Daily Devotions: Me First!

3 John 1: 9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. 

One of my biggest faults occurs when I come across Christians who believe that they are entitled to courtesy, esteem, and service just because they are Christians. I see this in restaurants on Sunday afternoons where church members absolutely roast their waiters. I’ve come across it on the road with inconsiderate and nasty drivers whose cars are festooned with Christian symbols and bumper stickers. And I’ve read about it in the papers or seen it on the news when another church group protests that their religious rights are being trampled upon.

These “Me First” Christians embarrass and enrage me at the same time. They also make me wonder what would have happened to our faith in its early years if that type of mentality triumphed.  I doubt very much if Christianity would have survived at all.

From today’s New testament passage, it seems as though the Apostle John was dealing with something similar. Diotrephes wanted his own way and tried to steer his local church into shunning John the Evangelist. Thankfully John calls it like it is and in his letter he clearly states that Diotrephes is a malicious gossip and a self-centered person. If the church was going to survive, then people like Diotrephes had to be singled out by the real church leaders and put in their place.

Perhaps this message is really not about other people, but is actually about ourselves. If we could see how we treat other people at times, watch how we drive, and note how many times we feel entitled and offended, we would be abhorred at our own behavior. Perhaps then we get upset with other Christians simply because we see them doing what we already know to be true about ourselves.

Hmmm. I think I need to think this out again.

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, there are none of us who are perfect Christians because that would make us sinless, which is a divine quality that only You can claim. When we see our Christian brothers and sisters damage their witness through poor, inconsiderate and self-centered behavior, remind us of our own failings and faults. Grant all of us Your grace and help us to begin again. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Today’s drawing is John’s latest called “Lone Star Sunset.” It depicts sunset at the Rockwall Lighthouse near Dallas, Texas. If you would like to view a larger version, please click on the following link:  http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4057/4618072164_5176461e18_b.jpg

Sunday Sermon: Ordinary 25 : Mark 9:30-37 & Psalm 1 - Me, First!

Me, First - Part #1 – Psalm 1 v 3

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

Whatever he does prospers.  American Christianity is importing a brand of our faith that is called “Prosperity Gospel.” The teaching of it goes back a long time, to the days of the Old Testament in fact. It is formed out of the belief that if someone is successful, then God must be blessing that person. The way that it is taught today goes something like: You can fulfill the American Dream by claiming victorious living in Christ. In other words, Jesus becomes the vehicle of our success.

The trouble with this kind of thinking is twofold;

a)      Firstly, it makes worldly success our goal and not heaven.

b)      Secondly, it implies that those who are not successful are either not faithful enough, or that God has cursed them instead of giving a blessing.

I believe that the purpose of Psalm 1 is to express a spiritual belief that God blesses good people and ruins the lives of sinners. The next 149 psalms are personal experiences that either confirm or confront this type of thinking.

Prosperity Gospel actually twists Christ’s words and messages into becoming magic incantations and personal enchantments that will make us prosper and our plans succeed. For instance, “Victorious living in Christ” is misconstrued from being a statement about relying on Christ during times of Christian persecution and pain, into a personal creed of being able to materially get what we want – success, security, money, wealth, and health. Believing God is no longer a matter of relying upon Him to comfort and carry us through times of crises, suffering, and failure; it becomes a byword of believing in God solely for the purpose of fulfilling our goals and dreams. In other words, we use God to advance our own agenda; we use God to achieve our own success.

In Psalm 1, we find that verse 3 supports this very notion; however, when we turn our attention to our New testament passage, we will find an entirely different story and discover that the Gospel is not about ambition and prosperity; in fact, it’s not about us at all.

Let’s sing ‘Jesus, Draw Me Close.’

Me, First – Part 2 – Mark 9:30-37

I cannot believe that Sophia Loren is celebrating her 75^th birthday today. She is a superstar of a movie star and has been in the movies for over 60 years. I first saw her in a movie when I was five years old. She starred opposite Charlton Heston in the epic film ‘El Cid’ which to me is a far better movie than ‘Ben Hur’. Sophia Loren captivated my heart with her beautiful dark Italian eyes and I have been in love with her since 1962.

Ms Loren has also just completed a new movie called “Nine” which is a screen version of the Broadway show. It will be released during Thanksgiving and I’ve just viewed some trailers of the film.  Sophia Loren still looks absolutely stunning. 75 years old and still gorgeous. She once said that “Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.” She also said that “Everything you see I owe to spaghetti.” 

She was once asked about how actors can become successful in Hollywood. She answered: Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go so much further than people with vastly superior talent.

A great inner drive can mean promoting yourself first above all other things. It’s not so much being self-centered, but being very aware of the opportunities to express yourself and display your gifts so that others will notice who you are, what you do, and what you can accomplish. A mentality of “me, first!” it takes to be successful. Unlike prosperity Gospel, it does not depend upon God’s blessings, but instead it takes a lot of luck and courage, grit and determination, pushiness and self-confidence.

The circumstances behind today’s Gospel passage reveal to us an incident that is all about drive and ambition, conflict and pride. Jesus has seriously spoken to His twelve disciples about what is going to happen to Him in Jerusalem. He has talked about being betrayed and arrested, executed and killed, but instead of comforting Jesus, His band of followers are afraid to say anything to Him. It’s almost as if they feel powerless and paralyzed emotionally and spiritually. They don’t know what to say; they have no clue as to what they should do.

But when they hit the road again and walk to another village, the disciples talk about their future without Jesus. They’re only thinking of themselves and their survival. Who will look after them when He is gone? Who will lead the group? Who will carry on the business? Who is strong enough to be the leader? In other words, they’re talking about succession issues, behind Christ’s back – quite literally – before Jesus is even gone.

Sadly, I’ve seen this happen amongst families and friends in homes or at hospital bedsides where someone is dying. Time and time again, nurses, doctors, and even pastors remind people that hearing is usually the last sense that a dying person has. They don’t want to hear about funeral arrangements, business transactions, wills or money. They just want to leave peacefully, knowing that they’re loved, that they will be missed, and that God through Jesus is ready to embrace them.

I think it was the same for Jesus that day. He had told His closest friends about how He was going to die, but instead of comforting and embracing Him, they focus on their own insecurities and talk about their own losses.

Years ago, when I worked at a rent office for a housing association in Scotland, I can remember having a very sad conversation with an elderly lady who had recently lost her husband. About a month before he died, he bought a new car and brought it home to show his wife. It was raining that day and he parked it outside of their home where his wife could see it through a window. He thought that she would be delighted with the purchase, but instead of being thankful, the man’s wife berated him for spending the money. She criticized him and chided him about not getting a spare tire for the new car. After all, he had spent all that money, so surely he would have made sure that the car had a spare tire.

The old man went out to the car in the pouring rain and checked to see if there was a spare in the trunk. He took everything out and couldn’t find the spare. By this time, the rain was pouring down hard and the old man was absolutely soaked through. He put everything back in the trunk, told his wife that there was no spare tire and that he would drive back to the dealer to get one. His wife felt as though he should do it before the dealer closed that night. Even although his clothes were wet and he was soaked through to the skin, the old man drove to the dealer. He came back home later that night with the spare tire.

Within a couple of days, he took pneumonia and within two weeks he was dead. And all that his wife could talk about was the fact that she made sure he hadn’t wasted his money because the new car had a spare tire. 

Instead of looking after her husband that ill fated night, all she could think about was her own insecurity. Instead of thinking about his well being, she pushed him beyond what he was able. Her “me, first” mentality actually caused the death of her husband.

When they came to Capernaum, Jesus confronted His disputing disciples and asked them to tell Him what they were arguing over. But once again, they remained silent, not out fear but of shame. So Jesus used the moment to teach them an important lesson. He told them that “if anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” In other words, to lead in God’s Kingdom and in Christ’s Way, you have to be willing to serve. Greatness is found in humility and successful leadership is discovered through being willing to be the least.

That, my friends, is what victorious living in Christ is all about. It’s not about being blessed by God because we avoid bad things. It’s not about becoming successful and prosperous through claiming it and naming it for our own. It’s not about believing God will prosper us just because we believe in His power. It’s about rejecting all of that “me, first” mentality and being willing to let “me, last” be our creed.

So I hope that we will all be careful about what we read, what we study, and what we take in, especially from so-called Christian authors who promote selfishness and prosperity, health and wealth, beauty and ambition before humility, selflessness, and old-fashioned piety. Perhaps if we actually read and studied the Bible and Gospel, we wouldn’t be so easily enticed and spiritually misled by preachers and teachers, authors and leaders who promote the American dream alongside of Christ’s Gospel.

After all, what came first: Ben Franklin’s “God helps those who help themselves” or Christ’s “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and helper of all.”

Amen.

Daily Devotions: Believing God

Prosperity Gospel and spiritual self-esteem books are currently very popular in Christian circles and small study groups, but are these really Gospel and actually Christian?

Philippians 3:14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Yesterday, I was having a conversation with one of my pastor friends. We were talking about best selling Christian authors and speakers. At one point in the conversation I said this, “Americans are fiercely independent but sometimes so spiritually gullible.” I was commenting on the fact that a lot of what sells as Christian study material and small group books are really about prosperity gospel and self-esteem. Young Christians are being duped into believing that ‘victorious living’ in Christ is all about having a happy family, wonderful marriage, terrific career, and lots of money. Nothing could be farther from the truth of the Gospel and sadly a whole generation of men and women are getting caught up in the “what’s in it for me now” heresy without realizing it.

Sometimes what is popular in Christian circles is not faithful to Christ’s cause or God’s Word. If Christians were all meant to be successful, wealthy, and influential people, then Chinese jails would not be full of arrested Christians, Iranian courts would not be forcing Christian women to deny Christ, and Guatemalan Christian schools would not be under siege by local gangsters. There’s a false assumption by Christians in America that Christ’s mission and the American Dream go hand in hand. They do not. After all, what came first: Christ’s message to take up our crosses and deny ourselves in order to follow Him or Ben Franklin’s “God helps those who help themselves”?

The only goal and prize that we should care about as Christians is to be called heavenward. If we concentrate too much on having our happiness and success here on earth, then as Christ said about the hypocrites of His time, “they will have had their reward;’ in other words, there will be nothing for them in heaven.  And why do we think that Christ ever said these cautionary words:

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26)

It’s time to put our prosperity gospel and self-esteem books down; it’s time to pick up the Bible and get the message straight from our Savior and God.

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, life is not about us, it’s about You. Keep us from being attracted and distracted by worldly charms and people who want to capitalize on our fears, anxieties, and inadequacies. Teach us the valuable gift of true spiritual discernment and save us from those who preach, teach, and write about prosperity gospel, which is no gospel at all. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

4 Minute Daily Devotions: God's Global Warming

Acts 21: 24 But the word of God continued to increase and spread.

Despite the recent surveys telling us that the demise of Christianity is imminent, the word of God continues to increase and be spread. Did you know, for instance, that there are presently more Christians on this planet than at any other time in the history of the world? Did you know that Christianity is the biggest religion on earth – it outnumbers its nearest rival Islam by 2 to 1. Did you know that Christianity is the fastest growing religion in Africa?

Perhaps not, because we tend to think about Christianity in Western or American terms. American Christianity only makes up about 5-7% of the world’s Christians. We are so parochial and narrow sighted. We think that our ways are God’s ways when in fact Africa, Asia, and South America have more worshippers, church members, and followers of Christ in each of their regions of the world.

I guess that means that when God looks on earth and Christ sees His followers, American Christians are at the back of the crowd. That’s kind of humbling and yet it’s also wonderfully reassuring. I wouldn’t like to think that our consumerist Christianity was the best that our faith has to offer.

Maybe it’s time to learn from other Christians in different parts of the world who constantly face hunger, famine, disease, and persecution. In the West, we tend to be restless and unsettled, unsure of our faith and treat it like a commodity. Perhaps if we went to bed hungry at night or faced the horrors of sickness with scarce resources our faith would be substantially different.

I suppose this devotion is a wake up call for me as well as for you. Despite our weak and watered down Western Christianity, the word of God in other parts of the world continues to increase and be spread. So let’s get with the program, people!

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, we tend to look at our own faith through our own blinkered eyes. Instead of seeing a vast world of Christian people, we focus on dwindling denominations and a diminishing influence on Western society. One day in the future, missionaries will come back to this land from Africa, Asia, and South America to reintroduce our society to Your ways, Your words, and Your works. Thank You, Lord, for ever increasing and spreading the word of God throughout the world. In Your Holy Name, we pray, Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

4 Minute Devotions: Simply Serving

Why do we, as Western Christians, feel entitled to God’s blessings? Are we meant to serve or be served by God?

Luke 2:39 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.

They could have felt divinely entitled and fully excused of their religious commitments. After all, Joseph and Mary were charged with the responsibility of protecting, raising, and rearing Jesus, the Son of God, so they could have been given some slack.

Instead, they chose to fulfill what the Law of the Lord required – offering a sacrifice, presenting Christ to the Lord in the Jerusalem temple, and having Him circumcised. They decided to show how dedicated they were and how honored they felt at being chosen for this holiest of callings. They would not claim any special bonuses or blessings from God. They would not demand that their wants be met or their commitment be recognized. They would simply submit to the Lord and remain grateful for the privilege they had been given.

Sadly, in our sophisticated Western Christianity, I see much of the reverse. Mega-church preachers and TV evangelists proclaim a Gospel of entitlement, success, and prosperity. Thousands of people turn up with their notebooks each week to glean words that will give them the scriptural secrets to making their dreams come true. Millions of viewers tune in to listen to this type of glossy Good news in order to make them feel better about their lives. There’s a sickness in their souls and a Gospel of greed possesses them. They want to be empowered, encouraged, and entertained, not confronted, challenged, or changed.

Joseph and Mary endured many hardships and experienced deep sorrows for accepting God’s call. They endured the scorn of their community when people first realized that Mary was pregnant. They experienced humiliation when they couldn’t find a place to have their baby born. They had to leave their country behind to go and become political refugees in Egypt. Even when they eventually returned to Nazareth, Joseph may have died young, leaving Mary to raise Jesus and the rest of the family. And finally Mary had to watch her grown Son die in a shameful, horrific, and painful way.

They accepted their calling and never felt entitled to health, wealth, or success. They served God fully and faithfully, doing what they were told and honoring Him. They sought service over success, sincerity over insecurity, and willingness over wealth. God chose them perfectly and wisely because they had the potential, character, and commitment to do what pleased Him.

There’s a lesson here for all of us and the challenge is this – are we willing to serve or be served? Is our faith all about God or about us? We know what the answers should be, but are we ready to let God make what could be with our lives?

Prayer: Lord God, thank You for the examples of faith, commitment, and service that Mary and Joseph showed in the past. Enable us to embrace that kind of holy calling and sacred service to You. In Christ’s Name, we pray. Amen.

4 Minute Devotions: Pandering in Mega Churches

Mega Churches pander to themselves in ways that promote their own churches instead of the Gospel. Small God-fearing churches serve Christ faithfully and preach the true heart of the Gospel.

Podcast version here

2 Corinthians 4:5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

One of the biggest mistakes that the American church is making today occurs when preachers preach for their audience and not for the sake of the Gospel. I see too many churches falling into this life-application, life-style series, and life affirming type of preaching. It makes the hearers the center of the preaching, instead of Christ. It makes the congregation the focus of the message, instead of Christ’s ministry. It makes modern Christians the reason for the sermon, instead of the Good News.

And the trouble is this: American Christians don’t see it happening. They turn out in their thousands to hear Gospel charmers and narcissistic preachers who will stroke their egos and pander to their desires. Instead of being humble and becoming servants, the church audiences become proud and arrogant, spoiled and indignant (just visit any restaurant after mega-church members finish worship and you’ll see how badly they treat their servers).

The purpose of preaching is to preach the Gospel. And not just any Gospel – we preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ – where we are told to repent of our sins, to recognize our fallen ways, to seek the blood of Jesus to cleanse us of the past, and to place our lives, hearts, and souls into His hands. It’s not about life-style, or life-application, or life affirmation – it’s about needing Christ as our Savior and putting all our faith in Him alone.

Thankfully, there are small churches all over America where this Gospel is being preached. Their membership may only measure 30, 60, or 100, and they may never take over whole communities like the mega-Goliaths who swallow up local resources to feed themselves. But those small churches with their God-fearing members and Gospel preaching pastors are doing the true work of Christ, and they usually serve in the poorest of areas and hardest places to present the Gospel. They truly are servants for Jesus’ sake and they do not preach themselves.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, teach us the hard lessons of humility and service. Forgive us for turning the Gospel into a sugar-coated and syrupy message that panders to our life-style choices, instead of letting it challenge and change our lives. Bless those wee churches who struggle each week trying to preach Gospel truths and who serve You faithfully. Enable us to follow their example, instead of trying to be something You never called us to become. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Sunday Sermon: Hearing His Voice John 10:1-10

Someone broke into a car in our neighborhood last week. It happened during the day when the subdivision was empty and quiet. The thieves broke the lock and stole some important items out of the car. No one heard or saw it happening, but it has left our street feeling vulnerable. People are now wary of leaving their cars on the subdivision roads and everyone is suspicious of strangers coming into the neighborhood. It was a rotten thing to happen to a happy neighborhood. It has left us all feeling insecure and unprotected.

Thieves violate the common trust of the neighborhoods and communities that they rob. They disturb the peace of the people and tear up neighbors emotionally. They become a scourge of society and sadly, because of the times we are in, theft and robbery are increasing. It’s a form of domestic terrorism and it’s something that we all have to combat by being good neighbors and looking out for one another.

1 "I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.

In today’s passage, Jesus talks about thieves raiding the spiritual sheep pen of His followers. He’s talking about quack preachers and con-artists, phony gurus and shady characters who seek to fleece the flock and mislead the faithful. They come into the church with their own credentials and ambitions, their own personal creeds and twisted gospels. Instead of being committed to Christ, they are committed to their own esteem and well-being. Instead of following His words and ways, they do what they like and love what they do for themselves. They’ve got no interest in being servants of God and followers of Christ; they’re just in it for themselves and they end up in preaching their own Gospels to justify their own lifestyle choices.

Who do you mean, John? I hear you ask: Joel Osteen is one – he preaches a prosperity Gospel that is more about realizing the American Dream than getting into the Kingdom of God. He mesmerizes thousands of people in his church each week and millions of folk on TV across the country. He uses his $20 million smile and preaches to the camera. He talks about people getting blessings from God and becoming rich through being faithful. He parades about like a marionette puppet expressing a glossy magazine type of Gospel that has nothing to do with the real Christ. And the trouble is this: millions of folks lap it up and pledge their souls to Osteen’s Gospel, not realizing that they have given up faith in the One, True and Living God.

And whilst I’m meddling here instead of preaching, I may as well mention Oprah Winfrey. She used to be a Christian, but all her wealth, fame and popularity has gone to her head and ruined her heart. She’s now promoting a book called “The New Earth” by a new-age spiritual guru called Eckhart Tolle, who wants to start a new religion in which people will no longer be overwhelmed by the Cross of Christ, but will overcome the Cross and live by their own spiritual enlightenment. In other words, Oprah and Tolle are sidelining Christ and His sacrifice in order to promote their own devilish ideas and unchristian opinions. If ever there was a living example of Matthew 16 v 26, it’s Oprah – what good will it be if a person gains the whole world, yet forfeits their own soul?

Do not be deceived folks, Osteen and Oprah have this in common – they are spiritual thieves who will rob you of your faith and lead you away from Christ. Starting soon, on Monday nights and Sunday mornings, I’m going to lead classes on this book “the new Earth” and show you where the dangers lie. And I’m not doing it because I’m jealous of their wealth, influence and popularity, I’ll be doing it because I’m called to guide you through these snakes and vipers, lions and wolves that come to us in sheep’s clothing.

4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.

The best way to avoid these false prophets is to keep listening for Christ’s voice in their messages. If He isn’t honored, respected, worshiped and glorified by these kind of preachers and celebrities then you can guarantee that Christ is not speaking through them.

That’s why I preach from the New Testament and the Gospel week after week. It’s to tell you about Christ, His message, His ways, and His lessons. I’m an Old Testament scholar with an Honors degree in Hebrew and was first in my class for translation. I could stand up here Sunday by Sunday and tell you the OT stories in ways that you’ve never heard and give you great linguistic insights into Hebrew words that you’ve never known, but that’s not what I was called to do –

My name is John Stuart and I am a preacher of the Gospel. I’ll preach about His words, not mine. I’ll talk to you straight about Christ being the Only Way, not Oprah’s way; of Him being the Only Truth, not Tolle’s truth, and of being the Only Life, not Osteen’s lifestyle. My purpose of being the preacher at this church is to give you enough information about Jesus, so that you’re attracted to Him, and can begin to hear His Voice in your lives.

When Jesus talks about the sheep knowing and listening to the shepherd’s voice, He’s talking about us hearing Him in our lives. When he teaches His people about the sheep following the shepherd, He’s trying to make them understand that they should follow Him if they want to be with God. It’s plain and simple, and it’s not difficult to see, but it’s too simple for some people, too common and too easy to believe. They want something complicated, unique and individual. They want something elite, exceptional, and edifying to themselves. They don’t want to listen to a mere Shepherd, and they certainly don’t want to be followers. If anything, like Oprah, they want to be their own gods, where they become the Center of the universe and not mere followers, servants or slaves of Christ.

It’s like a billboard that I read this morning coming to church. It’s promoting a new church and has a picture of a sofa on it. It boldly proclaims that Redemption is a real, comfortable church. Comfortable? There’s nothing comfortable about the Gospel or Christianity! The teachings of Jesus Christ are the most meddlesome, confrontational, in your face religious teachings that the world has ever known. If church becomes comfortable, then we have allowed spiritual thieves and congregational robbers to come into our midst.

I wonder how comfortable Jesus was when He was dying in agony on the Cross? I wonder how comfortable the first Christians were when they were plunged into boiling oil or ripped apart by wild beasts in the Coliseum? I wonder how comfortable Christian missionaries were when they were attacked and beaten, tortured and killed no matter where they took the Gospel too? If you want a comfortable church, then go visit Redemption Church , but don’t expect to be redeemed or saved there – that would be too uncomfortable.

The trouble with people today is this: they want to create their own enlightenment, their own faith, their own religion. They don’t want something that is old and outdated, tested and tried, used and second hand. They want to be different from previous generations and better than traditional ways. They want to ditch the baby, the bath water, as well as baptism and beliefs. They just want to do their own thing. In others, they want freedom from faith and religion, demanding it as a constitutional, civil, and universal right.

Which reminds me, today is Thomas Jefferson’s birthday. He was born April 13, 1743, which would make him 265 years old, had he lived. People these days are very quick to point out Jefferson's wall of separation' letter to a Danbury Baptist Church meant that Christianity had no place in the heart of the writer of the Declaration, but are they aware of what is written in Jefferson's personal Bible: "I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus. I have little doubt that our whole country will soon be rallied to the unity of our creator." To say that Christianity had no influence over his writing is to diminish Jefferson's personal faith.

We can make up our own ideas about faith in God, but in the end we’re only fooling ourselves and missing out on the greatest gift in the entire universe. Christ says it plainly in this Gospel passage:

9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.

You can’t get any plainer, more direct, or simpler than that. If we want to be saved from the eternal consequences of our sin, if we want to be restored to God’s favor, if we want to enjoy everlasting life in God’s Kingdom, then we can only find it in, through, with and by Jesus Christ.

We don’t get it by watching Oprah and buying into her wacky ways: we get it by Christ.

We don’t get it through Tolle’s book or new age mumbo-jumbo, we get it through Christ.

And we don’t get it through Joel Osteen’s smiley and smarmy, sugary and barmy prosperity gospel, we get it through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, whose voice we listen to, whose Cross we cling to, and whose grace we adhere to for our salvation, our pardon, and our eternal life. There is no other way; there is no other gospel, there is no other gateway; there is only Christ.

Prayer

Amen.

Erin Church daily devotional: Picking Blackberries in Scotland

Audio version here

2 Corinthians 12:7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. (NIV)

Years ago, I used to go bramble picking with my brothers, usually during the Fall. I think that you call brambles ‘blackberries’ over here. They look like dark colored raspberries and they grow wild in Scotland. They have a bitter sweet taste to them, but you can make a delicious jelly with them, which our mum used to do when we brought them home.

To get to the biggest and sweetest brambles, you have to be willing to fight your way through some really nasty thorns. In order to pick the brambles off the thorns, you cannot use gloves. Inevitably, my brothers and I would all come home with painful thorns stuck in the palm of our hands. So as well as making jelly, sewing our ripped clothes, mum had to be our nurse by removing the thorns with tweezers. In the end it was worth all of the discomfort, trouble, and pain. The jelly she made was delicious, especially on buttered slices of toast.

Paul writes about a ‘thorn in the flesh’ that he experienced in his life. As a preacher, he could easily have become conceited by the amount of power and esteem he was given by his listeners. But God gave him some sort of impediment, which caused him a great deal of discomfort. He does not mention what this thorn was precisely, but it was enough of a problem for Paul to ask God to remove it. God, however, says “no” to Paul’s prayer and so he has to learn to live with it.

Sometimes as Christians, we think that we’re entitled to live our lives free from worries, stress, or attack. We think that just because we follow Christ then our lives should be free from trouble. The advocates of the heretical prosperity Gospel have caused Christians throughout the world to believe that God is a great genie in the sky that supplies all of our wants and removes all of our burdens. But this is not the case. God gives us the ability to cope with our problems and to adapt our lives accordingly. He never promises to remove them, otherwise saints like Paul would never have had to live with their thorns in the flesh.

If you’re carrying a burden in your heart or mind, and it seems like a thorn in your flesh which is always troubling you, take it to God. He may not remove it from you, but He will give you his strength to enable you to cope.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we all have thorns in our sides and troubles in our lives. Sometimes we just want them to go away, so that we can live our lives peace and prosperity. Remind us that we have faith in You to help us through those times when we struggle. Grant us the courage to face our fears and enable to cope with the pressures we experience. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Preaching Heresy - Mega Churches & the Prosperity Gospel

Luke 12:31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. (NIV)

A lot of Americans are buying into what has been coined as “the prosperity gospel.” Its message goes something like this: God will be good to you, if you believe in His promises; God will make you successful, if you ask Him. It ties up the American dream with the Christian faith, and a lot of mega-churches are promoting this rags-to-riches, gospel-to-glory type of message.

It sounds like a good idea and certainly makes for great marketing, but it’s not what Christianity is all about. The promoters of the ‘prosperity gospel’ are actually peddling a heresy. In other words, they’re twisting the truth of the gospel into something that it was never meant to become. I mean think about it: can you imagine Jesus telling the folks of His day that their debt would be taken care of, just by giving money to His Galilean ministry? Do we really think that Christ, who told the rich young man to give up all of his possessions, would preach a message saying that God would supply everything we ever wanted? If we all read the Gospels properly, we find that Jesus talks more about giving than getting.

It’s very easy to get caught up in a cycle of fulfilling our desires and meeting our wants than it is to sacrificially give and be content with what we need. The world tells us to fulfill our goals and not to deny our dreams. Jesus, on the other hand, tells us to seek God’s kingdom and find all that we need in Him. Instead of a prosperity or property gospel, Christ preaches and teaches an uncomplicated, uncompromising message about self-denial, self-sacrifice, and selflessness. The old adage of “God helps those who help themselves” was never spoken by Jesus. You won’t find it in the Bible either; it was first uttered by Benjamin Franklin.

The danger of this prosperity heresy is that we can become envious of those who succeed in life by applying this false teaching. And that in itself becomes a subtle temptation to give up on what we know to be the truth, and turn to populist teachings to fulfill our lives. If you take time to read all of Psalm 73, you will discover how one person goes through this temptation, but eventually turns away from it and seeks God’s presence instead.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, there are many who preach Your words today and use them for their own profit. Help us to discern between those who remain faithful to Your lessons for life, as opposed to those who peddle Your Gospel and Holy words for their own wealth and success. In Your Sacred Name, we pray. Amen.