A dear, faithful CLCer writes, “sometimes I pray better silently.  When I pray aloud sometimes I stumble remembering Scripture or what I want the Lord to know, yet I could be laying in bed and just having a good time with my converstation with Him.   Any ideas about that?”

GREAT question.  I’m sure you’re not alone in feeling that you express yourself better to the Lord silently, in your thoughts, than aloud.  And there’s certainly a Biblical precedent for that, in the case of Hannah, who was noted in Scripture for her prayer in 1Samuel 1:1-18.  Note especially verses 12-15, where it clearly tells us she prayed, even poured out her heart to the Lord, but no sound was heard, for she prayed in her heart, silently.  And God answered her prayer!  So I know that praying silently is acceptable to the Lord.

However, I would be misleading you if I didn’t quickly add that silent prayer in Scripture is the exception, not the rule.  Instead the Bible repeatedly encourages us to “lift up our voice to the Lord” (see Psalms 5:2, 17:1, 18:6, Acts 4:24, etc.) and Hebrews 13:15 makes it quite clear that some of our praise must be verbal (“the fruit of our lips”).

So probably the best answer to your question is that both kinds of prayer are acceptable to the Lord – silent and aloud, but the normal practice in the Bible is to pray aloud.  The good news is that HE answers both – so let’s pray!

Hope that helps.  Now, what would YOU like to Ask the Pastor?

A faithful CLCer writes, “In our daily reading of Matthew 9:29-30, Jesus heals the 2 blind men. Jesus sternly warned them to “tell no one about this.” Is there a reason Jesus would want them to remain silent concerning this? Also, I wonder if Jesus became upset when they did not listen! Any thoughts on this?

Good question.  Unfortunately, I don’t think the Bible ever explains this one, so we’re left to our own logic and some inferences from other passages.  Here are my thoughts:

• I know Jesus was concerned about timing(see John 2:3-4 ; John 7:8 for examples).  He did not want to rush his betrayal & crucifixion, and he knew his fame/popularity would no doubt result in attention by the Pharisees that would eventually led to that.
• Isaiah had prophesied that the Messiah wouldn’t call attention to himself (lift up his voice in public, etc), which was connected to another incident where he told those healed not to talk about it – see Matthew 12:15-21
• Some have suggested that Jesus didn’t want to call attention to physical healings, knowing that many people would then be attracted to him only for their physical needs, whereas He came primarily to heal us spiritually.
• Maybe it’s just me, but I even wonder if perhaps He was using some reverse psychology, because it seems the more He told people to keep it quiet, the more His fame grew!  (see Matthew 9:30-31; Mark 7:35-36)

As to your last question, no, I don’t think Jesus would have been upset – since He’s called each of us to be His witnesses!  Even today, the more we tell our story of what He’s done for us, the more people will be drawn to Him!

Hope that helps.  Now, what would you like to Ask the Pastor?

One of my favorite CLCers writes, “What are your thoughts on the infamous Christian cliche: “WE ARE SINNERS SAVED BY GRACE.” How can we be sinners if we are saved? I thought we were “saints” once we got saved. How then can we still be sinners? It’s like a former drug user getting in front of an NA group ten years after he has been delivered from drug abuse and saying ” Hi, my name is so and so and I’m a drug addict who hasn’t used drugs in ten years.” I know we still sin in word, thought and deed, but if we’re still sinners, then we’ve emptied the Cross of its power and Christ died for nothing.  Please advise.”

I love this question, because I’ve never been able to address this issue before – and I totally agree with the questioner.  I do understand (I think) why so many preachers & believers use that cliche’, in an effort to try to connect with unsaved people and not come across as spiritually superior or arrogant – and I agree with each of those desires!

However, I do NOT find any Biblical use of that phrase or even support for that concept.  Instead, we read in 1Cor 6:9-11 that we were like that, but we were cleansed, made holy and made right with God!  Yes, absolutely we were sinners, but Scripture never refers to us now as “sinners saved by grace”.

Before someone cites 1John 1:8-10, let me quickly say that I’m not suggesting that we never sin after coming to Christ.  But I am contending that that is NOT who we are – our new identity in Christ is that we are called to be “saints”  (Rom 1:7; 1Cor 1:2; 2Cor 1:1; Eph 1:1; Phil 1:1; Col 1:2; etc.).  In fact, I found about 60 times in the New Testament where believers were referred to as “saints”, but not once where they were called “sinners”.

Why does it matter?  Because how you see yourself affects how you live!  If you see yourself as just a sinner, it will be easy for you to go on sinning.  But if you see yourself as a saint (made holy by the blood of Jesus), you will strive to walk worthy of that calling!

Hope that helps.  Now, what would YOU like to Ask the Pastor?

Well, I thought the last question of 2011 was….ahem……different….but it seems like the first question of 2012 is out of the ordinary as well, as a faithful CLC volunteer writes, “my question is more of wanting to hear your thoughts about Tim Tebow.  I’ve been watching ESPN as they debate whether or not Tebow should dial back his faith.”

Interesting question, both as a pastor and as a sports fan.  Here’s my perspective:

• First of all, I happen to know that Tim Tebow spent his formative years in a charismatic church much like CLC, so he grew up in an environment of the Word and the Holy Spirit, and from everything I’ve seen and heard, seems to have embraced those values fully as his own.  In other words, in my humble opinion, Tim is the real deal – a genuine follower of Christ, not someone who is grandstanding the Christian faith in hopes of some publicity.
• Secondly, while I don’t pretend to know about every interview he’s ever given, I can say that everything that I have personally seen him say or do in print or TV interviews, he definitely comes across as a genuine believer.  In spite of the fact that the liberal media wants to portray him as a religious nut, he has consistently given balanced, sensible, and Biblical answers.
• Finally, there’s really no such thing in Scripture as a “private” relationship with God – personal, yes, but private, no.  As believers we are called to do everything for the glory of God. (see 1Cor 10:31 and 1Peter 4:11)

As a pastor, I wish that all of us in whatever occupation or arena of life we operate could so publicly demonstrate our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ – and I, for one, thank God that Tim Tebow is using the huge platform he’s been given as a sports celebrity to glorify God!

So there you have it.  Now, what would YOU like to ask the Pastor?

Our final question of 2011 comes from a friend to me & CLC who writes, “If a man has had a sex change, surgery and all, and now lives as a woman and wants to be a Christian attending church, how should the church respond to him/her? Also would you tell her to stay a woman or go back to a man?”

When I first read the question I thought (in my best Lovie Smith voice), “Now what kind of question is that?”

But in case it’s a serious question, I’m gonna give it a serious answer, as my final Friday post for this year.  Let’s consider the facts:

• since there was no such thing as “sex changes” in Bible times, we must understand that the Bible does NOT address this question.
• Since there are no direct references to this dilemma in Scripture, our only hope would be to apply Biblical principles to try to answer this.
• The ONLY verse I can think of that might somehow apply to this hypothetical situation is 1Cor 7:20-24.  Since this person had the sex change before becoming a Christian, as I apply these verses, I would say ‘she’ should remain as ‘she’ is.
• As to how the church should respond to her, I would hope that any local church would respond to this individual as we would any other person; i.e., with love and compassion and the same Christian courtesy that we would want for ourselves – while also helping to disciple this individual in the ways of Christ, including sexual purity and wholeness.

For sure, it’s an interesting question – but probably not that far-fetched in today’s world.  May we shine as lights in this dark world so that people who are hurting and lost without Jesus, regardless of how their ‘lostness’ (sin nature) may be manifest, will be drawn to the light and not repelled by it.

Hope that helps.  Now, what would YOU like to Ask the Pastor?

And I hope you’ll join us Saturday at 5pm as we bid farewell to 2011 and welcome 2012!

A faithful CLCer writes, “What does Deuteronomy 7:20 mean when it says, ‘Moreover the Lord your God will send the hornet among them until those who are left, who hide themselves from you are destroyed’?”

Hmmm, maybe I’m missing something, but just in case, I think it means exactly what it says.  In this chapter, the Lord explains to Israel that He chose them to be His special treasure and that He is driving out the previous inhabitants of this land in order to give it to Israel as a permanent possession.  So in verse 20 He says that even if some of those nations try to hide, He will send hornets among them, to drive them out.

So unless your question is about some deeper, ‘spiritual’ truth contained in this verse, it simply means that God was fighting their battles for them, in order to give the land to Israel as He had promised.  He specifically charged them not to compromise and intermarry with the previous inhabitants, since that could entice them away from the worship of the true God (verses 2-4).

As to a New Testament truth for us here, I just see it as another aspect of how thoroughly the Lord takes care of His people and how He watches over every detail of His Word to fulfill it (Deut. 7:16-20; Jer. 1:11-12)

Hope that helps.  Now, what would YOU like to Ask the Pastor?

A faithful CLCer writes, “I have heard the statement ‘If the Devil really knew who Jesus was when he was on earth he would have never crucified Jesus’.  I am not too sure this is a true statement; if it is not, then my question is answered.  If it is, then I do wonder!! Here is the question:  If the Devil did not really know who Jesus was, then how did the demons know who he was every time he was casting them out?”

GREAT question.  Great because it does have a Biblical answer, and I don’t just have to give my opinion.  I think the statement you’ve heard is based on 1Corinthians 2:7-8.  As you’ll note there, it doesn’t say the devil didn’t know who Jesus was; it says he didn’t know the hidden wisdom of God.  My understanding of that passage is that the devil and his cohorts didn’t understand that God’s plan was for Jesus to die in order to redeem us from the Fall and make it possible for us to receive eternal life.  (If the devil had known that, surely he wouldn’t have tried to have Jesus executed at the Cross!)

As you point out in your question, the demons always seemed to know exactly who Jesus was when He cast them out; but thankfully, they didn’t understand God’s hidden plan, and thus even the enemy of our souls unwittingly cooperated with God’s plan and became a pawn to help bring about the very plan of God from before the foundation of the world – that the Lamb of God would be slain for us!  (see Revelation 13:8)

So the bottom line is, the statement you’ve heard was just a little bit off – but thank God for the truth that God’s plan, though hidden from the enemy, is clearly revealed to us: we can have eternal life because of the death of His son!

Hope that helped.  Now, what would YOU like to Ask the Pastor?

Our next question is regarding dreams.  A reader writes, “I know that in the Old Testament God spoke through dreams.  Also, there are instances in the New Testament that God still spoke through dreams.  Sometimes people dream and it seems that there is a message in the dream and sometimes the dreams don’t make sense.  How are we to determine if God is trying to speak to us through our dreams in this time?”

GREAT question.  This is, in my humble opinion, a much overlooked subject in Scripture.  In fact, Job said the God speaks to us again and again in dreams, though we don’t recognize it, while we are asleep! (Job 33:14-15)  I suspect, for some of us, that’s His best opportunity, as we often don’t slow down long enough to hear His voice when we’re awake, so He tries to get our attention when we’re asleep!

I’m sure there are many answers to your question as to “how” we can determine if it’s a “God-dream” or just “bad pizza” that’s speaking to us, but here are a few:

• Generally, I think the dream stays with you.  I don’t mean by that that you won’t ever forget the details, because that’s certainly what happened to Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2 (assuming he wasn’t just testing his sorcerers, but actually couldn’t remember the details).  But in the other examples in both Testaments, the individual who had the dream was often troubled by it when they awoke, because the dream stayed with them.

• Sometimes, you just “know” that the dream is from the Lord.  Personally, I almost never remember a dream, and in all my ministry I only recall one dream that I knew was from God.  It happened about 13 years ago, when I saw the main stage of a General Conference service for my former denomination and heard the emcee say, “And now, introducing our newly-appointed missionaries to Senegal, Jerry & Chris McQuay”.  With those words, I awoke.  It was so specific that I just ‘knew’ it must be from God.  I also felt certain that He wasn’t calling us to return to our denomination, so the only conclusion left was that God had an assignment for us in the nation of Senegal.  It’s too long a story to go into now, but after a couple of years of searching, we finally found a contact there and we’ve been involved in that West African nation ever since, as CLC has since provided 20% of all the evangelical church buildings in the entire country!

• It may be that the dream results from a prayer you’ve prayed or a desire you’ve had.  In my case above, while I certainly hadn’t even thought about Senegal (didn’t even know where it was located in Africa), my friend David Shibley from Global Advance had challenged me earlier to find CLC’s unique role in fulfilling the Great Commission, and I was asking the Lord to show me what HE wanted specifically from CLC in that regard – and now, I consider that dream a major part of His plan for CLC.

• There are books and teachings now available in the body of Christ on the subject of dream interpretation, so if this subject piques your interest, I suggest you search for those.  By no means is my list complete, and others will offer additional insights, I’m sure.

Hope that helps.  Now, what would YOU like to Ask the Pastor?

My favorite questioner is at it again: “Can you explain to me the Heart versus the Soul, versus the Spirit?  Are all of these connected together some type of way? If yes, what way?”

No more softball questions, huh?  This one is difficult, because while there are many opinions, I’ve not found much in the way of clear-cut, unequivocal statements in Scripture about these terms.  Anyway, you asked, so I’ll give it my best shot:

• The heart (and I’m assuming you aren’t thinking of the muscular organ that pumps blood throughout our body, enabling us to live) is usually considered the center of who we are, our inner-most being and the seat of our emotions.

• The soul is also usually defined as the center of our will and emotions – so, in my mind, those two terms of pretty much interchangeable.  Having said that, I know that Matt. 22:37 uses both words, so I can’t really defend my opinion.  Perhaps someone reading this has a better definition – if so, please leave your comment below and help us all!

• The spirit seems to refer to the life-force that comes from God and that enables us to relate to God.

Boy, I’ll readily admit that this is not a strong suit for me – does anyone else have insight beyond just your own opinion?  (As I sometines say, opinions are like belly-buttons – we all have one, but we that doesn’t mean we have to pull it out & show everyone).  But if you have some Biblical insights on this question, I’m all ears!

Not sure that helped anyone, but I’ll still say: Now, what would YOU like to Ask the Pastor?

A faithful CLCer asks, “In Acts 9:8-9, why did God blind Saul for three days and he didn’t eat nor drink until he got to Damascus?”

Hmmm, good question.  I don’t know.

Just kidding, sort of.  It is a question I’ve never been asked before and never given a lot of thought to.  But since you asked, I did a little digging.  Here’s what I found:

• the blindness no doubt was to humble him.  Imagine: this persecutor of the Church, who was capturing Christians and throwing them into jail was now a helpless captive himself, who had to be led by the hand just to get into the city.  I’m sure it was a humbling experience that resulted from his vision of Christ on the road.

• Every scholar says the three days of no food or drink was a fast – and again, it was a very humbling experience for Saul.  Imagine, in just a moment of time he had been told by the Lord that everything he had ever believed and fought for was mistaken!  Don’t you know those three days were a real time of soul-searching, as he tried to make sense out of what happened to him when Jesus appeared and told him that HE was Paul’s Lord!  Anyone who has ever fasted, especially for three days, can testify of what a humbling experience it is (yet how good for us!)

• Seems like a great segue, after we’ve all stuffed ourselves full of turkey and all the trimmings yesterday, to be talking on Black Friday about fasting.  (I’m sure we all need to repent of some of yesterday’s excess, and the fasting would do us good in more ways than one!)  But while I’ve got your attention, it’s not too early to get this on your radar: we will join with churches all over the world to set aside 21 days of fasting and prayer in early 2012, and I want to challenge you NOW to purpose in your heart to participate in some way.  At CLC, we believe God will lead you as to how you and your family should fast with us, whether it’s a juice fast, a ‘Daniel’ fast, designated days of absolute fasting within the 21 days, or even fasting certain meals throughout the fasting period.  The important thing is that each of us takes some time to humble ourselves before the Lord (Ezra 8:21; Psa 35:13).  I hope you’ll start making plans to join us!

Hope that helped.  Now, what would you like to Ask the Pastor?

A faithful CLCer writes, ” If people commit suicide, yet ask for forgiveness for the act that they are “going” to commit, do they have an opportunity to find Heaven or are they damned for all eternity?”

Ouch.  I sense the pain behind that question, and my heart grieves for anyone who has ever had to ask themselves that question in the aftermath of a suicide.

Let me say this upfront: The Bible is silent on this issue.  From my 40+ years of studying the Scriptures, I’ve never found anything in the Bible that addresses this question directly. SO, anything that I say (or that anyone else says on this subject) is strictly an opinion, and NOT ‘thus saith the Lord’.

In my humble opinion, the act of suicide (besides being a horribly selfish act considering what it does to the surviving family and friends) is an action taken in a moment of ‘temporary insanity’; i.e., I can’t imagine that anyone in their right mind would rationally choose to end their own life.

Having said that, it’s my opinion that such an act would NOT be the final criteria by which God judged an individual for all eternity – just as I don’t believe He judges an innocent child or handicapped individual who doesn’t have the mental capacity to choose Jesus as their Savior.

Instead, I think that someone who commits suicide would instead be judged just like all the rest of us, on the basis of whether they had turned from sin and fully trusted in Jesus Christ to be their Savior. After all, there is salvation in no other way (Acts 4:12; John 14:6, Galatians 2:15-16)

How all of that sorts out in eternity is really in God’s hands, not ours, but you asked, so I gave you my opinion.

Hope that helps.  Now what would YOU like to Ask the Pastor?

A faithful CLCer writes, “My friend and I just discovered the pagan roots of the celebration we call Christmas and were thinking about not celebrating it the conventional way and time. But by doing that are we acting as those under the law or are we just being responsible for what we now know?”

Interesting question.  Let me begin by applauding your sincerity in wanting to please the Lord fully, as evidenced by your willingness to go against peer pressure and all of our culture in order to not do something that might be displeasing to the Lord – I wish every believer were so motivated! (It also fulfills 2Cor 5:9 and 1Thess. 4:1)

As to whether you are being legalistic or responsible, I’m not sure I could answer that, since only you would know your true motive.

However, in my humble opinion (since you asked me), I think you may be starting down a slippery slope IF your motivation is to avoid the ‘pagan roots’ of Christmas.  I say that because virtually everything has some pagan roots – (including our calendar & the days of the week!) and if we start “majoring on minors” it won’t be long until you can’t observe any holiday or enjoy almost any tradition – because almost all of them have some kind of pagan roots somewhere.  Most of this is so because after the Roman Empower Constantine declared himself a Christian in the early 300′s A.D., the Roman church made it a ‘strategy’ whenever engaging in missionary activity among the heathens to incorporate any of the pagan’s holidays & beliefs into their practice of Christianity.  That strategy or practice is usually called syncretism.

My personal practice with my own family (and my suggestion to you) is that you observe the holiday according to your belief’s; i.e., just because someone somewhere at sometime in the past observed Christmas in a certain way doesn’t have to dictate to me how I celebrate.  For instance, I understand that colored eggs and marshmellow bunnies don’t have anything to do with the Resurrection of Jesus, but as long as I know the meaning of the holiday and celebrate His Resurrection (actually, every day!), then I don’t see the harm of allowing my children or grandchildren to enjoy the festivities — and I do know that some well-meaning Christians have ‘scarred’ their children by requiring them not to participate in similar activities, causing the children to feel they were missing out and making them feel isolated among their classmates, sometimes even to the point of ridicule, etc.

That’s my opinion.  Pastor Mark Beeson has this great post on his blog about observing Halloween, which may have some similar principles to what I’ve stated here.  The only Scripture that comes to mind that might have some bearing on this whole issue is Romans 14, so I’d encourage you to read it carefully to see all the principles involved.

Hope that helps.  Now, what would YOU like to Ask the Pastor?

For the 3rd straight week we’re focused on this area of forgiveness & consequences, as another follow-up question came: What does Romans 9:18 mean? Does God allow some people to have consequences for their sins, and others to not have consequences?

Big question. Hard to understand subject – but lets try:

The short answer is no, I wouldn’t say Romans 9:18 is addressing the idea of consequences to our sins. It really speaks to a much bigger, more difficult issue: the sovereignty of God & the doctrine of “free will”. (if you read a larger section of that passage, say, verses 10-24, you’ll see what I mean – that God is God, and as mere humans we may not always understand, but we’re not in a position to tell Him what He must do!)

That probably opened up a can of worms that’s bigger than this post to resolve.

But to the heart of what I perceive your question to be, I would say 2 things:

• just because WE don’t see consequences for some people’s sins doesn’t mean that THEY don’t have any.  Everything is not always visible – and they may be suffering in ways we know nothing about.
• Just as importantly, we live in an imperfect world, where bad things sometimes happen to good people, and good things sometime happen to bad people.  When it comes to consequences, why is it that I’ve known Christian youth who lived godly lives until a moment of weakness & passion they committed fornication one time, and became pregnant, while other youth sleep around with no regard for God’s Word and never faced pregnancy or shame for their actions.  That’s not a hypothetical; I’ve pastored & counselled people in those exact circumstances!  WHY?  Because we live in an imperfect world and sometimes things just happen that way.

I do realize that’s not a satisfying answer, and maybe I set up unrealistic expectations by inviting people to send me their questions, because the truth is: there are some things in this life that we won’t ever understand until we get to heaven.

The bottom-line on this issue, for me at least, is that while God is ALWAYS ready to forgive our sin if we are willing to truly repent, sometimes there will still be consequences to those sins that we’ll have to deal with, even though we’ve been forgiven.  Sometimes, in God’s mercy, there are no lasting consequences.

Hope that helps a bit.  Now, what would YOU like to Ask the Pastor?

Last week’s question and answers generated many responses, including follow-up questions – so I decided to “strike while the iron is hot”:

One reader responded: “If a “believer” repeatedly commits adultery, for example, and repeatedly confesses and repents, does God continue to forgive and forget? Doesn’t repentance include turning away from the activity you are repenting from? Isn’t the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us able to deliver a sincere, repentant believer from habitually sinning?

Unfortunately, it is the misuse of God’s forgiveness among the Body of Christ that turns off many non-believers, and some believers, because of those who continue in habitual sin who feel they are OK with God because God forgives them no matter how many times they commit the same sin. Under these circumstances, it is as though God has no expectation of behavioral change, that God has no regenerating power and that the Body is hypocritical.”

Great questions, all. And my answer is, “Yes, Yes, and Yes” – yes, God does forgive & forget even repetitive sin; yes, real repentance includes turning from our sinful activity; and yes, the Holy Spirit is more than able to deliver us!

I do think my reader’s final paragraph is where the rub comes in, so let me elaborate:

My answer last week is directed at sincere believers, not hypocritical charlatans who profess to be Christians without any heart-change. I know from experience (mine & others) that it is possible to truly repent & sincerely want to do right, but fall into the same sin repeatedly because of one’s own weakness (after all, read psalm 78 and luke 17) and still God’s grace extends forgiveness.