world that reflects none of it, even if that means suffering unjustly.

Then in chapter 4 he takes an interesting direction. He says "Since, therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God."

I think we take our character way too lightly. We think that since we have been forgiven we can basically do anything we want. We don't realize that our flesh continually wars against us, trying to get us to give in to its desires. Reflecting God's character is a way for us to shine the light of God's forgiveness to a dying world. Can you do this on your own? Of course not. You need the power of God's Spirit in you to change you.

But what I really wanted to point out was a "why" that we should focus on a godly character. Look at verse 7:

"The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers."

Isn't that interesting? It seems that the more we pay attention to living life in the Spirit and not the flesh, paying attention to our character, it affects what we pray and how we pray and even the effectiveness of our prayers.

Do you want to make a difference in this world for Jesus? Focus on your life, and Peter has some great ways of doing that, so that you will know how to pray and that your prayers will be just that more effective.

Pastor Tom

Getting Help

All of us at one time or another need help. Recently climbers on Mount Hood in Oregon became trapped and one of them called on a cell phone for help. Unfortunately for them the weather kept searchers, and rescue, away for days. You may be in some sort of need, not as serious as being trapped on a mountain in winter, but perhaps your need is your health, or a family member who is sick. How do you get help?

Maybe your need is financial. You've lost your job and the bills are piling up. Maybe your need is emotional as relationships have broken and you don't know how to fix them. Perhaps your need is more spiritual. You feel rotten about yourself and your life and you just want to end all the pain once and for all.

The word for you today is good, my friend. Help is closer than a cell phone call and I guarantee that this Helper cannot be foiled by high winds and snow. There is no condition He cannot heal, no bind He cannot undo and no relationship He cannot heal.

But there is something you must do. You must make the call. You must make the effort. You must reach out and you'll find that this help is closer than you might have imagined.

Hebrews 4:1 "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Help is as close as your next breath, if with that breath you proclaim that you are falling on God's grace - receiving a gift of new life that you do not deserve. Normally when you drew near to a king's throne you could find yourself killed. Kings were not known for grace and mercy. But the King of Kings is.

Normally when you approach a monarch they are demanding something of you. But the head of all monarchs offers to help you instead. Don't stay away. Don't crawl into a snow cave in your life and shut out everything hoping that it'll all go away. No - come boldly before God's throne of mercy and grace to find help when you need it most.

Pastor Tom

Always Studying, Never Learning

Are you on a search for truth? Many people are these days. Spirituality is on the rise as people realize there is more to life than working our tails off to get more stuff. For some, the journey to find spiritual truth is like getting on a treadmill. You search all the world's religions, and even search through the Bible, trying to make sense of it all, but you can't. It seems that something stands in the way.

The Apostle Paul recognized this state when he described some people to a young pastor named Timothy:

2 Timothy 3:7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

If you have studied the Bible, even for many years and with a doctorate, but still can't find the truth, the problem may not be in your head, but in your heart. You see, our rational, finite human minds cannot fully conceive of an infinite God. He appears irrational to us and so we reject what He says.

"It's just too simple!" we say.

I think the problem may lie in the fact that we want to be masters of our destiny. If we can't understand something then it cannot be true because we are really the center of our universe.

I suggest that your heart, your will really, needs to let go and let God do the work of bringing truth to your life. You can't get enough knowledge to know it all, or even to understand God fully. But you can let His Word bypass your head and go into your heart.

2 Timothy 1:8-9 God, 9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

For whatever reason, God has done all the work. Invite Him into your heart by changing your mind about your condition, admitting that you have fallen short, then grasping onto the free gift of new life that God gave through His Son Jesus.

Then God will begin to speak to both your heart and your mind!

Pastor Tom

Demons are teachers too

1 Timothy 4:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. NIV

Did you know that demons can teach the word of God too? They can. They know the Bible better than you do. And they are in a campaign designed to draw people off from the truth of the Bible into doctrines that they make up.

And in some ways it is more subtle than you might think. We suppose that a demon-doctrine would be all about pleasure and sin and blaspheming God. But when a demon teaches falsehood it is cloaked in the truth.

Look at what Paul says about those doctrines:

1 Timothy 4:3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth."
NIV

Doesn't Paul himself say that if God gives them the gift they should stay unmarried? (1 Corinthians 7:8) And doesn't the Bible forbid the eating of certain foods in the Old Testament? Yes to both questions.

What is so diabolical about demonic doctrine is that it is not 180 out of phase with the truth, but only a few degrees. If you steer a ship a few degrees off from your destination in the end you will be way off the mark. That's how it is with demonic teaching. It reflects a partial truth of God and in the process obscures the full truth - that is that all the Bible is focused on Jesus Christ. We marry him when we become part of His body, and it is in Him that foods are no longer forbidden because it is our hearts that are changed into His image. We then have the freedom to abstain from foods if it helps someone else find Jesus as well (1 Corinthians 8:13).

So how do we tell the difference? Ask yourself - how does this doctrine reflect on the person of Jesus and His gospel. That'll help you steer clear of demon teachers.

Pastor Tom

Is What Paul Wrote The Word of God?

I've talked to more than a few people who think that the Bible is simply a bunch of stuff men wrote down, or at best some of the Bible was actually God speaking to man but not all of it. Some even think that because of the hard things he had to say, that what Paul in particular wrote is not inspired.

I beg to differ on that point. Paul was an Apostle. He met the resurrected Lord Jesus in person, was called by Him for the task of being an Apostle and performed many miracles in support of that ministry.

Further, what Paul wrote down in the letters that make up much of the New Testament is in fact God speaking to men and women.

Consider this verse: 1 Thessalonians 2:13 "And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in your believers."

Rest assured that the Holy Spirit did speak through Paul. If you have a hard time understanding what he said, dig deeper and pray more and seek good teaching on Pauline doctrine. You'll find that you may have misunderstood some things while others you need to hear, but just haven't opened up your heart enough for God to speak to you.

Pastor Tom

Put it Away

Ephesians 4:31 "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. :32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

I don't know about you, but this verse is pretty hard hitting. How often when we feel wronged do we let all of these exact feelings take control of our minds and actions? In a way there is a process here. We are offended and so we feel bitter, then judgmental, then we get angry and start saying things, wishing things, and perhaps even doing things with the aim to hurt that person who we think hurt us.

My challenge for myself and for all of us today is to instead of letting those emotions control us, let God's love control us. Did God feel wrathful to you who have accepted His free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ? No. So instead of having a hardened heart towards that brother or sister, have a tender heart and forgive them.

You may not get satisfaction for the supposed wrong, but then again, did God for yours?

Pastor Tom

"Let he who is without sin ..."

Let me say something first before giving you today's scripture: sin is bad, sin is evil, sin is anything that does not reflect the character of God. I don't like sin because I like God and I want to be like Him. God made a way for me to be like Him by sending His Son to die in my place and give me His Spirit to transform me into His image.

That being said, I also realize I live in a fallen world that doesn't want me to be like God. I also have a flesh, or "old man," as the Bible calls it, that also doesn't want me to be like God and tempts me to do things that are sinful. We should also mention that we have a powerful enemy who also works night and day to get us to do things that aren't like God so we will be ineffective for Him.

I use that as a backdrop because the verse I am sharing today might be mistaken for a view that is soft on sin. I'm not.

Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness."

Unfortunately, the way many of us act in the church today that verse might read "if anyone is caught in any transgression shoot first and ask questions later!" We are so focused on sin's badness that we don't take into the consideration the weakness that leads up to it and, more importantly, God's ultimate plan to restore, not ruin, the sinner.

I can't tell you the number of people I know who stay away from church because they feel their failures will be counted against them and they will be shunned instead of supported. Now I'm not talking about the arrogant person who sins and is proud of it and wants everyone he or she meets to sin as well. I've run into those people too and I don't welcome them into the church (if they claim to be Christians). I'm talking about the person who knows they have sinned and needs to be built up and encouraged, not shot down and judged.

For the pre-Christian we need to focus on the free of God through Jesus to cleanse us and make us like God. For the Christian we need to focus on the continual mercy and grace of God and the transforming power that will see even their sins and weaknesses used in the process of maturing them.

Pastor Tom

Comic Relief

I love this little verse in 2 Corinthians 9: "for God loves a cheerful giver." That word "cheerful" comes from a word that means "hilarious." I love that. God loves a person who gives, not grudgingly, not sparingly, not tentatively, but with hilarity!

Is that how you feel when the offering plate comes around? Does it feel like a huge magnet is holding your money in your wallet and it takes everything you have to pry it loose? Giving is actually a sign of maturity in the believer. Though there is no law of tithing in the New Testament, there is a principal of tithing.

Jesus fulfilled the entire Law and then put that law into our hearts. So instead of an external rule to give, Jesus has made it a part of who we are to give to His work.

And to those who think deep in their hearts that if they give to God He will pour out material blessings on their life I would say to read on in 2 Corinthians 9. The focus of this part of the chapter is giving so that God will supply to you the ability to give more!

I conclude with verse 10: "He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed" why? "for sowing and increase the harvest" of what? "of your righteousness."

See, God wants us to freely give ourselves and our possessions to Him so that He can freely give His character to us. I think that's a great bargain.

Pastor Tom

You Can Do Anything You Like

The Apostle Paul said "All things are lawful." And its true. For the person who has given their life to Jesus Christ and freed from the bondage of sin everything is okay.

"Okay," you ask, "what's the catch?" Paul goes on in that verse (1 Corinthians 10:23) to say "but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up."

The "catch" is two fold. You can do anything as long as it brings glory to God (look at verse 31). In other words if you do something that reflects God's character then go for it! If you find yourself doing things that God wouldn't do then you need to look carefully at that thing and decide if a redeemed person should really do it.

The other "catch" is this: will your actions bring others closer to God or push them further away? That was what was going on in Corinth. The people were taking their freedom and flaunting it in front of people who had sacrificed meat to demon idols. This caused them to doubt whether Jesus was really God and got confused about the whole salvation thing.

Listen to what Paul says in 8:9 "But take care that this right of yours does not become a stumbling block to the weak."

Paul, and we, have a right to do anything that brings glory to God. All foods are given by God to be enjoyed, Paul says, and if we eat something or if we don't it won't affect whether we bring God glory - except if by eating we cause someone else to stumble in their faith. This can be applied to a lot of things.

Paul says in 9:19 "For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them."

Food for thought.

Pastor Tom