Faithfulness in Little Things

"And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." Colossians 3:17

This morning, I have to admit that I was not looking forward to another work week.  Is it Monday already?  Then I read this week's message from Pastor Zac Poonen on faithfulness in small things. 

And as I was reading Genesis 30, again the same message was reiterated.  Jacob worked hard and faithfully for his uncle Laban, even though Laban was an unrighteous idolator.  Yet, Jacob was confident that his industrious nature would make provision for him in spite of Laban's trickery (Genesis 30:33).  The Laban's of the world will not prevail for God sees all (Genesis 31:6-12).

Everything we do is an opportunity for ministry.  An opportunity to be used by God as a light unto others.  An opportunity to better understand the heart of a servant, the meaning of obedience, and the importance of diligence.

May you start off this week with a Godly attitude of gratitude, determining to do all to the glory of God (including our secular jobs); showing ourselves faithful, even in little things. 

God Looks For Faithfulness In Little Things

In 1 Kings 19:19-21 we read of Elijah calling Elisha.

Elisha was working hard in the fields with his oxen, when Elijah called him.

Notice first of all, that God always calls those who are working hard and faithful in their secular occupations. Moses was faithfully looking after his father-in-law’s sheep when God called him. David was looking after sheep and fighting with lions and bears. Amos was a hardworking herdsman. Peter, James, John and Andrew were hardworking fishermen. Matthew was sitting at the table working on his accounts. We never see, anywhere in the Old Testament or the New Testament, that God called a lazy man for his service.

We don’t find Elijah going to Elisha’s house when he was fast asleep and calling him there - because we would have thought he was a lazy man. Jesus also never went to Peter’s house in the evening to call him. He called him when he was fishing.

All these examples show us that God wants us to be faithful and hardworking in our secular jobs, before He can call us to serve Him. If you are not faithful in earthly matters, how can you be faithful in heavenly matters? If you are young and still living at home, then be a faithful son or daughter at home.

Notice secondly, that all these men dropped everything and went, as soon as God called them. We see that in Peter, John and Matthew and also here with Elisha. God calls those who will respond to His call immediately and wholeheartedly. They may seek to confirm God’s call on their lives with godly people in order to be certain that they are not acting on their own emotional feelings. But once they are sure, they act quickly. God can use only such people to serve Him, because His service requires instant obedience, total commitment and hard work.

So God tests us in our secular occupations, to see whether we are faithful. If you are asked to clean a room and you are careless about the way you do it, or you are slipshod about it, I doubt if God will ever call you to serve Him. Because, if that’s the way you clean up a room that will probably be the way you clean up your heart as well. How then can God use you to clean up His church?

It is faithfulness in the little things that God looks for.

The Fundamentals of Fundamentalism

"These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.  They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.  And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me." John 16:1-3

The following article is from the Lighthouse Trails Research Group on the recent attacks by Norwegian Anders Berhring Breeivik.

Lighthouse Trails wishes to express our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims of the Norway shootings and bombing.

The man who committed the atrocities on Friday, July 22, 2011 in Norway is being called a “Christian fundamentalist,” and already, stories are hitting the mainstream media telling the world to look out for Christian fundamentalists. Frank Schaeffer, son of theologian Francis Schaeffer, has likened the Norway killer to those who oppose abortion in his article on Saturday titled "Christian Jihad? Why We Should Worry About Right-Wing Terror Attacks Like Norway’s in the US,"  saying “the terror unleashed on Norway” is “the sort of white, Christian, far right terror America can expect more of.”

But is the Norway killer a fundamentalist Christian (someone who follows the fundamental teachings of the Bible)? The answer to this is a resounding no, for there are no teachings in the Bible that would condone these merciless acts of violence. The killer of over 90 people in Norway cannot claim the name of “Christian” regardless of what he or the media say.

We know that many in the world will now blame “Christian fundamentalism” on this act in Norway. In time, and escalated because of these types of violent acts driven by demonic forces, Bible believing Christians will be told they can no longer say Jesus Christ is the only way to God. It will be a hate crime. As was the case  in the 911 terrorist attack in 2001, the Norway shootings will be used to further the progress of a one-world unified religion that will have no place for the Bible-believing Christian.

In 2006, Rick Warren helped set the tone for animosity and marginalization against Bible-believing Christians (Fundamentalists) when he stated  that fundamentalism will be “one of the big enemies of the 21st century. . . . Muslim fundamentalism, Christian fundamentalism, Jewish fundamentalism, secular fundamentalism – they’re all motivated by fear. Fear of each other.’”1 Less than a year earlier, he defined what he means by Christian fundamentalism when he spoke at the Pew Forum on Religion and said:

Today there really aren’t that many Fundamentalists left; I don’t know if you know that or not, but they are such a minority; there aren’t that many Fundamentalists left in America … Now the word ‘fundamentalist’ actually comes from a document in the 1920s called the Five Fundamentals of the Faith. And it is a very legalistic, narrow view of Christianity. Quote by Rick Warren, May 2005

The fundamentals of the Christian faith include things like the deity of Jesus Christ, the blood atonement, and the inerrancy of Scripture. It is a sad day when the world, the media, and “America’s pastor” think Christian fundamentalism is an enemy and a threat in the way they mean. The Christian fundamentals are the Gospel. One following these fundamentals will care about the souls of the unsaved that they might be saved through faith in Jesus Christ. A true Christian fundamentalist remembers the words of Scripture: “[t]he Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (II Peter 3:9).2 In truth, according to 1 John, love is meant to be the motivating factor in sharing the Gospel.  Obviously, Anders Behring Breivik did not have love or the salvation of the people he killed in mind on Friday.

Many people, when trying to discredit Christian fundamentalists, refer to the Inquisitions; but it was the Christian fundamentalists who were being murdered during Inquisitions (by the Catholic church) – not the other way around. On Anders Behring Breivik’s blog, according to one article,  he stated: “Today’s Protestant church is a joke. . . . I am a supporter of an indirect collective conversion of the Protestant church back to the Catholic.”1 So like the ancient Inquisitioners, Anders Behring Breivik, a fundamentalist of his own making, is opposed to Christian fundamentalists and certainly cannot be labeled as one himself. The acts of violence he committed are not that of a Christian fundamentalist but rather that of a religious tyrannist, which is the spirit of antichrist.

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. [the Gospel] 1 John 4:8-9

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. 1 John 2: 18

Below, we have posted two articles for further thought and consideration:

Article #1:
“Norway Bombing: Attacker, Shooter Anders Behring Breivik a Christian?”
By Jeff Schapiro
The Christian Post

One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100 000 who have only interests,” is the only post on the Twitter account of Anders Behring Breivik, the man who has been arrested as the possible culprit of Friday’s bombing in Oslo, Norway, and for opening fire on a nearby youth camp. The tweet was inspired by a quote by the British philosopher John Stuart Mill.

So far, 92 deaths have been reported, 85 of which were from the youth camp rampage, but the total number may increase as the day wears on. . . .

OnlineSocialMedia.net reports that on Breivik’s Facebook page he listed his interests as body building, hunting, freemasonry, stock analysis and the Modern Warfare 2 video game. Breivik said he had completed “3,000 hours of study in micro and macro finance, religion,” and describes himself as being both Christian and conservative. . . . .

Larry Keffer of the Biblical Research Center and Norwegian evangelist Petar Keseljevic spoke to The Christian Poston Saturday about the attacks and about Breivik. . . . Keffer warns that people should not think that just because Breivik says he is a Christian that he actually is one.

“When I was out in Norway,” he said, “the people there thought they were Christian because they were Norwegian.” Many people in the so-called “Christian nation,” he says, claim the faith but haven’t necessarily been genuinely converted.

“A true Christian would not go and … shoot people in a camp or blow up buildings,” he said. “That’s not what a Christian does. So just because a man claims to be a Christian, or even believes that he is a Christian, does not necessarily make him so.”

“The Bible says that ‘you know them by their fruit.’” Click here to continue reading.

Note: In another Christian Post article, it states that Anders Behring Breivik said: “Today’s Protestant church is a joke. Priests in jeans who march for Palestine and churches that look like minimalist shopping centres. I am a supporter of an indirect collective conversion of the Protestant church back to the Catholic.”1

Article #2:
“Is Christianity the Reason the World is in Trouble?”
by Roger Oakland

As the world continues to plunge into further darkness and despair, emerging church leaders say it is the church’s fault, particularly that of rigid Christians who won’t bend their beliefs or convictions. While Christians certainly are not without sin, true believers are not causing the world to fall apart. It is happening for one reason alone … man’s sinful condition. We are each responsible for the sin in our own lives. The Bible is clear that the penalty for sin is death. We all, each and every one of us, have had a death sentence meted out to us. But we have also been offered a free gift of salvation.

As Christians, God expects us to reach out to those suffering and in need. When Jesus dwells in a human being, He convicts and He communes with that individual. He has saved us from destruction, and He desires to live in us and fellowship with us. And He compels us to live righteously and care about those less fortunate than ourselves.

The world is in trouble because of sin. And Jesus commissioned us as believers to go out into the world and preach the wonderful Good News of His free gift of salvation to all who come to Him by faith. Satan hates this Gospel message, and he hates the messenger, the church. Is it any wonder that as this new, self-deifying reformation takes form, its followers will grow increasingly hostile to those who preach the biblical Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Ironically, the emerging church, who says its main goal is to help the suffering and to help eradicate the world’s problems, is not pointing the world to Jesus Christ and His body. Rather it is rejecting the atonement, locking arms with a religion (Catholicism) that teaches we are justified by works rather than by grace alone, embracing mystical practices and altered states of consciousness, and pulling these suffering lost souls further and further away from the only thing that will ever help them—a personal one-on-one relationship with Jesus Christ, who explains very clearly who He is:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. (John 10:7-11) (from Faith Undone, chapter 13)

The Devolution of Man

The Process of Reprobation and God's Longsuffering

We have a couple of college students staying with us this summer, and I was speaking to one of them last week about how Romans Chapter 1 outlines the devolution of man.

Apart from God, man decays; starting with ingratitude -> leading to a wisdom which is dark & empty -> the worship of created things (idolatry) -> fornication -> homosexuality -> reprobation.  This is the path that every single person on earth is set upon outside of God.

The truth of the matter is that in the fallen state, every single man and woman on the earth is being forged into the image of a sodomite, and then - if not repented of - on to reprobation. 

Are you ungrateful towards God, mumbling and complaining against Him, even so far as denying His very existence?  That is the evidence that you are a sodomite at heart.  Does your "wisdom" allow you to justify and condone what He says is forbidden and abominable?  Such is the evidence that you have the heart of a sodomite.  Are you participating in sexual sin, pornography, fornication?  These are the acts of a sodomite. Again, the acts might vary based on how far you have devolved towards reprobation, but the spirit behind it is the same.

Why do we see homosexuality becoming more accepted and promoted?  Because God is making manifest what is in the heart of (fallen) man. It is not about the "acts" man performs; the acts are merely manifestations of what is in the heart.  He is letting man see that he is but a beast.

"I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts." Ecclesiastes 3:18  

The judgment of God against all unrighteousness has already begun by God "giving man over" to his own dark and vain desires.  Even those who profess heterosexuality or Christianity can inwardly still be a sodomite, which is why many cannot acknowledge homosexuality as sin and even engage in homosexual acts with those of the opposite gender (Romans 1:32).  We can outwardly appear to be one thing, but it is what is on the inside which determines whether we truly know the Lord or not.  This is what Romans Chapter 1 depicts; unrighteousness on the inside working its way out to the outside.  All the while, God is longsuffering with us, working with us to change, to repent...until our continued rejection of Him prompts Him to finally gives us over to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:28).

I found the following video on the Truly for Jesus site this morning.  It is produced by the Edinburgh Creation Group and is entitled "A Letter to a Pagan City" which delves into how the "wrath of God" (Romans 1:18) is often poured out on a cultural level as this devolution of man progresses.

This video shows incredible footage of Edinburgh's Pagan fire festival, which draws over 12,000 people. It also features photos of a government assisted evolution museum that sells books on astrology, tarot, Feng Shui and ghosts. Phil Holden investigates the rise of Paganism in Edinburgh. Edinburgh was at the centre of the Enlightenment movement and was also the city where Charles Darwin was educated. During the Enlightenment in the 18th century, philosophers and scientists agreed that it was unreasonable to consider that God might be a cause of things. Whilst you might expect the result would be a very rational city, it seems the opposite has happened and Edinburgh appears to be one of Europe's most superstitious cities. Whatever your own perspective: Humanist, New Age, Agnostic or religious this video is worth watching.

As Phil Holden examines the rise of paganism, you will see continued references in pagan art/culture to the worship of Baal-Peor as well as the exaltation of the female principle in worship of the earth.  Unlike the authority of God - which rests in patriarchy - the authority of the fallen nature rests in that which is by nature female.  God says that He alone is God, but the fallen nature says man can himself become a god.  Such things are "anti-" Christ because they are opposite to the truths of God and seek to replace the same.

WARNING: Be advised there are disturbing images in this presentation, including footage of sexual immorality during pagan festivals. Viewer discretion is advised.