This May Hurt

Hey friends. On monday I gave you guys a break. But today it is back to work! I have to warn you, this may hurt.

Observe:

"This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother." ~1 John 3:10

"In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: ²Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season...keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist" ~2 Timothy 4:1-2,5

It should not be new for you to hear that anybody who doesn't love their brother doesn't love God. This truth is everwhere in the Bible. Jesus said that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. So again, this shouldn't be anything new that I am saying. Love your neighbor, we all already know this.

But here is the great inconsistancy I see between our words and our actions. We say we love our neighbor, but way too many Christians very rarely, if ever, share their faith. Can we really say that we love our neighbor if we are unwilling to share with them the key to eternal life and the only way to escape eternal judgement? Some may read these words and say to themselves that "evangelism is not my gift." I am sorry to say that I find that excuse unacceptable. This would be similar to myself saying that I refuse to do the dishes because "acts of service is not my gift." If we truely believe that Jesus is the only way to eternal life than we can no longer justify not sharing this message on a regular basis. I included the above scripture from Timothy to show us that evangelism is everyone's responsibility.

I understand, it is scary. I do believe evangelism is my gift and yet I still get butterflies in my stomach every single time I am about to share the gospel with someone. It is scary because, if we do it correctly, it requires great humility. Perhaps even the kind of humility that Jesus felt when he washed the disciples feet.

I will go one step further. I am hearing about movements for Christ that are happening all over the world. Yet I am also aware that such movements are rare in America. In many parts of the world people break laws and risk their lives to share the gospel, and in many of those places the gospel is flourishing! But here in America we are freely allowed to share the gospel, yet so many remain silent. Could this be why God is not pouring out revivial on us in the same way that others are receiving it? This may be nothing more than disobedience on our part. Will God bless the disobediant church?

The hardest part is often finding a way to bring it up. This is what works best for me: Simply saying "Can I share something personal with you?" This is respectful because you are asking permission. That is just my approach. As you do this more you will find ways that work best for you.

I believe there can be a 3rd great awakening. I really do.

With His love,

Charlie

Take a Break

Hey friends.
As you know, I often write words to inspire all of us to seek God with more passion and zeal. But not today. Today, I want to give you guys a rest. Here is the truth that I hope will cause you all to take a deep breath of relaxation:

All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be. ~Psalm 139:16

So take a break friends. God's plan for your life will happen. You have no need to worry about a single thing. The plans of Jesus can never be thwarted- even by our sin. Nothing will stop what God has prepared for us. Nothing.
Take a moment and thank God for his absolute control and guidance over every single detail of of both history and future.
With Christ's Love,
Charlie

A Brief Note on Evolution

Hello friends,
Some of you may have heard of Paleontologist (fossil expert) and Biologist Stephen Jay Gould. He spent his life as an instructor at both Harvard and the American Museum of Natural History. He is among the best known and widely read scientists of the late 20th century.
Here are some of his quotes:

The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as the trade secret of paleontology. The evolutionary trees that adorn our textbooks have data only at the tips and nodes of their branches … in any local area, a species does not arise gradually by the gradual transformation of its ancestors; it appears all at once and fully formed.
~Stephen Jay Gould 'Evolution's erratic pace'. Natural History, vol. LXXXVI95), May 1977

"All paleontologists know that the fossil record contains precious little in the way of intermediate forms; transitions between the major groups are characteristically abrupt."
~Stephen Jay Gould'The return of hopeful monsters'. Natural History, vol. LXXXVI(6), June-July 1977, p. 24.

Why do so many highly educated people cling to evolutionary theory in spite of such a lack of fossil evidence?
I am not going to spend my time answering that question. Instead, I want to discuss something else. We Christians, I fear, tend to believe that evolution creates a unique challenge for ministry and evangelism. We think that, because of the widespread belief of evolution, people are more prone than ever before to reject the gospel truth.
Let me say, as a former evolutionist zealot, that this is not at all true. There is nothing unique about this generation. Satan has always been hard at work and people have always had sinful and unbelieving hearts. As Ecclesiastes tells us "there is nothing new under the sun."
Nevertheless, the widespread lies about evolution make me angry. Sadly, many Christians have not known how to approach these lies, and for this reason I have thought it helpful to share with you the above quotes. They may be worth memorizing.
I hope this has been helpful.
In Him,
Charlie

My Failure and my Discovery

Hello Friends!
Today, in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, I came across what may be the best summery of what God desires from mankind:

"And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul" ~Deuteronomy 10:12

Here God himself is saying that this is all he really wants from us is love, devotion, and obedience. Simple enough right?
Wrong. This is actually the whole problem. We don't love God "with all our heart." Instead, we have chosen other things to give our hearts to. If you have read some of my last messages you have seen that I have lately been dedicating myself to "seeking the Lord with all of my heart." And what have I found? I have found that even my most sincere and earnest attempts at seeking God are still not that impressive. The more I try to seek God the more I see that I do not have the ability to please Him with my futile efforts.
And here, my friends, lies the secret to the Christian faith. We are incapable of meeting God's standards. Do not be deceived into thinking this only applies to nonbelievers. Again, we are all incapable of meeting His standards. And it is only when we fully realize this that we are able to truly please God. And how do we then please God?

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" ~Galations 2:20,21

Look again at the verse from Deuteronomy that says what God wants from mankind. Jesus was the only one who was able to actually do those things. Everyone else failed. Yet God took the righteousness that Christ earned and gave it to us. And God took the punishment we earned and gave it to Christ. This is the Gospel message: We can be justified by faith in Christ, apart from what we do.
Why is it that we who have been enlightened to the truth so easily forget our foundation? Yes, I shall continue to seek God with all of my heart. Yet I must seek Him only as one who has already obtained the glory and righteousness that Christ earned for me. Again:
"The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

With His Live,
Charlie

Why were the they terrified?

Hello friends!

"While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"

When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid." When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus." ~Matthew 17:5-8

When the disciples heard the voice of God they were terrified. You may say that this was simply because it is not every day that you hear a voice from the sky. Yet I think there was a bit more to it than that...
The first chapter of Romans states that everyone is aware of God, everyone knows His divine nature, and everyone knows the penalty for dishonoring Him. This seems strange to us, as we all know many people who show no signs of any such beliefs. The explanation given in Romans is that people have suppressed the truth and, in doing so, their minds have become darkened. Yet, according to the Apostle Paul, on some level everyone knows the truth. We lie to ourselves because the truth of who God is is terrifying. God is majestic, holy, and perfect in righteousness. It is indeed terrifying.
I believe what Paul was saying about this "suppressed truth," and I think that this helps us understand what was going on in the minds of the disciples when they heard the voice of God. You see the disciples, like many of us, had spent their entire lives suppressing and denying this obvious truth about who God is. Yet on that day they were forced to recognize what they already knew. They were forced to experience God's awesome and perfect presence. When they heard that voice they were forced to recognize that they themselves deserved judgment. They fell facedown in fear because they could no longer hide. And it was at this time, when they were trembling with the fear of God's wrath, that something amazing happened: Jesus touched them.
He touched them and he spoke to them. He told them not to be afraid, and when they looked at Him, they saw that the terrifying presence of God was gone. In the face of Jesus God was still there, but not in the same way. Jesus had taken away the need to be afraid.
Jesus. How we, sinful men, can know a perfect and righteous God.

"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." ~1 Peter 3:18

With His Love,
Charlie

The Crucial Test

Hello friends,
We looked at this verse recently:

"you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul." ~Deuteronomy 4:29

I am sad to say that yesterday I failed here. I did pray yesterday, and I also read my Bible. Yet when the day was over I felt in my heart that something was lacking.

You see, I understand that when I have a personal encounter with God I am filled with a sense of fulfillment, and that sense of fulfillment often lasts until I wake up the next day. Yesterday however, I did not have a personal encounter with God, and therefore I did not have this overwhelming sense of fulfillment. What went wrong?

The answer is simple. Yes, I prayed and studied the Bible. But when the day was over I knew the truth: I did not seek Him "with all of my heart." And therefore, I did not find Him. I hope not to make that mistake again.

Do you truly believe that you will find God if you seek him with all your heart? For that is the crucial test. If we believe it, we will surely do it. If we don't believe it, we won't waste our time.

So...Do you believe it?

With His love,

Charlie

Does Anybody Actually Do This?

Hello friends,

This is probably a familiar verse:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ~James 1:2-4

What I am wondering today is if there is anyone who actually does this. Do we really consider the bad things that happen to us to be "pure joy?" I am not going to say here that I have in any way mastered this principal, but I think that God has recently given me some insight into it.
If you notice, the scripture uses the phrase "trials of many kinds" to refer to the hardships we go through. My point is this: No matter what your going through, it is a trial from God with an intended outcome that will be beneficial to you. It is not some accidental misfortune that resulted from any number of circumstances. No, God has intentionally brought this hardship upon you. I believe that recognizing this may be a crucial first step in achieving "pure joy." Here is a verse that illustrates this point:

"Be joyful always...give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
~1Thes 5:16,18

Again, I will not say that I am perfect at being "joyful always," yet I have found that great comfort is found in knowing that "this is God's will for you."
I hope this message has blessed you,
With His love,
Charlie

A Simple Way to EXPERIENCE God

Here it is friends, a a simple way to experience God:

"you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul." ~Deut 4:29

It is indeed simple, but it is not at all easy. This will require work. Too often we only experience God after tragedy and hardship, and the reason for this is probably due to the fact that at those difficult times we are desperate, so we are then more likely to seek him with all of our heart. Yet the challenge for us is to seek Him like this during times of of both hardship and blessing.
Based on this verse we can also deduct the fact that if we are only applying minimal or moderate effort in our seeking of Him, we should not expect to find anything.
Let us all be people who seek Him with our whole heart!
With His Love,
Charlie

Something We Should Fear

Hello friends!
There is something we should fear. I will explain:

Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain. ~Psalm 127:1

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,
who rely on horses,
who trust in the multitude of their chariots
and in the great strength of their horsemen,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel,
or seek help from the LORD. ~Isaiah 31:1

We all have various things we are working on. Projects, relationships, child raising, school assignments, jobs, ministry activities, the list goes on. So what is my fear? My fear is that I would put much effort into something and then realize that I never spent the time and effort to seek the Lord's counsel and blessing in my endeavor. That is my fear- that I would forget to seek the Lord and run into disaster. Like the Psalmist wrote, how terrible would it be to spend much time and effort building a house and then realize that it was all a waste of time.
There is a lot of theology behind this. One of the biggest themes in scripture is the idea that "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" When we are desperate and humble we seek God, but when we are prideful we are deceived into thinking we are self sufficient enough to get by without Him, so we fail to earnestly seek Him.
So what is important to you right now? Your job? your marriage? your kids? your ministry? Whatever it is, let us have a healthy fear of what may happen if we "trust in chariots" and fail to seek His counsel.
With His love,
Charlie

Don't Waste the Day!

Hello Friends!

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done
And on the labor in which I had toiled;
And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind.
There was no profit under the sun. ~Ecc 2:11

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. ~ 1 COR 15:58

I believe we are always "giving ourselves fully" to something. We can "give ourselves fully" to our jobs, our families, our anxieties, our desires, and the list goes on. This is human nature. We are always "giving ourselves fully" to something. Take a moment and ask yourself what you are currently giving yourself to.
My desire here is that none of us would waste our lives. Or to put it another way, my desire is that none of us would waste today, for today is the day we must put these teachings into practice. The first scripture mentioned states that everything we do, everything we strive for, everything we worry about, it is all done in vain. There is no lasting reward. IT IS ALL A WASTE OF TIME!
Yet in the verse from 1st Corinthians we are given an exception to the rule: "your labor in the Lord is not in vain." Make no mistake about it friends, if you are not laboring for the Lord you are wasting your time.
So what does this mean? Are we all to quit our jobs and become missionaries and pastors? For some of us the answer to that question is yes. But for others it may mean something else.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men
~Col 3:23
At the core, this is a heart issue. If our hearts are in the right place, then our labor will not be in vain. Let us examine our hearts today and make sure that we are "giving ourselves fully to the work of the Lord"
With His Love,
Charlie

Two Kinds of Food

Hi friends! As I was praying for you today this is what God led me to:

We are all probably familiar with this concept of spiritual food:

"man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD." ~ Deut 8:3

But here is another kind of food:

Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."

But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."

Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?"

"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
~John 4:31-34

This is really interesting to me and it resonates with what I know about the Christian life. Here Jesus compared doing God's will to food. His disciples must have noticed that he hadn't eaten in a while. They urged him to eat and Jesus says that he has his own secret kind of food. What did he mean by this? Here is what I think.
On this earth, there is nothing more fulfilling than doing God's will. I hope all of you already know and have experienced this. There is an overflowing joy that goes along with being part of what God is doing. Furthermore, and as these verses seem to point out, there is something nourishing about it. There is something about doing God's will that energizes and satisfies you, kind of like food. When we do God's will we satisfy our spiritual hunger.
So all of this is very interesting to me. We are fed when God's word goes in us, but we are also fed when God's will goes out of us. So now let me ask you, have you been feeling fulfilled lately? And if not, which of these two kinds of food could you use more of? Perhaps you could use more of both of them, I certainly could.
God is Good.
With His Love,
Charlie

God Hated Esau?

Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, "The older will serve the younger." Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
~Romans 9:10-13

This is indeed a challenging passage. But God put it in the Bible for a reason and I will now give my thoughts. I will warn you that there are some controversial theological ideas expressed here. But my aim is not to bring you into correct doctrine. Instead, my aim is to bring you into authentic worship. My hope is that after reading this you will be on your knees thanking God for your salvation.
Let me first ask you a question. Take a look at the two parts of the last phrase, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." Which part surprises you more, the fact that God loved Jacob or the fact that God hated Esau? Our natural response would be to wonder why God hated Esau.
Let me just say that, for the believer, that is the wrong response. We should not at all wonder why God hated Esau. It should be clear. We should look inside our own heart and realize that Esau was a sinful man just like us. Furthermore, we should realize that God should indeed hate us as well. The text should say "God hated mankind because their hearts were prideful and wicked." But it does not say that. Instead it says "God loved Jacob." And that, my friends, is what we should be surprised about. Jacob was certainly just as evil as Esau. But for some reason God decided to love him.
I thank God that he decided to love me. I should have been hated like Esau, I should have been condemned to hell, I deserved to be punished for my wickedness. But something amazing happened, God loved Charlie.
Do you truly realize that you should have been hated? Do you truly realize that you deserve to be in Hell?
Think about this, it should drive you to your knees with gratitude.
With His love,
Charlie

God is waiting for us

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ~2 Chron 7:14

Are you desperate?
I hope so, because that is the kind of people God needs right now.
Have you ever asked yourself why God is not doing more? He can do whatever he wants right? What is he waiting for?
The answer is simple. He is waiting for us to humble ourselves and desperately seek Him in prayer. James 4:2 states "You do not have, because you do not ask God" God is waiting for us. He will do amazing things in us, through us, and around us, if only we will desperately seek Him.
Why are we Christians so horrible at this? Why is it rare to find a Christian who has a healthy and rich prayer life?
There are probably a lot of reasons, but they all stem from the same sin: Pride. We have been deceived into believing that we can successfully get through life without desperately seeking God. Let us stop believing that lie, and let us begin to see ourselves as we truly are: Desperate.
Perhaps this is most difficult for those of us who, by all worldly measures, are quite capable. Those of us who are the upright pillars of society. It is those personalities that may be most inclined to think they don't desperately need God. Don't be deceived! Satan is perfectly happy seeing you perform well in every aspect of life as long as you are not using the amazing supernatural power that God is waiting to give you. God takes no delight in our lives if we are not living by His power.
Let today be the day we repent of this evil self-sufficiency and begin to seek God in a brand new way.
God is waiting for us.
With His love.
Charlie

Sometimes immediate action is necesarry

Hello friends!

²⁶Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." ²⁷So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian^[d]eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. ²⁹The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."

³⁰Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked.

³¹"How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

³²The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:
"He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before the shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
³³In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth."^[e]

³⁴The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" ³⁵Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. ~Acts 8:26-35

Just today a friend told me how we should do good works for someone before we preach the gospel to them. For example, a missionary should go and help people with their physical needs before sharing the Gospel with them. He went on to use the analogy that you would not ask someone to marry you on the first date- you would need to first prove yourself to the individual.
Let me first say that I am all for meeting people's physical needs. In many many evangelistic contexts this may be the best approach. After all, Jesus showed love by meeting people's physical needs.
But now, back to that analogy about the first date. I, as many of you know, got engaged very quickly- even before the first date. We both decided in faith that this was God's will for us. God was working very powerful that day and we could sense his Holy Spirit speaking to us. Indeed sometimes, like in the passage above, the Holy Spirit works swiftly and powerfully.
What am I trying to say with all of this? Here is my point.
We, as Christians, are afraid. Sure, we are not called to preach the Gospel to every passerby on the street. But nevertheless sometimes the Holy Spirit calls for immediate action. Sometimes we are called to share our faith- even to someone we just met. This was the case in the scripture above. The Holy Spirit was working powerful on that day and I am convinced that if we are obedient and faithful we too can be used by God in amazing ways, just like Phillip was.
But, like I mentioned, we are afraid. We are afraid that we will be rejected. I know this feeling. But what does this fear tell us? This fear tells us that we don't believe in God's power. This fear tells us that we don't believe that without Christ the world will be judged to Hell. This fear tells us that we are not willing to suffer shame for the sake of Christ. Yes, it is possible that our message will be laughed at and rejected, but in that case we should be happy that we were obedient to God's call.
Have you ever been chatting with someone and felt the Holy Spirit guiding you to tell them about why you believe in Jesus? Let us obey that call! Let us run this race!
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. ~Romans 1:16
Are you ashamed of the Gospel? Next time the Holy Spirit prompts you to speak DO IT!!!

With His Love, For His Glory,
Charlie

Blessed assurance or trembling fear? Perhaps both

Friends,
I have heard it said that there are many paradoxes in the Christian faith, and indeed there are. The one that has been on my mind today is the apparent contradiction between the teaching that we Christians should have "blessed assurance" of our eternal salvation, and at the same time we should be people who tremble with fear at the word and power of God. Take a look:

My flesh trembles for fear of you,and I am afraid of your judgments. ~psalm 119:120

Serve the LORD with fear,and rejoice with trembling ~psalm 2:11

There are many verses like the three listed above. Now see what the Bible says about assurance

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. ~John 10:28

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ~Rom 8:38-39

Have you ever thought about this? Is there a contradiction here? I would say that this is not a contradiction at all, but rather these are two truths that actually work together. Let me explain.
What is "blessed assurance" mean for you? is this something that gives you enormous comfort? or is this something that you may have taken for granted?
I believe that God never wants us taking our salvation for granted. I believe he wants us to cling to it, to find great comfort in it, to always be in a state of thanksgiving for it. And for this reason he desires us to fear and tremble at his word. The more we fear the wrath of God, the more our salvation becomes something we embrace. Does this make sense? Let me take it one step further.
Do you fear God. Are you at the point in your Christian life that the wrath and judgments of God no longer concern you much? If so, let me tell you that you are in a very dangerous place. The Bible tells us that some who have "tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit" will fall away to eternal damnation. Does that scare you? Let me be the first to say that it scares me. But it also makes me remind myself of God's promises, and it makes me thank God that I am safe in Jesus.- And I think that is the point.
I hope and pray that this message has blessed you.
With the love that flows from Christ, through me, to you,
Charlie

The little tip that completely changed my prayer life

Recently I heard it said that when you pray you should see yourself as a lawyer in God's courtroom, pleading your case with the word of God, and the desires of God, and what God has done in the past. This has been one of the most life changing pieces of advice I have ever received. I know there are examples of people doing this in the Bible. The first one that comes to mind is Numbers 14. God stated that he planned on destroying the Jews because of their unbelief, yet Moses is able to make God change his mind!
How does Moses do this? Pay attention because I see this as an awesome model we can use when we wish to plead our cases to God.

The LORD said to Moses, "How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them? ¹² I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they."

¹³ Moses said to the LORD, "Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them. ¹⁴ And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, O LORD, are with these people and that you, O LORD, have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. ¹⁵ If you put these people to death all at one time, the nations who have heard this report about you will say, ¹⁶ 'The LORD was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath; so he slaughtered them in the desert.'

¹⁷ "Now may the Lord's strength be displayed, just as you have declared: ¹⁸ 'The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.' ¹⁹ In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now."

²⁰ The LORD replied, "I have forgiven them, as you asked.

In verse 13 I noticed that Moses is appealing to God's own desires. He basically says that if God allows his people to get destroyed by their enemies then the peoples will say that The Lord was not powerful enough to do what He promised and bring the Jews into the land. So he is appealing to God's desire for His Glory to be known. He then, in verse 18, appeals to God's character using the very words God spoke in Exodus 34:6. Finally, in verse 19, Moses appeals to what God has done in the past, asking that he would do it again.
So with this in mind, this is perhaps how your prayers should sound:
Lord, you said this...and you said this... so I ask you for this...just like you have done for me in the past, and just like you did in the lives of...Also God I ask you to do this... so that your Glory will be shown, and so that the people will know who you are.
I have a lot more to say on this topic. Feel free to call or email if you want to chat more about it.
With Christ's love,
Charlie

Above All Else?

Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life. ~Proverbs 4:23

"Above all else?" That's what the verse says. Does that sound like an overstatement? Well it isn't. Here's why:
What do you care about at this very moment? What motivates you? What are you living for? What is your greatest goal for today?
The answer to this question is your god. If you are living for your career, your career is your god. If you are living for your family, your family is your god. If you are living for the weekend, then leisure is your god. Do you now see why the scripture says "Above all else"? Here is a similar passage that will help illustrate this point:

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! ~ Matthew 6:21-23

I find it interesting that after Jesus says the first part "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also," he then goes into talking about your eye being the lamp of the body. How is this connected?
Well, I don't think Jesus is necessarily talking about your physical eyes. We all know what it means to have your "sights set on something." It means that you have your heart set on something. So in this way, Jesus is trying to say that what you currently have your "sights set on" will determine if you are full of light, or full of darkness.
So what can we "set our sights" on so that we can be full of light. I will tell you what works for me: God's glory. I love to have God exalted in my life, and the idea of God's light shining out of me is a very exciting and motivating thought. I want people around me to think "Wow, God is awesome."
But as these verses suggest, we must be intentional about this, we must "guard our heart." This morning I woke up a bit anxious some worldly concern. I had to rebuke myself and turn my motivation to the greater gain of God's glory. After dong this it was not long before the worldly anxiety was completely gone. It is good to be "full of light"
Examine yourselves. What is your heart set on?
With the love that flows from Christ,
Charlie

The most crucial duty of an evangelist

I have thought about this question lately, "who brought me to Christ?" As I considered it, I realized that while there had been a number of influential people that played a role, one person stands out in my mind, and today I realized why.
Let me ask you a question. What is the most powerful and effective (hint) thing you can do to help someone become born again? I would say that the answer is not share the gospel with them, although that is certainly important. I would say that the most powerful and effective (notice anything about those two words? James 5:16 NIV) thing you can do to bring someone to Christ is continual earnest prayer.
It is my assertion that the most crucial duty of an evangelist is to be in constant prayer for those he is ministering to. After all, it is God who has the power to open the eyes of the blind:

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,"made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. ~ 2 Cor 4:4-6

It is evident here that the reason people deny the Gospel is because their minds have been blinded by the "god of this age" (Satan). Also we see here that it is God who gives the "light of knowledge." Again, we need to recognize that is is God alone who opens people's heart to the Gospel. He is the one with the power to save.
Now, back to my earlier question. "Who brought me to Christ?"
There was one individual who spent years praying for me. He watched as I continually rejected and blasphemed God, yet he never gave up on me. He would constantly tell me I was being prayed for.
I was living in Madison when I first put my faith in Christ. Eventually, I returned to college in Stevens Point. Upon returning, people whom I had never met would tell me they'd been praying for me while I was in Madison, as my name had been brought up in prayer meetings. They would praise God because I had been saved.
I write all this as a call for all of us to increase our prayers for the lost. Can you see how God is glorified in this? He loves to answer our prayers, and I am convinced that the more prayer that goes into something, the more God is glorified when he acts.
And by the way, Thank you to Reid Anderson.
With love,
Charlie

The God that is in us

The God that is in us. That is the title that I have given this message because that is the amazing truth that we have. Jesus said:

"Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ~John 6:5-7

Now according to these verses Jesus thought it was better for us to have the Holy Spirit than for us to have his physical presence. Think about that for a second. This fact alone should tell us that Jesus intended the Holy Spirit to have an enormous influence in our lives.
I am trying to make a point here. You may have noticed that I have been speaking of the Holy Spirit quite a bit lately. I will be upfront and say that I think many Christians are not living their daily lives with complete reliance on the Holy Spirit, and therefore not experiencing the Christian life the way God intended. I am not trying to advocate speaking in tongues or miracles (though I am certainly not opposed to these things), I am simply trying to (with the Holy Spirit's help) inspire true God-powered revival. Please don't think that this kind of teaching is reserved only for those of the Charismatic following. I, like many of you, embrace Reformed Theology. What I am trying to do with these messages is give us all a deeper longing for the God that is in us, The Holy Spirit.
Do you agree that we all need a deeper daily reliance on the Holy Spirit? Do you earnestly seek the Holy Spirit?
Does this kind of teaching make you feel uneasy? If so, please pray and ask God for wisdom about all of this.
I may have said some challenging things here. I welcome and encourage any comments and questions.
With great love for all of you,
Charlie

What is in your heart today?

Hello again dear friends and family in Christ,

The topic on my heart today is very similar to what I have been saying in the last few messages, and that is that we need to recognize our daily dependence on God.
By recognize, what I mean is that we must daily remind ourselves that we can do no good apart from God (John 15:4-5). Some of us are quite capable of performing well at whatever our day brings us, but we need to be very aware that if our hearts are not filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control, then we are not bearing fruit for God, and we are not pleasing him with our lives. Is your heart today filled with these things?
I will be the first to confess that I do not wake up in the morning with all of these naturally flowing out of me. I need to desperately seek God and ask him to fill me with his Spirit. And this, my friends, is the situation we are all in. If we are not constantly and daily asking God to fill us with his Holy Spirit, then we are not living the Christian life by faith, apart from works.

The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace ~Romans 8:6

If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him ~Luke 11:13

Is your mind today "controlled by the spirit"?

With very much love,
Charlie

Waiting in expectation for our daily bread

Hello friends,

Give us this day our daily bread. ~Mt 6:11

In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait in expectation. ~Psalm 5:3

I think that within these two verses there is model for what our dependence on God should look like. Let me explain the insight God has recently given me about this.
The first step is understanding what "our daily bread" is. I am going to suggest that "our daily bread" is much more than just reading the scriptures or praying. I believe "our daily bread" is an actual encounter with God. While this may take the shape of God revealing himself during prayer or the reading of scriptures, the point I want to make is that "our daily bread" is something that we will never have if God does not personally show up in our lives and give it to us. It must be a supernatural encounter with He who is "the bread of life" (Jesus calls himself the bread of life 4 times in the 6th chapter of John!)
The other verse I provided speaks about praying in the morning and then waiting in "expectation." So, we pray in the morning that Jesus, the bread of life, would reveal Himself to us and then we wait in expectation as we continue with our day. Sometimes, I have found that God shows himself through my morning scripture readings. Other times, it does not happen until later in the day when I am reminded of a promise that God's word contains. Still other times, God does not seem to show up until after I have waited and prayed for a while. The point is that we should be doing everything in our power to seek God (prayer, scripture, ect), but we must realize that it is God who gives us his bread and we must wait in expectation.
So I ask you now, have you sought God today and are you waiting in expectation?
With much love,
Charlie

Today's insight and follow up from yesterday

Hello friends!
I am here today with another word of insight for you.
Yesterdays message was about the need for us to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's guidance in our lives.
Thank you Aaron for pointing out that there are strengths and weaknesses to being too "spirit centered" and too "word centered." If we ignore the word of God, we will be susceptible to spirits that may not be God, or we can be susceptible to confusing our own heart's desires with that of the Spirit's. On the other hand, if we neglect the role of the Holy Spirit we can become joyless intellectuals.
But there is a point I think must be made: The problem is never that we are "too spirit centered" or "too word centered." But rather, the problem is that we seek one and neglect the other. We should never be cautious about being too filled with the spirit. Problems only arise when the word of God is neglected.

"be filled with the Spirit" ~Eph 5:18

But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ~Acts 7:55

I have been asking myself lately if I am truly filled or am I maybe just half full, or three quarters full. I want to be completely filled, like Stephen was "full". Even more, my desire and prayer is that all of you would also be "full." Can we imagine together the impact it would have on our friends, family, and coworkers if we were all filled with the Spirit?
I will leave you today with this next verse, as this is my prayer for all of you. Please join me in this prayer.
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ~eph 1:17
Be Filled with the Spirit!!!
In His love,
Charlie

Hi friends. You are my closest brothers and sisters in Christ. I have made it an aim lately to share the insights that God teaches me. I view this as part of using the gifts God has given me to help build up the Church. Also, this benefits me, as it challenges me to seek God on a deeper level. So don't be surprised if you start getting more emails from me. Anyways, here is what I have for you today:

The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man's house. ~acts 11:12

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. ~Luke 2:26

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." ~acts 13:2

With these verses we can see that there are occasions when the Holy Spirit will reveal things to people, and if we look at these verses we can see that these are not broad truths like "Jesus is the Lord," but rather specific revelations for the individual. And when I combine this idea with James' assertion that the great prophet Elijah was a man just like us, I come to a stunning conclusion.
We should seek (and sometimes this may require fasting-acts 13:2) supernatural guidance from God. I am not saying He will always speak to us in this way, but I am saying that if we sense the Holy Spirit telling us something, we should acknowledge the fact that it is certainly within His character to guide us in this way.
I bring all of this up because I have been thinking and wondering lately if it is wise of me to trust what I believe the Spirit to be telling me. After much prayer and study of God's word I have decided that I will trust Him- and it is a great feeling. And now I ask you, my beloved friends, has the Holy Spirit been speaking to you about anything specifically lately? Has he asked you to do something? Has He promised you something? And if not, have you been earnestly seeking His guidance? He is, after all, our Counselor (John 14:26).
Thank you for allowing me to share my insights with you. I pray that God will speak to you about all of this, as he has been speaking to me.
With Christ's love,
Charlie