Erasing Hell: What God Said About Eternity and The Things We Made Up: Francis Chan, Preston Sprinkle: 9780781407250: Christianbook.com

Erasing Hell: What God Said About Eternity and The Things We Made Up: Francis Chan, Preston Sprinkle: 9780781407250: Christianbook.com

I read Francis Chan's Best selling book Crazy Love and it caused me to reexamine my life and get deeper into the word of God. I don't know what Chan's conclusions are. We may disagree, but he seems to be coming at it with the right attitude. I am hoping to read this soon after it comes out.

Dirty Jobs

Over the past couple of weeks I have been watching some DVDs of the TV show Dirty Jobs from the discovery channel. In this show the host Mike Rowe explores some of the hardest jobs by performing the work himself. These jobs entail small spaces, hard physical labor, and lots of grime. It only takes one episode to know that these are not the jobs that everyone is pining for. They are however very necessary.

This show has got me thinking about the dirty jobs that are mentioned in the Bible, and the job we are called to do as Christians. The Bible mentions a lot of dirty jobs. In fact God often used people mightily that had been busy with a dirty job. God even brought some of them down from there spot of comfort and ease to a place of humility, before he could use them.

Noah built a giant ark; the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were herdsman. Joseph was brought from a place of honor in his Father’s household to a place as a servant and then to Jail. Moses was brought from a place of honor in the palace of Pharaoh to the back side of the Desert where he was tending sheep. David was a shepherd. We could go through Judges and see the humble origins of the men God used to lead his people for hundreds of years. Then we could look at the prophets and we would see men that were not from exceptional backgrounds, but were farmers and workers, doing the hard work that needed to be done.

Then we get to the New Testament and we see Jesus who was raised as an ordinary man doing the hard work of carpentry, “Yet for your sakes, he became poor” (2 Corinthians 8:9) Then we see the glaring example of the disciples, there was Matthew the Tax collector, but the others came from dirty jobs-- fisherman and the like.

It isn’t that God can’t use people with rich backgrounds; the fact is he chooses more often than not, to use people with ordinary or below normal backgrounds. He takes great joy in people that bring nothing to the table. There is a song that says, “He turns Zeros into Heroes”. In our weakness, He shows Himself strong.

Dealing with people is difficult, it takes patience and discipline. The very things that are learned doing hard physical work become assets in dealing with people. So we see that God uses hard dirty jobs for two reasons, to bring us closer to him as we come to the end of ourselves, and to teach us the skills that we will need to serve him in a greater capacity.

Andrew and Peter are a good example of being prepared, but being willing to give up everything in the present for the future. It says in Mark 1:17-18 “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.’ They immediately left their nets and followed Him.” When we first read this, we are quick to pass over the fact that they left all that they had. We think they left a dirty job that no one really wants to do anyway. But that was their lively hood. It was all that they knew, but they left it for something better.

So here is the point, God can use you where ever you are. Some of us are doing dirty thankless jobs and we feel like we are making little difference in this world. We are in training; we are here to learn character. Others of us are in a place where we need to take a step of faith and follow the leading of God in a difficult direction. And most of us are trying to figure out which place we are in. It will take time to ascertain, but we must find what God wants us to do and do it.

Cinderella, Prince Charming and The Waiting Game

Recently I was watching Rogers and Hamerstiens Cinderella with my little sister, and being a mindful big brother, I decided to teach a little dicernment. I asked the question we all need to ask whatever the media we consume “What does this teach us?” I am sure this was quite anoying to my sweet 9 year old sister who had just enjoyed a good movie and was already dreaming about being swept away by her prince charming.

But it is important to not be fools so I began to think to myself. And you know my sister wasn't too far off. It teaches us to dream of a better life. Cinderella is trapped in dire circumstances, her father has died and there is no one around her that has any love toward her. All she has is a dream. Her dream was that one day her chance would come, she whould escape her souroundings and live a happy life.

Almost everyone of us is given great difficulties to overcome and we can either be bitter and grumpy, or we can have hope that this to shall pass. Even more so as a Christian because we have a blessed hope that one day the bridegroom (Jesus), will come for his bride.(us)

John Eldredge and Brent Curtis describe this as The Sacred Romance. It is a wonderful true story. Christ seeking and pursuing us and his church responding to his advances and accepting him. But there is a part of the romance that we shy away from. We forget that the romance takes place in real life. We are forced to wait for our beloved and waiting is hard.


In every good story there is a time of waiting. We go on a bit of a roller coaster as concern and aprehension take over. We as observers however never take the full brunt of the trial, because we know in the end it will all work out. We enjoy it to some degree because that is what makes the story. In fact the story is very much defined by how the characters react to difficulty. This is how we are defined in real life. We all have roughly the same problems, we just react differently.

Cinderella made it to the ball and returns with a twinkle in her eye, and she is mocked by her step mother and sisters. She doesn't always act the way she should. There are a lot of times when she begins to forget about her dream.Yet overall,we fall in love with Cinderella for her graciousness and loath her step sisters for their bitterness.

Paul told Timothy, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1 Timothy 6:6) Yet this contentment is a contentment that comes from yarning for the more. We must agree with Paul about the material world and yet say with the psalmist in “I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy(God's) likeness.” (psalm 17:15)

Man's Glory, God's Glory

Rom 2:6-10 Who will render to every man according to his deeds: (7) To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: (8) But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, (9) Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; (10) But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

There is a contrast that is being brought out here in these few short verses and in fact it is the same contrast given in the bigger picture of the whole Bible. That contrast is a choice that each one of us must make. In this passage there are those who seek glory and honour, and imortality. And there are those who are self-seeking. This can be expanded to signify those who seek God and those who follow after the World.

If we look at this word Glory that is mentioned in this passage we will see that this is not our own Glory but the Glory of God. And God's Glory is so much more glorious than our Glory. God's Glory is greater than the heavens. It says in Psalm 19:1 that the heavens declare the Glory of God. And in Isaiah 6:4 we see that the whole earth is full of his glory. You see God created the universe and put his mark upon it and even though we live under a curse, because of man's sin, it is still a glorous creation.

This is a picture to us of what God is like. He has expressed Himself in creation so that we will turn to Him, not to ourselves or to the creation itself, but to Him. That is what it talks about it Romans Chapter one. “...Although they knew God, They did not glorify Him as God...” You know God, some of you may deny that but you do, because it is clear in the order of the universe, because it is clear in the smallest magnificent detail of the world, and because it is written on your heart.

But in our natural state we turn to our own glory. God created us humans as the pinacle of His creation, but we want to take that and make oursleves great. We know that man's glory is great! we see men glorified on Telivision or on Utube and we want that for ourselfves. People will go to amazing lengths just for 15 minutes of fame. But we all know deep down, that there is more to this life than the praise of others and any money we can get for it. In fact if we look around we see people who have attianed all that this world can offer, and we see depressed, substance abbusers, who are dissatisfied with their lives.

It is a little like winning the highschool basketball championship and feeling pretty estatic, until Kobe Brynt walks into the room. Your accomplishments are dwarfed by the much greater accomplishments, of Kobe. There is a comedian named Brian Regan, who talks about how being one of the 12 people to land on the moon would be an accomplishment that could not be topped. But let me tell you something, God is the one who created the moon.

When we start to put things in proper perspective we begin to realize what the Bible says about the glory of man. In Daniel 2:37 we read that God has given King Nebuchadnezzar his kingdom, power, strength, and glory. In 1 Peter 1:24 we read that all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.

So we see that God's glory is eternal and that mans glory is fading. Yet, when we seek God, He imparts glory to us. Psalm 8:4-5 says “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? (5) For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.”

If we return to our passage in romans we see that glory, honor, and peace are available to us, but we also see the consequences for our seeking unrighteousness. And this passage can get a little confusing because it talks about those who work what is good, but the truth is no one really works what is good without God. In fact in this same book Paul says in Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.”

So how do we enter into this Glory, how do we escape the temporal, superficial glory of this life. Again we turn to the word of God. And we see that the person sent to make His glory known to us is Christ. We read in John 17:22-23 “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”

So who is he refering to when he says I have given it to them? His followers of course. “Those who by patient continuance...seek glory, honor, and imortality.” Those who believe Him and put there trust in Him. For we see in Hebrews 11:6 that those who come to God, must believe that He is and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him.

You see we are helpless in ourselfves, and we cannot attain this great salvation “But God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh.” (Romans 8:3) and he did this by allowing Himself to be Crucified on the Cross. He bled and died for our sins. The very glory of God being brought low so that we could be lifted up.

So we are left here with a choice. When Jesus was beginning His earthly ministry he went into the desert to fast and afterward Satan came to Him and tempted Him. If we look at Matthew 4:8-10 we see Satans temptation of giving Jesus rule over the whole earth, if Jesus would just bow down to Him. And let us be reminded that God has given this earth over to Satan so it was his to give back. Jesus was prepared and rejected the offer, repling “...Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” You have that same Choice. You can seek first the kingdom of God and gain eternal life, or you can seek the world and all it's pleasures, and end your life in eternal punishment. “For what profit is it, if a man gain the whole world and loose his soul.”(Matt 8:36)

The Enemy of God

“...know ye not that friendship with the world is enmity with God.”

“You cannot serve God and mammon.”

“Choose you this day whom you will serve...”

“A weed is just a plant out of place” This saying is never more applicaple then when we talk about the dandelion. I like dandelion, and think that a field covered in these little yellow dots of sunshine is a great sight to behold. Dandelions can also be useful. They are one of the honey bees first sources of pollen in the early spring And the tender baby greens are quite nutritious. But there is a sinister appendige lurking under those bright sunny dots. The Root! The root digs deep into the earth and pushes out other roots and hogs all of the nutrition.

Because of this root we have to be very leary of the quick spreading Dandy—Lion, and diligent to keep it away from anything that we want to be productive.

The world is like the dandelion in relation to our spiritual lives. There are a lot of good things in this world, but if we allow them to take root and grow they will take more and more of our time and push out the the things of Christ. In short we will be fruitless.

We can only be fruitful if we reject the unfruitful. We can only serve Christ if we reject the world. That is what James said in James 4:4, when he said that friendship of this world in enmity with God. In this verse a we see that double-mindedness is to be avoided. This is a major theme in the book of James, and can also be followed throughout the New Testament.

In Ephisians we read “...Have no fellowship with the works of darkness...”(5:11)
Christ said it this way, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.” (Mat 6:24)

This is the cost of following Jesus, we cannot embrace the things of this world and embrace Christ. Our arms are too small, our Garden is not fertile enough. Oil and water don't mix!

In I Samuel 17 we read,one of the most well known Bible Stories, the story of David and Goliath, In this story Goliath is mocking the Israelites, and no one will fight him. Then David comes to bring his brothers provisions and sees this great man of war mocking His God. He knew exactly what needed to be done, and he did it. He faced the giant. And he whipped him.

Sadly, a little further on we read,in II Samuel 11, that David was faced with another foe. He came face to face with his own lust and committed adultery with someone else's wife and eventually killed that man to cover it up.

Often times as Christians we see the big battles and we are ready to fight. We want to end abortion, lower taxes, get the government out of our schools and lives, and the list goes on. Don't misunderstand, the majority of these things are good and we should be invovled in them. But the question we each must ask ourselves is who are we Serving.

So I give you the same charge that Joshua did, in Joshua 24:15 “Choose you this day whom ye will serve..."

Living Weed Free 2

In order to learn how to get rid of those pesky weeds, I read, among other books, a book called “Weedless Gardening” this book was not just a book with a few quick fixes, in fact this was a whole new way of looking at weeds. Without getting into the particulars, lets suffice it to say that instead of pulling them out or killing them with herb-aside, this book teaches to suppress them with various natural means, including light tilling, mulch, vigorous growing plants bunched tightly together.

There are some parallels with this way of gardening and our spiritual life. We often dig our sin up and confess it, only to go our way and continue our lives in the same manner which we were living. Why does this happen when we are told in the bible that if we are in Christ we are a new creature? (2 Corinthians 5:17) Is there a better way?

Consider Colossians chapter 3 starting in verse 5: “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: (v. 5) But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. (v. 8)Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; (v. 9) And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: (v. 10) Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; (v. 12) Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. (v. 13) And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” (v. 14)

We as Christians are to first put off the old, then on the new. Just like a garden that is weeded and left alone, would inevitably start growing more weeds, our lives will never be free from a particular sin unless we “plant” good things. This of course takes time and great effort. I have to confess that although these gardening techniques do work and have helped, my garden is over grown with weeds by the end of every summer. Why? Because it is still a lot o f work and I find other things that are more important. In our spiritual lives it is going to be great deal of hard labor. But to be free from the sin, is the most important thing that you could ever do.

I didn't always feel this way. I have come through a journey myself and realize that you will have to come through one yourself. I came to Christ at a young age, even at four years old beginning my journey when my father came to me and asked the pointed question. “Do you want to go to heaven?” of course I did but that simple prayer I prayed that night was only words. I had to realize that I was guilty of sin that kept me away from God. After a few years of prayer and doubt, when I was 9 years old, I got alone with God, at summer camp and gave him my life.

When I ended up in the hospital with appendicitis a month after being baptized, I realized that this was really serous business. And when my baby brother died a few months later, there was no where else to go, but to the arms of Jesus. I had to learn to trust that God was doing what was best for me.

Yet, as I developed into a teenager, I became distracted with playing video games, watching TV, and sports. I got high on lewd pictures of woman. Then I became frustrated with life, I realized that I was wasting my life, but I blamed everyone else including God. I became bitter and angry often running to my room and pounding on the walls. And I did some other things that I am not proud of. When I look back at that time I was right on the door of becoming a complete reprobate and turning from God. I turned back to the time that I had given Him my life.

I was full of pride and I was full of sin. Then I was put in a back brace, in order to correct a curvature of the spine. During this time I was brought to a conference on Basic Youth Conflicts, put on by Bill Gothard. Through out the week, as I applied the biblical principles that were given, I became free from many of the attitudes in my life.

So where are you in the journey? Are you newly saved and looking to get rid of the baggage you have been carrying around, give it to Jesus. Are you suffering with overwhelming circumstances, and there seems to be no hope? You can find hope in the Word of God.

Living Weed Free

When we as a family moved to the country in 2000, I quickly learned some of the difficulties involved in the care of a garden. Our soil is rich clay soil, so I don't have a lot of problems with growing vegetation. Our soil was very rich yet still we were plagued with problems. Bugs, and mold played a part later on. But there was bigger and more pressing problem—weeds!

There was the giant weeds that had had time to put down deep roots and had to be dug out. Then there was the weeds that spread from the edge of the garden and intertwined with everything. Then, thankfully, there was the small seedlings that could easily be quashed, if caught early enough.

It is easy to see the spiritual analogy here. In Luke 8:5-15 Jesus tells a Parable referred to as “The Sower and The Seed”. We see in this parable there are four actions that can be taken when the word of God is preached. They are, listed along with there analogies: (1)By the wayside-turn away/ignore, (2) A Rock-No Root Only lasts a short time, (3)Among thorns-choked by cares (4)Good Ground-take root in the heart.

The weeds in this passage referred to as the cares of this world, are anything that gets in the way of our relationship with God. These are not necessarily sins, and in fact the passage doesn't even make it clear whether or not this person is saved. Yet we do know that Jesus said in a later passage “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

It is clear that we need to let go of everything in this life, in order to hold onto what is everlasting. But those “thorns” are hard for us to get away from. Even when we have excepted Christ, on one level we seek to do his will and make him our all and all. But the circumstances of life come in, we then take our focus off of God, and we get distracted.

This happened to Simon Peter. He was following Jesus, he even told him, “If everyone else forsake you, I will never forsake you.” and within a few hours he found himself denying that he ever new the man Christ Jesus.

So what do we do about these things in our lives? That is what this blog is about. It is about the circumstances that will drive us closer to God or drive us further away from God. It is about what we can do to be conformed to the image of Christ. And ultimately it is about a great and wonderful savior that loves us so much that he cannot leave us where we are.