How will you respond?

San Diego County officials shut down home Bible study

County official interrogates pastor and his wife

May 28, 2009

A San Diego pastor and his wife have been told they cannot have a Bible couple says they were interrogated by a San Diego County official, then threatened with ever increasing fines if they refuse to stop the Bible study.

According to the couple's attorney, they were questioned about the Bible study. "'Do you have a regular meeting in your home?" The pastor's wife replied, "Yes." "Do you say 'amen'?" the official asked. "Yes," she replied. "Do you pray?" Again she said, "Yes." "Do you say 'praise the Lord'?" Another "Yes." The official told the pastor and his wife they were in violation of county rules.

The Bible study usually has an average of about 15 people.

A few days later they got a written warning that listed the home Bible study an "unlawful use of land." They were notified to "stop religious assembly or apply for a major use permit," which could cost them thousands of dollars.

Could a small poetry club meet regularly in a home? Apparently, yes. What about a Cub Scout meeting? Evidently, yes. What if they meet regularly to watch Monday Night Football? Obviously, yes.

(Hi, received this in an email some time ago, and I was rather shocked. I began this “Thought” at the time, but was interrupted before posting it. Just came across it and decided the ideas are still valid.)

Wow! Could it be possible that any level of our government would consider interfering with a Bible Study in someone's home? I know it happens overseas. In fact, when I lived in Jordan there was a period of time where the government prohibited all religious gatherings within homes. But here, in America? Interesting!

We have been blessed for so long with religious freedom that I'm not sure we can imagine what it would be like to have that freedom compromised. What if we were facing a time when we could no longer worship or gather together in His name. I'm not trying to frighten you with some doom and gloom scenario. Christians throughout history have faced these challenges; Christians around the world are facing them now. There is no reason to suppose that we will never face such a trial. But I'm wondering what our response will be.

I remember a long time ago hearing a news report of Christians gathered outside of an abortion clinic trying to rescue the unborn. The reporter focused on how difficult it was for the women to walk through those Christians to receive the 'help' they needed. At the time, I remember wondering how many Christians would be willing to walk through the midst of a protesting, angry mob to go to church. Would we be willing even to break the law to gather together? Would Americans be willing to risk their lives to worship together?

What I am asking you to consider is your relationship with the Father, Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit, and with the Church? How important is it to you? How important would it be if it were to become difficult, even life-threatening, to live out that relationship? You could say, "Well, I don't have to gather together with other believers to be a Christian or to have a relationship with God. I can pray, read my Bible, and follow Him on my own." The Bible states plainly that we do need to gather together; we need one another in our relationship with Him. Paul uses the body as a picture of the Church, emphasizing how much we need one another. A hand or an eye or a toe cannot remain viable on its own for long, it will die. Even so, a Christian trying to live the Christian life on their own will find that life becoming stale, dry, and dead without the other parts of the body.

Recently, our church held a “Small Groups Fair” to introduce the new small group studies that were starting up for this fall. Our tables were spread out through the sanctuary so that attendees could walk around and gather information on the available groups and choose one that would be their opportunity to become connected within the body to other members. It was interesting to watch as the service ended how many just walked out without even considering becoming involved.

I overheard one of the couples that were visiting the different tables lament that fact that their schedules were so busy that they just did not know how they could possibly fit in one more thing. I totally understand, believe me, I know how crazy life has become for all of us. But I want to ask you, where are your priorities? I understand, you want your children to be involved in sports that will teach them life-skills, you have clubs and activities that add so much to your life, and then there is the very necessary family time. But have you considered how ultimately important fellowship with other believers really is? How important the spiritual growth and development of you and your family are?

Sunday morning service is amazing! It offers us opportunity for corporate worship as a body, we hear messages that encourage and direct our walks in the path of righteousness, and we are given the privilege of presenting our tithes and offerings to the Lord. The one thing Sunday morning lacks is the opportunity for deep and personal connection with other believers, along with the growth and development only such connection provides. This is where small groups come in, providing the personal connection, the encouraging support, and the opportunity for Holy Spirit to manifest Himself to you through the gifts He has given to others (not even to mention the opportunity for you to experience God as His Spirit manifests through your life in the gifts He has given you). As I have already stated, God created His body specifically to draw us to one another, to make us interdependent on one another.

Two [are] better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him [that is] alone when he falleth; for [he hath] not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm [alone]? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Ecc 4:9-12

We need one another. Along with the priority of our relationship to God, we also need to give priority to our place in the body. Right now we have the freedom to come together. We have the opportunity to be a member of the living body of Christ. If we don’t see the value now, will we see it when/if it becomes a life and death decision?

Just another thought on this article:

When we are faced with an "unfair or illegal" attack on our “freedoms,” how should we respond? An article I read as I checked out this story, said that there were some calls for picketing, for harassing county officials, for jamming local call-in station's phone lines. Another article said that Blogs were running with this story and that one even (supposedly) suggested the best positioning for snipers. I mean, could this be true? Surely the more outrageous of these ideas did not come from the Church of our heavenly Father. Our hearts would NEVER consider snipers or violence. Any response to the world’s attempts to limit our ‘freedom’ should always be expressed with the heart and mind of Christ.

Love,

Ev

One thing have I desired and that will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in His tablernacle. Psalm 27:4

The Bible and the Two Covenants

I’d like to share with you the first lesson of a study I did quite some time back. The study was on the book of Matthew, but I started off with a quick overview of the Bible, the New Testament, and the Gospels to get things kicked off. When our church began reading through the New Testament, it brought back so much of what I had researched and put together, and I wanted to share it with you.

Purpose

A collection of writings, the Bible was written by at least 40 authors and has been organized into 66 books. Any particular ‘book’ of the Bible may have originally been a history, a collection of songs, a collection of wise sayings, a record of prophetic messages, or a letter to a body of believers. These writings were gathered together over the course of 1400-1800 years.

The Bible is both an account of the redemption of man and the story of God’s effort to reveal Himself to man. As such, it focuses upon the Redeemer (John 1:29, John 10:10-11, John 14:6) and the Revealer, i.e. the Lamb of God and the Word of God – Jesus Christ (John 1:1, John 14:9, John 10:30, and John 1:18). By the way, the Greek in John 1:1 for ‘Word’ is ‘logos’, which conveys an expression of the nature, concept, thought, and spirit, not simply the physical sounds or the written characters.

Because of the nature and purpose of the Bible, we should not expect it to contain an historic account of all of civilization, nor should we look there to find the details of the design of our world and the nature of the universe. The Bible also does not have very much to say about eternity past nor eternity future. Instead, it is focused on the realm of time and space in which God chose to reveal His great glory, mercy, and grace in the redemption of His creation.

Old and New

The 66 ‘books’ of the Bible are divided into what we now refer to as the Old Testament and the New Testament. What these terms are attempting to convey is that the Old Testament (made up of the writings collected as sacred Scripture by the Jews – 39 ‘books’) deals primarily with the covenantal relationship of God to the physical descendents of Abraham through Isaac (the nation of Israel). This covenantal relationship was based upon a system of laws instituted by God and later expanded and developed by religious leaders to include their traditions and legal interpretations; much like any governmental system is expanded and developed over time. And just as our legal system can only govern the outward obedience to the law, so the Old Covenant (Old Testament) is all about maintaining an outward obedience to the law, which proved of little use in changing hearts and minds and of no use whatsoever in transforming sinful man into a holy, new creation. Of course, God realized this from the beginning, we did not. The Old Covenant was to teach us just how incapable we are in our flesh to obey God’s righteous commands.

The New Testament (New Covenant) contains the Christian Scriptures, which relate to the covenantal relationship of God to the Church, through Jesus Christ. This new covenant is based upon the sacrificial death of the Lamb of God, Who redeemed us (paid the penalty for our sin). Because of our faith in His finished work, we are ‘born again’ (born of the spirit) as a new creation in Christ (something totally different from what we were). Our sins have been atoned for by the shed blood of Jesus, so when we believe and receive His saving gift, we stand before God justified (made righteous). This is an amazing concept for which we have many analogies, but sometimes find it hard to grasp, which is why we tend to get all caught up in trying to live under some system laws. (Remember, it didn’t work for the Jews, and it won’t work for us.)

I love Romans 12:1-2, which tells us not to be conformed to the world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Being conformed is sort of like living under the law, you try to reign yourself in to fit into some sort of model. Transformed is from the Greek word metamorpoo. Can you guess what that means? It is a total change in nature (remember ‘new creation’), and I believe it refers to the change that only the Holy Spirit is able to accomplish in our lives from the inside (where He is) out. Even trying to conform ourselves to the perfect model of Christ is impossible for us to do by our own effort or willpower. The Holy Spirit is able to work in us as we submit to Him, and He is able to work out into our lives the righteousness Jesus died to give us.

These two concepts are contained within the New Covenant: the penalty paid once and for all by the Lamb of God and the ongoing sanctification (or remodeling work) of the Holy Spirit from within us.

OK, that’s all I can get to tonight (it is late and tomorrow is another day). I just want to add that this is a very sketchy overview. Not only is it limited by the time and space available, but also by my limited understanding and experience. (I am trying to remind you that I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination.) Nevertheless, I hope it will bless you!

Let me leave you with one other thought that I gathered in my original research so many years ago. The Old Testament is the account of a nation (Israel), and the New Testament is the account of a Man (Jesus Christ). The nation was nurtured to bring forth the Man!

I will try to continue this tomorrow and to focus in on the New Testament and the Gospels. Love,

Ev

One thing have I desired and that will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in His tablernacle. Psalm 27:4

Pour it Out to the Lord!

"He would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord." 2 Sam. 23:16

If you have become bitter and sour, it is because when God gave you a blessing you hoarded it. Yet if you had poured it out to Him, you would have been the sweetest person on earth. If you are always keeping blessings to yourself and never learning to pour out anything 'to the Lord,' other people will never have their vision of God expanded through you. Oswald Chambers

For those of you not familiar with the passage of Scripture quoted above, it regards an incident in David's life when he was in hiding from Saul and the Philistines had a garrison in Bethlehem. In a moment of longing, David said, "Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which [is] by the gate!"

Three of his mighty men risked their lives because of their love for David to bring him water from the well. Yet David refused to drink it and poured it out to the Lord, saying, "Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this: [is not this] the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it."

When I read this quote and this devotional by Oswald Chambers, I prayed about it because I wasn't sure how it would apply in my life. Somehow the quote touched me deeply. I felt that it applied to a particular area of blessing in my life, but I just could not quite understand how.

Then as I read my Scripture portion for the morning, I came across the incident between Jesus and Peter in which Peter rebuked Him for telling them that the Son of Man would "suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and [of] the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again." Jesus "rebuked Peter, saying, 'Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.'"

Jesus then went on to say to His disciples and to the multitude: "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it."

I really felt that this was an answer to my prayer regarding the pouring out of the blessing in my life. I felt God was trying to tell me that it is about being whole-hearted and holding on to NOTHING. It is being willing to lay it all down and let it all go in faith.

Some years ago, I went through a very difficult situation, and I realize now that I was so distraught because I was trying to save the 'life' I thought was mine. The situation itself developed because I had tried to fit my 'life' into the mold that someone else had set for me and because of my overriding desire to be accepted. In the end, I had to let go of a marvelous blessing God had given me.

My prayer is that the Lord will help me to remember this. I pray that I will remember to hold very loosely the blessings He gives, or rather that I will NOT hold them at all but will pour them out to Him. I want to be willing to pour it all out without reservation and without giving into the fear of man that haunts me, to pour my very life out to Him.

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Love,
Ev


One thing have I desired and that will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in His tablernacle. Psalm 27:4

Remember, The Lord's Lovingkindnesses Never Cease

So I say, "My strength has perished, and so has my hope from the Lord." Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness. "The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I have hope in Him." The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. Lam. 3:17-25

In trial and suffering, we become focused on the situation, leading to despair and hopelessness. At these times, we MUST CHOOSE to remember God's goodness, to dwell on His nature not on the circumstances. In God Himself is our hope!

Love,
Ev

One thing have I desired and that will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in His tablernacle. Psalm 27:4