His way or the Highway.

Recently I have found that many "Christians" are dropping out of the race. One thing I have found common among most of them is the notion that "someday God will intervene" or "something spectacular will happen."

They will think of things like:

The ministry will open up, some sin will be dealt its final blow or maybe they will experience complete joy and peace. Most fall by the way side because they had some expectation that was never fulfilled.

It makes me think of the phrase “What dreams may come?” I still have no idea what is really meant by it but, it’s a sentence which can make you meditate for hours.

Every single person ever created dreams of “that someday…”

When that day never arrives or seem that it will never arrive we go into a tailspin of doubt, bitterness and anger. All these emotions becomes overwhelming and saturates our very being, until it spills over into our actions and it just can’t be contained anymore. This is when harsh things are done and said.

The root of the problem is our expectations which are influenced by our misunderstanding of what Christ has promised and how we live in a relationship with Him.

We might be convinced that God has given us some promise.To us personally or to Christians in general and we cling to it for dear life, only find that it’s the Titanic and we sink into despair.

Our hope is lost our anchors rope gets cut because we have built our faith on sand and not on Christ.

We create our own dream-world where our besetting sin is defeated once and for all, where the monster of depression is given the death blow, or the day the phones rings and you land your dream job.

Christ has won the final victory on the cross against sin, by breaking the separation that it created between man and God. He gave death its final blow when He rose from the dead.

He has poured our glasses full until overflowing.

Turning against God and tossing His word aside because we have not received what we perceived to be promised is childish and rooted in pride.

God has promised and He will deliver but, only that which he promised.

That besetting sin we struggle with is like the AA guy says, is never completely killed until you are. If you are an alcoholic you will be one until you die.

If you are inclined to lie, you will fight telling a lies for the rest of your life. If you yearn for more, greed will always stalk you. If you lust has bitten you the poison will always be in your system.

While we are in this world we will always be surrounded by temptations and temptations will always be in our hearts. We are called to run the race to persevere till the very end. Christ never said it would be easy, he never said we will have complete freedom here on earth. Sin will always eyeball us and unfortunately we will fall into its trap and often set the trap ourselves.

We are called to arms we are instructed to put it on and never take it off.

Christ has given sin it death blow and it will die within us on the day of the Lord, when He returns, in the mean time we must fight unbelief, we must admit that this how it is.

We must fight daily for our faith and Christ daily gives it to us.

Our faith must not be built on our perceived ideas of how things should be but, rather on what the Bible say they are.

Importing things in our framework of faith that is not Clearly taught in scripture is folly of the highest order.

Let us say you struggle with depression and it keeps on coming back and meds does help but, it totally messes with your emotions and it does not add to your quality of life. Somehow in a prayer meeting you get convinced that Christ promises to take that depression away but, after years you still suffer from depression. Do you still hold to that conviction or do you consider that maybe you “heard” wrong? Do you allow this belief that Christ said He will cure you overshadow your whole relationship with Him?

Let us say you struggle with lustful thoughts and pray urgently to Christ and ask that he will take it away from you, you look at scripture and see that it teaches that if you pray according to His will and in His name He will answer your prayer but, after years lust still rears its ugly little head in your life. Do you start doubting Gods promises and question your faith?

We come to the topic of unanswered prayer mingled with “does God still speak to us?”

Or is our problem more basic than that?

We must go and search for our answer not in “Airy Fairy land” but, in the “Where the tyre meets the tar land.”

Our problem started and a more basic level, we came to the Bible with an “Extra-Biblical Theology”

We had been influenced with the humanist world where everything is man centred. While God is the focus and everything revolves around Him.

We have without noticing it been influenced with worlds view of how our lives on earth should work and what the purpose of life on earth is. We have come to see the physical world as the most important thing there is while the Glory given to God is the most important thing.

Some will say our spiritual lives are the most important, which in a sure way is true but, if not explained we also fall into heresy.

Our spiritual life and our physical life are to revolve around God. How we are spiritually in our relation to God is reveal in our physical life.

So if we build our relationship with Christ on the wrong doctrine we short-circuited the relationship and everything else falls out of whack.

Then if we pull the circle even smaller, on what do we base our doctrine. This is then the most important step.

If we build our doctrine on the wrong base we will ultimately expect the wrong things from God.

A false expectation from God leads to disappointment which leads to bitterness which leads to dark side.

Christians, who lose their faith, never had real faith because they clung to wrong doctrine or recognised the right doctrine but, rejected it because it did not square with what they wanted to believe.

The basis for our faith should not be our perception of what life should be like. Our faith must not be built on our own ideas on how God should be like. If we do this we end up with a man made God which is man centred instead of God centred.

God should not be understood by what we see in the nature and then try to use that as our basis on how God is. This will be total folly. Nature even if it was perfect is not God and we are also fallible so our perception is also messed up.

So we have to find a different source to find out what God is like and how we must stand in relation with Him.

This is where the Bible comes in. In this modern age the Bible has come under severe attack. Ever since it has existed someone has tried to show the Bible as false and lacking all credibility.

Mostly this attack on the Bible has come from sceptics who don’t want to believe. Some if not most attack it because they rebel against an authority over them.

So do we abandon our create expectations?
No we don't, our expectations actually underestimates God's ability. We must come in line with what He has truly revealed and stand firm on the true Biblical promises and test our preconceived ideas to what God has already revealed.

 

Speaking in Tongues.

I have been asked to explain the phenomenon known as speaking in tongues. This is sometimes a very emotional charged subject. Christians many times find their relationship with Christ and their Christian life in general as “plain” and uneventful and the seek something more intense.

This search for a deeper spiritual life is commendable and the yearning to be “closer” to God is good but, sometimes our motive sends us into the wrong directions. We are called to grow as Christians. Our Christian growth comes through communion with God through prayer and Bible study and is cemented in by our actions.

The chase after something more than gospel reveals that we misunderstand what the gospel is. What Christ has done is sufficient nothing can be added to what He has done.

Now, let us look at the phenomenon of speaking in tongues.
Firstly let me kick off by sharing part of my journey.

I also frequented charismatic churches and groups and was attracted by what I perceived as a deeper faith. One night I answered the alter call and experience what they call “baptism with the Holy Spirit” and started praying in tongues. I loved it but, something wasn’t right for me, and only practiced it a few times.

When we investigate anything we must go to the Bible as our source.

So what does the word “tongue” mean in scripture?

When the Bible speaks about “tongues” it plainly means language, a language that is spoken and understood by people.

Genesis 10:20

“These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.”

   The best place to start looking in this study is in the book of Acts. When we study the Bible the best way to find out what the Bible teaches about a specific thing is to look at different passages and then let them help interpret each other.

Acts 2:3-6

“And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.

And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.”

If no one would have told you about speaking in tongues would you think that these were languages spoken of in Acts 2 is strange languages or would you understood that they are already existing languages? Jerusalem was filled with foreigners. These foreigners spoke different languages and God through the Holy Spirit gave the Christians in the upper room the ability to talk languages they never heard or learned before.

This gift was given to the Christians as a sign that the Holy Spirit which Jesus promised has arrived. It further indicated that the Gospel is for everyone not just for the Jew but for every “tongue” meaning every nation.

Many things have been said about the fire that descended on the Christians when they received the Holy Spirit. Let me remind you of what John the Baptist said about the coming of the Holy Spirit and Fire.

Luke 3:16

  John answered them all, saying, "I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Remember why John the Baptized people. He baptized them with water as a visible sign of people being cleansed and leaving their old life behind. The Baptizing with Holy Spirit is basically the same thing being cleansed and washed.

In the following passages it is evident that when the Bible speaks of “tongues” it is speaking of a known language and not some Angelic language. It is also not used to talk about some revelation form God.

John 5:2; Revelation 5:9; Revelation 9:11; Ezra 4:7

The gift of tongues was a declaration that the Gospel will be going out to all nations. Never is there spoken of tongue as a tongue that is not understood by someone. These “tongues” was not just strange sounds like it is claimed to be today. No, it was actual languages spoken by actual people groups. The wonder was that Christians was speaking languages they never learned. These Christians was not just saying “hi” in some strange language, they were preaching the gospel.

Act 2:9-12.

  Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome,

 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians--we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God."

 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?"    

The non-Jews also received the gift of speaking in tongues to confirm that the Gospel was also for the gentiles. The gift was not just a tool to evangelism but, a sign to confirm that all nations were welcome at the Lord table.

The sad thing is it is clear to many that the gift of speaking in tongues practiced today is not the same as what we find in the book of Acts. They recognize that many of the “speaking in tongues” is well nonsense. It’s just a whole lot of letters blustered out and none can translate it. So they claim that the there’s actually two gifts of speaking in tongues the one in Acts and the one in Corinthians.

They will explain that the one spoken about in Acts is a genuine man spoken language and the kind we find in Corinthians was something different and an interpreter was needed.

1 Corinthians 14:27-28.

Clearly in this passages it is instructed that there should be an interpreter, it is also clear that the Gospel and the evangelization of the listeners was the focus.

The reason for the speaking in tongues was so that people of all nations could hear the Gospel. It was not the bringing of a word of wisdom or some prophecy, the aim was evangelism of all nations.

Acts 10:45-47.

And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.

 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared,

 "Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?"

Now let us look at the tuff question. We have now established that the gift of speaking in tongues was an existing language.

The gift of speaking in tongues was a “sign” gift”.

Let me explain while it had a purpose namely communicating the gospel to strangers it was also a sign that things were changing.

Think of the miracles that happened in Egypt, they did not continue, they strengthen the Israelites in their faith. When they had to through the Sea before they went into the Promised Land it was a sign to them that God was still with them the same way He was with their fathers when they left Egypt.

When Jesus was on earth He preformed many signs and wonders to confirm His deity and that which He was teaching. When the apostles went out they also preformed signs and wonders confirming this new work that was done. These things were meant as evidence that they were preaching the same truth as Christ.

The sign gifts were never meant to be permanent.

The Mantra of the American Dream

Ht Frank Turk