By Teresa Seputis
Have you ever thought God was saying something to you, but you weren't sure it was really His voice you were hearing? Have you found yourself thinking, How do I know it was really God I heard and not my own imagination—or worse, the enemy?
God's solution is simple: "'If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him'" (James 1:5, NIV). When we need to know if we are hearing God's voice, all we have to do is ask Him!
We can go to God, tell Him what we think we heard Him say, and then ask Him to confirm it or correct our hearing on the matter. God wants to give us an understanding of what He says to us because He wants to communicate with us. He is eager to teach us to correctly hear His voice.
What are some steps we can take to make sure we're hearing God?
1. Put your faith in the right thing. When I was first learning to hear God's voice, I went overboard in my need to double-check my hearing. I was so afraid I might hear God wrong that I tended to check and recheck my hearing on just about everything. I became very sluggish in obeying God because I spent so much time verifying everything I heard.
My problem was that I had placed my faith in the wrong thing. I was trusting in my ability to hear God—instead of in His ability and faithfulness to speak clearly and to correct and redirect me if I heard wrong.
I used to think that "correction" was the same as "punishment." But God revamped my thinking by reminding me of my old ice skating coach.
I really liked him. He would watch me try to execute a move and then offer feedback, saying something such as: "Your weight is drifting to the left when you turn. You need to keep it balanced over your skating foot."
I knew I had just been corrected, but I wasn't put down or made to feel small or punished. The intent of the correction was to help me excel, and as I applied what he told me, my skating improved.
God told me that I should look to Him as my coach when it came to hearing His voice. He promised that He would let me know when I got something wrong and how to correct it so I could excel in following Him. Suddenly correction became something to be desired instead of something to be feared, and I found out just how faithful and committed God is to the process of teaching us to hear Him.
2. Look for scriptural precedents. It is wise to get into the habit of checking what God says to us against Scripture. God will not say something to us that contradicts what the Bible says. There will be certain "words" we can eliminate immediately as "not from God" when we line them up against what God has already said in the Bible.
At the same time, there are many areas that the Bible does not address explicitly. Still, God is often willing to give us a scriptural precedent for what He says to us. For instance, imagine that you are trying to decide which of two job offers God wants you to accept. You believe He is telling you to take job offer No. 2, one that will put you in contact with hurting people to whom you can minister. But job offer No. 2 is a much lower-paying job than job offer No. 1, so you want to be sure you are hearing God.
You ask Him for a confirmation, and as you're considering your decision, God directs your attention to Matthew 9:12-13: "'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick....For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'" Those words come alive to you, and you realize that you have just received the confirmation you need to take the second job. God will often use such scriptural precedents to help confirm His communication to us.
3. Don't fleece God. We must not give God an ultimatum about how He is to confirm His word to us. That's called "putting a fleece before the Lord," and it refers to the experience of Gideon found in Judges 6:36-40.
God wanted Gideon to lead Israel in battle against the Midianites, but Gideon was not feeling very confident in his calling—or in his hearing from God. So he laid a fleece (a sheepskin) on the floor and asked God to make the morning dew come only on the fleece, and not on the ground around the fleece. God did this for him, but poor Gideon was still unconvinced. The next night he asked God to reconfirm His word by covering the ground with dew but leaving the fleece dry. Once again, God did as Gideon requested.
Based on this passage, some people assume that they can tell God precisely how to confirm or correct what they believe they have heard Him say to them. In essence, they believe they can dictate the "supernatural hoops" through which God must jump to prove He really said what they believe they heard.
God allowed Gideon to fleece Him, but there is no indication that He was setting a precedent for the rest of us to follow. In fact, there is a strong scriptural precedent against telling God specifically what to do.
Jesus Himself refused Satan's suggestion to put a fleece before God by casting Himself off the highest point of the temple. Instead, Jesus said, "'Do not put the Lord your God to the test'" (Matt. 4:7).
When we go back to God for confirmation, we need to allow Him to choose how He will correct or confirm what we heard. It is not our place to dictate how He does this. Instead, we must trust that He will do it in a way that we can clearly recognize as being from Him.
4. Avoid making assumptions. When hearing God's voice, we need to be very careful about making assumptions. God can speak to us very clearly, and we can hear Him accurately.
But we can still go wrong by making an assumption about what God means by what He says, only to discover later that we heard God but didn't understand Him. We have to be very careful not to put words in God's mouth.
Let me give you an example of how this can happen. A close friend of mine had been praying for some time about a deep and painful rift in her relationship with her sister. Then she received a prophetic word from a lady who seemed to really hear from God.
The word had to do with the restoration of a broken relationship in my friend's life. However, the lady proceeded to assume that the relationship in question was between my friend and her husband, and she began to minister to my friend about her marriage (which was, in reality, rock solid).
The prophet had received a very keen word from God about my friend's situation, but the power of that word was almost lost when she assumed the relationship involved was with a spouse. This is an example of how we can accurately hear from God and then make assumptions that mislead others and us. We want to be careful to avoid doing that!
5. Recognize areas of "hearing loss." We need to remember that there are certain areas of our lives in which our hearing is likely to be less accurate. It is more difficult to hear God clearly in areas where we have "big stakes" in the answer, where our hearts are tremendously engaged or where we know we have a history of hearing wrong. We must double-check these areas and ask God to confirm what we've heard.
Here's an example. A friend of mine who hears God pretty well in most areas of her life recently went through a divorce. After a "recovery period" of a few months, she met a single man who seemed to be everything she wanted in a husband. She thought she began to hear God speaking to her about this man, telling her that indeed he was the man He had for her.
I strongly suspected that this was her own heart speaking, not God, and I tried to find a gentle way to tell her this. But she thought God was saying more and more detailed things to her. She thought she heard Him tell her that her Christmas present from this man would be an engagement ring, with the wedding following shortly after that.
She was so sure she was hearing God's voice! But December came and went, and she didn't receive any Christmas present from this man—much less an engagement ring. Later he told her that he considered her no more than a casual friend.
She was devastated not only because the man was not interested in her but also because she had been so wrong in hearing God. She had failed to recognize her own heart imitating God's voice to her. She didn't double-check her hearing with God, because she so desperately wanted to hear what she thought she heard.
6. Be ready to obey. Once we hear God, it's important that we obey what we hear. There are two kinds of obedience: cheap obedience, which is obeying when the stakes are not very high or when it doesn't cost us much to obey; and expensive obedience, which is obeying when significant consequences are involved. The job decision mentioned earlier is an example of expensive obedience because it involved a choice between a low-paying job and a higher-paying one.
But money doesn't have to be the issue. For example, if you believe God is telling you to terminate a relationship because it's unhealthy, that is expensive obedience; if you've heard wrong, you put a relationship that is important to you at risk. You want to be sure you have heard from God before you do something that could require expensive obedience.
On the other hand, if the obedience required is low cost or low risk, then you should always and instantly obey. It may very well be God speaking to you, and you want to be in the habit of obeying God instantly rather than spending a great deal of time double-checking with Him first.
God understands that it can be frightening for us as we begin venturing out in hearing and obeying Him. He knows we need confirmation from Him to be sure we have really heard Him correctly. But God is not only willing—He is also eager to meet us and teach us to hear His voice. All we have to do is ask.
Teresa Seputis is an ordained minister and founder of GodSpeak International, a nonprofit missions and equipping agency dedicated to making disciples. She is the author of How to Hear the Voice of God in a Noisy World (Charisma House), from which this article was adapted.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The New Evangelical Movement
By Sam RodrÃguez
21st-century agenda must include reconciling transgenerational differences.
The decision by California’s Supreme Court to strike down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage revealed more than judicial activism run amok. Besides usurping the majority’s will, it exposed what is present even in the evangelical church: the differences of opinion between Millennials (those born after 1980) and previous generations on many cultural issues. Current surveys related to the evangelical community all exhibit a division based on one simple factor: age.
Warren Beemer, president of Third Day Generation Youth Network, confirms the ideological divide: “Many young people in the evangelical community between 13 and 25 years of age see same-sex marriage as a civil rights issue and not as a moral issue. From Will and Grace to Madonna and Britney’s kiss to A Shot at [Love With Tila] Tequila—an MTV program about a bisexual woman finding her love partner—[it] all speaks to the deliberate attempt to change the hearts and minds of an entire generation.”
Hollywood isn’t the only propagandist targeting the younger generation. Public education in California, for example, teaches students that the rights sought by gays and lesbians are equivalent to African-Americans’ struggle for civil rights. “Leaders such as Niger Innis from the Congress of Racial Equality, one of the nation’s oldest civil rights organizations, repudiate the notion,” says Bob Adams of the Alliance For Marriage. “How one can equate over 200 years of slavery ... to the legalization of a sexual act in the privacy of one’s bedroom is beyond me.”
Other issues similarly expose the generational differences. Though most evangelicals 35 and older regard sanctity of life and traditional marriage as bedrocks for the community, younger evangelicals include alleviating poverty and tackling global warming as integral parts of the evangelical 21st-century agenda. Does this mean the end of the movement as a sociopolitical presence in America? Or do the differences signal the emergence of a new movement with a broader coalition and a distinct DNA?
“We’re at a crossroad where we can either split or understand the importance of our core values and build a broader coalition,” says Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty University School of Law. “The signs are actually promising to recapture the evangelical base, but it’s about transgenerational communication. ... Without abandoning our core values on marriage and life, we can appreciate the fact that the gospel encompasses ... the poor, aging and God’s creation itself.”
Undoubtedly, America still needs an evangelical movement that will serve as a firewall to the egregious usurpers of our core values. Yet unlike past alliances, we must truly represent the mosaic of God’s church in America.
To build such a firewall to thwart the viruses, Trojans and invaders we have today, the new evangelical movement needs to reconcile the kingdom salvation message of Billy Graham with the social-justice transformational spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. We can win the next generation and launch a new Jesus movement if we defend traditional marriage and simultaneously repudiate homophobia, stand up for life, address poverty, preach the gospel of salvation and incorporate biblical stewardship of God’s creation. It cannot be “either-or”; it must be “both-and.” Only a multiethnic, transgenerational, biblically committed coalition can push back on Satan’s charge in our nation.
21st-century agenda must include reconciling transgenerational differences.
The decision by California’s Supreme Court to strike down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage revealed more than judicial activism run amok. Besides usurping the majority’s will, it exposed what is present even in the evangelical church: the differences of opinion between Millennials (those born after 1980) and previous generations on many cultural issues. Current surveys related to the evangelical community all exhibit a division based on one simple factor: age.
Warren Beemer, president of Third Day Generation Youth Network, confirms the ideological divide: “Many young people in the evangelical community between 13 and 25 years of age see same-sex marriage as a civil rights issue and not as a moral issue. From Will and Grace to Madonna and Britney’s kiss to A Shot at [Love With Tila] Tequila—an MTV program about a bisexual woman finding her love partner—[it] all speaks to the deliberate attempt to change the hearts and minds of an entire generation.”
Hollywood isn’t the only propagandist targeting the younger generation. Public education in California, for example, teaches students that the rights sought by gays and lesbians are equivalent to African-Americans’ struggle for civil rights. “Leaders such as Niger Innis from the Congress of Racial Equality, one of the nation’s oldest civil rights organizations, repudiate the notion,” says Bob Adams of the Alliance For Marriage. “How one can equate over 200 years of slavery ... to the legalization of a sexual act in the privacy of one’s bedroom is beyond me.”
Other issues similarly expose the generational differences. Though most evangelicals 35 and older regard sanctity of life and traditional marriage as bedrocks for the community, younger evangelicals include alleviating poverty and tackling global warming as integral parts of the evangelical 21st-century agenda. Does this mean the end of the movement as a sociopolitical presence in America? Or do the differences signal the emergence of a new movement with a broader coalition and a distinct DNA?
“We’re at a crossroad where we can either split or understand the importance of our core values and build a broader coalition,” says Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty University School of Law. “The signs are actually promising to recapture the evangelical base, but it’s about transgenerational communication. ... Without abandoning our core values on marriage and life, we can appreciate the fact that the gospel encompasses ... the poor, aging and God’s creation itself.”
Undoubtedly, America still needs an evangelical movement that will serve as a firewall to the egregious usurpers of our core values. Yet unlike past alliances, we must truly represent the mosaic of God’s church in America.
To build such a firewall to thwart the viruses, Trojans and invaders we have today, the new evangelical movement needs to reconcile the kingdom salvation message of Billy Graham with the social-justice transformational spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. We can win the next generation and launch a new Jesus movement if we defend traditional marriage and simultaneously repudiate homophobia, stand up for life, address poverty, preach the gospel of salvation and incorporate biblical stewardship of God’s creation. It cannot be “either-or”; it must be “both-and.” Only a multiethnic, transgenerational, biblically committed coalition can push back on Satan’s charge in our nation.
A Passion Deficiency
By Jack Hayford
Whether books, technology or copycat strategies, there’s no substitute for divine discontent.
Leaders in the present North American church are being programmed into a fixation on the notion that what we all need to succeed is to somehow find "a better mousetrap." The mind-set produces a relentless quest that pursues endless avenues, such as scouring Internet Web sites, plowing through leadership material and highlighting slogans in the latest corporate motivational book, near-frantic idea/program-hunting visits to high-visibility churches, labored analyzing of contemporary culture and local demographics and diligently processing "makeovers" on everything from the church's platform arrangement to its parking lot signage.
I have no direct opposition to such sincerely sought, purely motivated quests. However, the majority of the time, they at best prove only temporarily useful, and far too often end in providing little more than a cosmetic for a much deeper need. In short, neither durable change nor spiritual dynamic are likely to ever be gained via the labored means of human ingenuity.
Efforts at finding and doing something beget inevitable weariness with having tried so hard and gaining so little. And a lot of pastors find a net result reading, "disillusionment," and sometimes, "despair."
Naturally, I do believe organization, plans, administration and programs are necessary to lead with wisdom and fruitfulness. But, to be frank, I'm becoming less patient these days with the passivity shown toward what I think is most needed by the majority of thinking leaders today: passion (1) in our personal worship of God (then, in the way we lead the flock to do the same); and passion (2) in pursuing an abiding fullness of His Spirit in our lives (then, in wisely drawing everyone in the congregation toward the same experience).
I will never defend wild-eyed fanaticism. Nor am I arguing for passion as, for example, a license to a carnal indulgence of anger when things don't happen fast enough. My plea is not to give place to the shallow, selfish pushiness of self-will erupting or manipulating to "get things my way—now!"
To argue for passion is not to indulge in a proposition that patience is supplanted, and impatience given a throne in your values or mine. But I have found a law of diminishing return where that order of patience is exercised that becomes so placid, so cooled, so bound by reserve that the status quo is never confronted. Whenever I find myself caving in to difficulties instead of opening to new dimensions of God's grace, I need passion, not patience.
Whenever I find I'm surrendering to the situation instead of making a new surrender to God, I need passion, not patience.
I'm wanting to discern and overcome that so-called "patience" that submits to the subtlety of human fear, doubt, passivity or pride—that lying voice that whispers: "Don't get too excited about God or expect too much of Him. Tough it out. Be patient." Because, in fact, the Bible reveals there are times when a divine discontent needs to motivate me—not a patient passivity.
It is passion, not patience, that moved Jesus through Gethsemane's ordeal and paved the way to Calvary (see Luke 22:39-46).
It is passion, not patience, that brought spiritual breakthrough when effort was made to silence the church (see Acts 4:23-31).
It is passion, not patience, that brought Paul to discover grace sufficient for the satanic battle he was waging (see 2 Cor. 12:7-10).
These Bible examples are a prompting to us all to open the doorway to relive those days when the disciples passionately waited on God for the Holy Spirit.
Let me encourage you: Whatever you are going through or whatever your personal challenge, whatever your family trials or whatever your economic circumstances, whatever your physical pain or whatever your wearied soul's tiredness, let us partner together to passionately pursue this principle: If with all your heart you truly seek Him, you will find Him.
That is an order of wholeheartedness that is at the core of our Lord Jesus' desire to ignite our hearts with the flame of heaven's passion and love: "'He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire'" (emphasis mine; Luke 3:16, KJV).
Decades of leading and teaching God's people have not produced in me a reckless excitability, but I have concluded that whatever else, without passion little will be birthed or broken through. "Cool" Christianity will never successfully resist the bonfires of unbelief that intimidate souls, nor the fiery darts of evil assault that rain from today's skies. We can only fight fire with fire.
Whether books, technology or copycat strategies, there’s no substitute for divine discontent.
Leaders in the present North American church are being programmed into a fixation on the notion that what we all need to succeed is to somehow find "a better mousetrap." The mind-set produces a relentless quest that pursues endless avenues, such as scouring Internet Web sites, plowing through leadership material and highlighting slogans in the latest corporate motivational book, near-frantic idea/program-hunting visits to high-visibility churches, labored analyzing of contemporary culture and local demographics and diligently processing "makeovers" on everything from the church's platform arrangement to its parking lot signage.
I have no direct opposition to such sincerely sought, purely motivated quests. However, the majority of the time, they at best prove only temporarily useful, and far too often end in providing little more than a cosmetic for a much deeper need. In short, neither durable change nor spiritual dynamic are likely to ever be gained via the labored means of human ingenuity.
Efforts at finding and doing something beget inevitable weariness with having tried so hard and gaining so little. And a lot of pastors find a net result reading, "disillusionment," and sometimes, "despair."
Naturally, I do believe organization, plans, administration and programs are necessary to lead with wisdom and fruitfulness. But, to be frank, I'm becoming less patient these days with the passivity shown toward what I think is most needed by the majority of thinking leaders today: passion (1) in our personal worship of God (then, in the way we lead the flock to do the same); and passion (2) in pursuing an abiding fullness of His Spirit in our lives (then, in wisely drawing everyone in the congregation toward the same experience).
I will never defend wild-eyed fanaticism. Nor am I arguing for passion as, for example, a license to a carnal indulgence of anger when things don't happen fast enough. My plea is not to give place to the shallow, selfish pushiness of self-will erupting or manipulating to "get things my way—now!"
To argue for passion is not to indulge in a proposition that patience is supplanted, and impatience given a throne in your values or mine. But I have found a law of diminishing return where that order of patience is exercised that becomes so placid, so cooled, so bound by reserve that the status quo is never confronted. Whenever I find myself caving in to difficulties instead of opening to new dimensions of God's grace, I need passion, not patience.
Whenever I find I'm surrendering to the situation instead of making a new surrender to God, I need passion, not patience.
I'm wanting to discern and overcome that so-called "patience" that submits to the subtlety of human fear, doubt, passivity or pride—that lying voice that whispers: "Don't get too excited about God or expect too much of Him. Tough it out. Be patient." Because, in fact, the Bible reveals there are times when a divine discontent needs to motivate me—not a patient passivity.
It is passion, not patience, that moved Jesus through Gethsemane's ordeal and paved the way to Calvary (see Luke 22:39-46).
It is passion, not patience, that brought spiritual breakthrough when effort was made to silence the church (see Acts 4:23-31).
It is passion, not patience, that brought Paul to discover grace sufficient for the satanic battle he was waging (see 2 Cor. 12:7-10).
These Bible examples are a prompting to us all to open the doorway to relive those days when the disciples passionately waited on God for the Holy Spirit.
Let me encourage you: Whatever you are going through or whatever your personal challenge, whatever your family trials or whatever your economic circumstances, whatever your physical pain or whatever your wearied soul's tiredness, let us partner together to passionately pursue this principle: If with all your heart you truly seek Him, you will find Him.
That is an order of wholeheartedness that is at the core of our Lord Jesus' desire to ignite our hearts with the flame of heaven's passion and love: "'He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire'" (emphasis mine; Luke 3:16, KJV).
Decades of leading and teaching God's people have not produced in me a reckless excitability, but I have concluded that whatever else, without passion little will be birthed or broken through. "Cool" Christianity will never successfully resist the bonfires of unbelief that intimidate souls, nor the fiery darts of evil assault that rain from today's skies. We can only fight fire with fire.
Hearing the Hurting
QUOTE: "It’s important for us [pastors] to be in touch with the people we are speaking to and speak in a way that is understandable and bring the relevant, powerful, life-transforming message of the Word of God to them. It’s just something I have interest in. I want to know what people are thinking, what they are facing, what they are grappling with. … One thing I’ve become very aware of in recent days is just how many suffering people there are out there, people that are hurting. It’s been said that if you preach to people who are suffering, you will never lack for an audience. There certainly is a large audience of people who are in pain today." —Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., on how pain has recently changed his approach to ministry after 20 years of his evangelistic Harvest Crusades. Last July Laurie lost his 33-year-old son, Christopher, who served as art director for the church. "It is the most traumatic event of my life," Laurie says now. "It’s changed everything about me. You can’t help but see everything a little bit differently when somebody this close to you dies unexpectedly, especially your child. A parent never wants to outlive their child. I’ve become aware of how many others out there who have lost children, lost loved ones."
Friday, June 19, 2009
Discovering the Dead Sea Scrolls
by Valerie G. Lowe
Considered the lowest surface area on earth, the Dead Sea lies 410 meters below sea level. Located northwest of its shores is one of Israel’s most spectacular, ancient sites—the Qumran caves. Qumran was home to a sect of Jewish zealots who penned what has come to be known today as the Dead Scrolls. The members buried their precious scrolls deep in the crevices of the caves, where they remained until they were discovered thousands of years later. To see the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, click here to watch two videos.http://www.strangmail.com/sendstudio/link.php?M=2955233&N=4448&L=9015&F=H
Considered the lowest surface area on earth, the Dead Sea lies 410 meters below sea level. Located northwest of its shores is one of Israel’s most spectacular, ancient sites—the Qumran caves. Qumran was home to a sect of Jewish zealots who penned what has come to be known today as the Dead Scrolls. The members buried their precious scrolls deep in the crevices of the caves, where they remained until they were discovered thousands of years later. To see the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, click here to watch two videos.http://www.strangmail.com/sendstudio/link.php?M=2955233&N=4448&L=9015&F=H
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Why I Can't Perform a Same-Sex Wedding
By J. Lee Grady
Go ahead: Call me intolerant. I still believe the church must protect the marriage altar.
This past Saturday I stood on a church stage in Gainesville, Fla., and performed a wedding in front of 100 guests. The bride, Christina, was stunning in her billowing white gown. The groom, A.J., was beaming with delight. Tears flowed freely during the ceremony—especially during communion when a talented singing duo performed "The Prayer," the wedding anthem made popular by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli.
Thankfully there were no awkward moments—no fainting groomsmen, lost rings, squawking loud speakers or candles lighting dresses on fire. It was a picture-perfect moment in June, the month we've come to know as ideal for weddings even though summers in Florida are sweltering. I was grateful that I made it through my sermon without crying—since weddings involving friends or family can choke me up.
"Marriage is a holy institution, and the church should keep it that way regardless of where our culture ends up drifting on this issue."
Later that evening, after the decorations were taken down, the rose petals were swept up and the leftover wedding cake was in the freezer, I had some time to ponder the words I spoke to A.J. and Christina when they stood at that altar. I realized why my voice cracked a few times during my sermon. It was because I could feel God's presence in that church. He was smiling on this occasion.
Wedding ceremonies can come in all shapes, sizes and styles—but in essence they are meant to recreate a scene from the second chapter of Genesis, when God took the woman from man's side and united male and female as one. Without the aid of candles and Italian love songs, God preached the first wedding sermon. The Scripture says: "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24, NASB).
That verse provides the biblical pattern for gender, sexuality and family relationships. It has been programmed into the DNA of the human race. Yet today a growing number of people who dismiss the Bible as myth are demanding that our culture exchange God's fundamental truths for a lie. And some mainline churches, swayed by secularist pressure, are opening their altars for same-sex weddings because they don't want to be viewed as intolerant prudes.
While the debate rages over whether states should sanction gay marriage (we can argue about that later), we Christians must cling to three key principles revealed in the first chapters of Genesis:
1. God's nature is revealed through male and female. The true God created men and women because both genders together reflect His image. God's full glory is not evident through men alone, or through women alone. Both are required. That's why Genesis 1:27 says: "So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them" (NLT).
It is for this reason that gay marriage is totally inconsistent with Christian morality. It is, in essence, a rejection of God's authority as Creator. It is an affront to His holy image. For two men or two women to marry and pretend to enjoy God's blessing on their sexual union is to rebel against created order and to establish an alternative culture without Him.
2. God's kingdom is advanced through heterosexual unions. The Genesis account clearly states that the family consists of a father and a mother (see 2:24). For thousands of years this is how the human race has been perpetuated. It has only been in recent decades that the homosexual community has promoted the acceptance of gay adoption or artificial insemination. And while gay activists may argue convincingly that they can offer compassion and love to children, the Christian community cannot bend heaven's rules to sanction gay or lesbian families. To do so would be another direct attack on the image of God.
3. Marriage was always intended to be monogamous. It's also important to note that Christian morality, at its core, is based on the concept of a committed, faithful, one-man/one-woman relationship. Even though many men in the Bible had multiple wives, the Scriptures never say God endorsed their behavior. Polygamy was never His plan.
Many secularists mock Christians today because, in some sad cases, the same preachers who angrily oppose gay marriage have girlfriends on the side. I would have to agree that a married preacher who is sleeping with his secretary is just as guilty as a man who is involved in a gay affair. In both instances, God's original standard in Genesis has been violated. We need to move past the hypocritical idea that homosexual sin is worse than heterosexual sin. We shouldn't try to excuse either.
Our culture is seeking to redefine marriage in our generation—and they are enlisting politicians to help them. Just last week President Obama wowed many of his supporters by announcing that the month of June—everyone's favorite month for weddings—is now Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month. It's sad that our nation's leader—who is modeling faithful marriage—caved in to the pressure to applaud something that God calls an abomination.
Biblical marriage is not two men or two women; neither is it one man and four women (which Islamic law allows), a man and a child or three men and a baby. Marriage is a holy institution, and the church should keep it that way regardless of where our culture ends up drifting on this issue, or what people are allowed to do in a city courthouse. The Christian community must stand on the side of truth, not in a murky middle ground of compromise.
Go ahead: Call me intolerant. I still believe the church must protect the marriage altar.
This past Saturday I stood on a church stage in Gainesville, Fla., and performed a wedding in front of 100 guests. The bride, Christina, was stunning in her billowing white gown. The groom, A.J., was beaming with delight. Tears flowed freely during the ceremony—especially during communion when a talented singing duo performed "The Prayer," the wedding anthem made popular by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli.
Thankfully there were no awkward moments—no fainting groomsmen, lost rings, squawking loud speakers or candles lighting dresses on fire. It was a picture-perfect moment in June, the month we've come to know as ideal for weddings even though summers in Florida are sweltering. I was grateful that I made it through my sermon without crying—since weddings involving friends or family can choke me up.
"Marriage is a holy institution, and the church should keep it that way regardless of where our culture ends up drifting on this issue."
Later that evening, after the decorations were taken down, the rose petals were swept up and the leftover wedding cake was in the freezer, I had some time to ponder the words I spoke to A.J. and Christina when they stood at that altar. I realized why my voice cracked a few times during my sermon. It was because I could feel God's presence in that church. He was smiling on this occasion.
Wedding ceremonies can come in all shapes, sizes and styles—but in essence they are meant to recreate a scene from the second chapter of Genesis, when God took the woman from man's side and united male and female as one. Without the aid of candles and Italian love songs, God preached the first wedding sermon. The Scripture says: "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24, NASB).
That verse provides the biblical pattern for gender, sexuality and family relationships. It has been programmed into the DNA of the human race. Yet today a growing number of people who dismiss the Bible as myth are demanding that our culture exchange God's fundamental truths for a lie. And some mainline churches, swayed by secularist pressure, are opening their altars for same-sex weddings because they don't want to be viewed as intolerant prudes.
While the debate rages over whether states should sanction gay marriage (we can argue about that later), we Christians must cling to three key principles revealed in the first chapters of Genesis:
1. God's nature is revealed through male and female. The true God created men and women because both genders together reflect His image. God's full glory is not evident through men alone, or through women alone. Both are required. That's why Genesis 1:27 says: "So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them" (NLT).
It is for this reason that gay marriage is totally inconsistent with Christian morality. It is, in essence, a rejection of God's authority as Creator. It is an affront to His holy image. For two men or two women to marry and pretend to enjoy God's blessing on their sexual union is to rebel against created order and to establish an alternative culture without Him.
2. God's kingdom is advanced through heterosexual unions. The Genesis account clearly states that the family consists of a father and a mother (see 2:24). For thousands of years this is how the human race has been perpetuated. It has only been in recent decades that the homosexual community has promoted the acceptance of gay adoption or artificial insemination. And while gay activists may argue convincingly that they can offer compassion and love to children, the Christian community cannot bend heaven's rules to sanction gay or lesbian families. To do so would be another direct attack on the image of God.
3. Marriage was always intended to be monogamous. It's also important to note that Christian morality, at its core, is based on the concept of a committed, faithful, one-man/one-woman relationship. Even though many men in the Bible had multiple wives, the Scriptures never say God endorsed their behavior. Polygamy was never His plan.
Many secularists mock Christians today because, in some sad cases, the same preachers who angrily oppose gay marriage have girlfriends on the side. I would have to agree that a married preacher who is sleeping with his secretary is just as guilty as a man who is involved in a gay affair. In both instances, God's original standard in Genesis has been violated. We need to move past the hypocritical idea that homosexual sin is worse than heterosexual sin. We shouldn't try to excuse either.
Our culture is seeking to redefine marriage in our generation—and they are enlisting politicians to help them. Just last week President Obama wowed many of his supporters by announcing that the month of June—everyone's favorite month for weddings—is now Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month. It's sad that our nation's leader—who is modeling faithful marriage—caved in to the pressure to applaud something that God calls an abomination.
Biblical marriage is not two men or two women; neither is it one man and four women (which Islamic law allows), a man and a child or three men and a baby. Marriage is a holy institution, and the church should keep it that way regardless of where our culture ends up drifting on this issue, or what people are allowed to do in a city courthouse. The Christian community must stand on the side of truth, not in a murky middle ground of compromise.
Knowing You
[Story behind the song]
A major Christian conference in the UK had circulated a number of songwriters asking them to consider writing specific material to accompany the Bible readings and teaching at their event the following year. The book of Philippians had been chosen, so in order to begin the process of seeking inspiration I began to read through the book meditatively, asking God to draw my attention to anything which might become the seed of a song. I had come to the famous passage where Paul lists his impressive qualifications, and then dramatically sweeps them all aside for the sake of one supreme aim - to know Christ.
At this point my heart was stirred by the theme of knowing Jesus, and in an attempt to make it a personal song directed to him, I began to experiment with the phrase 'knowing you' as the moment of release of the song. Having written the chorus I set out to paraphrase the key verses of the scripture text into a singable form. This is always a great challenge because of course no translation of the Bible rhymes and scans, and there is always a danger that in shaping a lyrical form something is lost. After all this is the Word of God that we are dealing with!
Eventually, and with some editing input from one of our church leaders, plus some private 'road testing'at my home church, the song was finished. I know of several people who have learned the song without realising where it is derived from and have commented "Graham, I found your song in the bible!".
For me one of the most important things about it is the theme of sharing in Christ's sufferings (in the third verse), and of dying and rising with Christ. Perhaps for this reason the song has featured at funerals as well as in regular worship services. It has found its way into wedding services too where couples wish to express their commitment to putting Christ first in their marriage. 'Knowing You' has rapidly risen to be one of the most popular songs in the UK churches, at one time reaching number 5 in the CCLI chart.
All I once held dear, built my life upon
All this world reveres, and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now, compared to this
Knowing you, Jesus
Knowing you, there is no greater thing
You're my all, you're the best
You're my joy, my righteousness
And I love you, Lord
Now my heart's desire is to know you more
To be found in you and known as yours
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All-surpassing gift of righteousness
Oh, to know the power of your risen life
And to know You in Your sufferings
To become like you in your death, my Lord
So with you to live and never die
Graham Kendrick
Copyright © 1993 Make Way Music,
www.grahamkendrick.co.uk
All rights reserved.
International copyright secured.
Used by permission.
A major Christian conference in the UK had circulated a number of songwriters asking them to consider writing specific material to accompany the Bible readings and teaching at their event the following year. The book of Philippians had been chosen, so in order to begin the process of seeking inspiration I began to read through the book meditatively, asking God to draw my attention to anything which might become the seed of a song. I had come to the famous passage where Paul lists his impressive qualifications, and then dramatically sweeps them all aside for the sake of one supreme aim - to know Christ.
At this point my heart was stirred by the theme of knowing Jesus, and in an attempt to make it a personal song directed to him, I began to experiment with the phrase 'knowing you' as the moment of release of the song. Having written the chorus I set out to paraphrase the key verses of the scripture text into a singable form. This is always a great challenge because of course no translation of the Bible rhymes and scans, and there is always a danger that in shaping a lyrical form something is lost. After all this is the Word of God that we are dealing with!
Eventually, and with some editing input from one of our church leaders, plus some private 'road testing'at my home church, the song was finished. I know of several people who have learned the song without realising where it is derived from and have commented "Graham, I found your song in the bible!".
For me one of the most important things about it is the theme of sharing in Christ's sufferings (in the third verse), and of dying and rising with Christ. Perhaps for this reason the song has featured at funerals as well as in regular worship services. It has found its way into wedding services too where couples wish to express their commitment to putting Christ first in their marriage. 'Knowing You' has rapidly risen to be one of the most popular songs in the UK churches, at one time reaching number 5 in the CCLI chart.
All I once held dear, built my life upon
All this world reveres, and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now, compared to this
Knowing you, Jesus
Knowing you, there is no greater thing
You're my all, you're the best
You're my joy, my righteousness
And I love you, Lord
Now my heart's desire is to know you more
To be found in you and known as yours
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All-surpassing gift of righteousness
Oh, to know the power of your risen life
And to know You in Your sufferings
To become like you in your death, my Lord
So with you to live and never die
Graham Kendrick
Copyright © 1993 Make Way Music,
www.grahamkendrick.co.uk
All rights reserved.
International copyright secured.
Used by permission.
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