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How To Remember September 11, 2001

Things were abnormal for us on the morning of September 11th, 2001. We were out of sorts. We had just brought our new born son, Jacob, home from the hospital on Sunday afternoon the 9th. That morning I woke up and turned on the news to see everyone talking about a small plane that had flown into one of the towers. Just a few minutes later, I was watching live as the second plane hit the 2nd Tower, and we knew this was no accident. We were under attack! 

Let us remember and remain vigilant concerning the threats of our world and never given in to the political correctness that would ultimately destroy us. Bible teacher, Chuck Missler is often asked, "where is the USA in Bible prophecy?" His answer is: "It is conspicuously absent!" Why? What happens to America. Is it that we were not able to stand our ground? Or was America so weakened after the Rapture because enough people were taken to be with the Lord due to a new awakening? Whatever the answer, it is up to us to continue to serve the Lord with gladness and to be the Salt and Light of the earth.

Jesus said,

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.  “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. - Matthew 5:13-16

Salt's main purpose in Bible days was to preserve meats. We need to be a preserving influence and to awaken a thirst for the things of God in others. Light destroys darkness and helps us to see. Help others to see by Being a light in your world today! God Bless!

By Charles Nestor II

The Resurrection of the Hammer and Sickle

Just the other day I was enjoying a cup of coffee at a local coffee shop.  As I passed through the shop, I saw a young women probably in her mid-twenties wearing a jacket covered with small pins and buttons.  The most prominent of the them was a red button with the yellow hammer and sickle.  As I walked by, I thought to myself, “Really! Really, has the hammer and sickle resurrected that quickly from the ash heap of history?”  I was a fan of the rock band White Heart in the 80’s and early 90’s. (I'm still a fan)  Their song “The Raging of the Moon” from the 1992 album Tales of Wonder opened with a steady yet solemn beat and with the following triumphant lyric sung by Rick Florian: 

“Thank God the world’s been saved, Marx is in his grave. The hammer and sickle lie broken on the ground.”    -   The Raging of the Moon - White Heart 

In the early 90’s, we were celebrating the fall of communism and socialist Russia, and we were excited for the people of the now former U.S.S.R.  Maybe now they would have the chance to live in freedom.  Christians flooded into the collapsed Soviet Union with the freeing gospel of Jesus and the compassionate love of the body of Christ.

Fast forward to 2012! The hammer and sickle is making a comeback right here in America.  We are living in an America that is increasingly secular and irreligious.  The irreligious nature of the climate has many factors.  On one hand the culture is more and more influenced by the values of secular humanism even though there is still a large portion of the population that believes in God or a supreme being.  On the other hand, we are experiencing the effects of a growing indifference to godly values and an embrace of the secular values of lifestyle choice being sold as the “moral” value of tolerance.  This shift in recent years has lead to a growing segment of the population becoming hardened to the blessing of freedom and democracy and has produced an intellectual entertainment with liberalism, socialism and Marxist concepts of social justice.  

How the Marxist philosophy has been sold to the Christian population is through the guise of social injustice.  There is a value of compassion that is a part of the Christian ethic, and liberals have marketed their brand of socialism and Marxism to the Christian populace by appealing to that ethic of Christian compassion.  So through the last couple of decades we have been told to embrace this institutional compassion as a way of fighting for the social justice that so many deserve.  

I want to lay out a case to you as to why the liberal Marxist pursuit of social justice is not only a deception but that it is also completely incompatible with a Christian worldview.  I am not saying Christianity couldn’t exist under Marxism/Socialism.  I am simple making the point that Marxism/Socialism is not a philosophy compatible with Christianity.  A Christian shouldn’t support Marxism/Socialism.  If Marxism/Socialism is achieved it will “fundamentally transform America” from a Christian nation filled with compassion for our fellow man to an un-Christian nation unable to minister to the needs of our fellow man.

 Marxism and Christianity - Two Opposite Propositions

Karl Marx and Jesus Christ both desired to create a “new man”.  The key to seeing the difference between the two is in understanding the two diametrically opposed definitions of what the “new man” is.  

Marx’s New Man

Marx looked at man and saw the need for making a new man.  He saw the need for man to be reformed but rejected the concept of human nature.  Marx said, man is whatever the society makes him to be.  The way Marx saw it, under capitalism, man was made to be selfish, greedy, aggressive, envious, hateful and fearful.  Under Socialism man would become devoid of all those vices.  Socialism would then create a “new man” made not in the image of God but man the world needs to build the great society.  This new man would be healthy, smart, industrious, tolerant, generous and talented.  And because this new man would possess all of these wonderful traits, the world would become a better place.  The “new man” would use his talent, health, intelligence, tolerance and generosity to achieve a society where the individual achieved what they needed and the rest was given to minister to the needs of others.  The idea was that you get to a point where you would no longer need governments, armies, police, courts and taxes.  The maxim of Marxism would then be achieved:

 "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."

                                        Karl Marx - Critique of the Gotha Program

Now there is one fatal problem with this political science, philosophy and world view.  It ignores human nature and does not take into account mankind’s greatest flaw - sin and a sinful nature.  

Christ’s New Man

 Unlike Marx’s view of man, Jesus sees man as he actually is.  The apostle John tells us this in John 2:24-25:

 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

Jesus did not need to commit Himself to man because He knows what is in men’s hearts.  Man does not need to be socially rehabilitated.  Man needs to be made into a new creation.  

In order for this to be possible, God the Father sent the Son into the world.  Jesus took on flesh to accomplish the work of redemption on the cross.  And through Christ’s victory over death and the grave and in the power of His resurrection, man can be, not rehabilitated, but remade.

One of the rulers of Israel named Nicodemus came to Jesus at night to talk.  He told Jesus that he recognized that Jesus was from God.  Then Jesus exploded with perhaps His most powerful statement, “Unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”  This confused Nicodemus who replied by asking how he could go back into his mother’s womb and be born a second time.  Jesus then explains this new birth.  “That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”  In other words, to see the wonderful Kingdom of God, you have to be born again, born from above, born of the Spirit of God.

There is a popular notion that everyone is God’s child.  The reality is that we are God’s creation.  He made us by the natural process of human child birth that He created, but there are only two men in the Bible besides angels who are called a son of God - Adam and Jesus.  Adam was a son of God.  He was a direct creation of God.  He wasn’t made because of the will of a man.  Adam was made because of the will of God.  Jesus was also made by the will of God.  It was the Spirit of God who made Mary to be pregnant with Jesus.  Everyone else has been born into the world because of the will of a man who slept with a woman and she conceived.

So Jesus is saying the new man that can see the Kingdom of God is not born the natural way, he is born of God in the Spirit.  How does this happen?

The Greatest Right in the Universe

Everyone these days is talking about rights - the right to vote, the right to choose, the right to bear arms.  But there is one right that is greater than all of the other rights in the world.  What is it?  It is the right to become a son of God.  The apostle John articulates this right in the first chapter of his gospel.  John says this:

 

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:  who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  John 1:12-13 (emphasis mine)

So how can you be born again?  How can you be born of the Spirit of God and be the new man that God wants to make out of you?  By receiving Jesus Christ into your life as your Lord and Savior.  Paul put it this way:  Confess Him as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead and you will be saved.  Then you are born again.  You are a son of God, a direct creation of God.  That’s why Paul tells the Corinthian Christians:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. - II Corinthians 5:17 (emphasis mine)

So what about Marxism/Socialism?  

A Christian should not adopt a philosophy that is really at complete odds with Christianity.  Marxism’s goal is to create a new man devoid of God that would attempt to create a perfect “kingdom” without dealing with the true problem of mankind.  The results of Marxism/Socialism are counter-productive to the cause of Christ and to the mandate of the Great Commission.  It has literally trapped millions of lives in a cold hell of atheism and a false hope in man. It has been a tool of the enemy to kill and destroy millions of lives.  Jesus’ offer is something completely different. Jesus offers the greatest right in the universe, the right to become a son of God, to be born again and to see the Kingdom of God.  

If it’s up to you, don’t let the hammer and sickle be resurrected.  Let us proclaim the risen Christ and opportunity to share in that resurrection and be new men and women in Him.

By Charles Nestor II

Author of the book Who Is Jesus? - The Central Issue of Time and Space. Available on Kindle, iBookstore and on Amazon.com.

What Is Your Calling?

I see a growing trend happening in the body of Christ that I pray can be reversed.  Well, what is it?  It is the loss of a sense of calling.  Obviously this is not a universal problem, but it is a growing problem that I am encountering more and more.

I have memories of my childhood where people and the “church” spoke of calling.  People would say things like, “God has called me to be a pastor” or “God has called me to be a missionary”.  Pastors and evangelists would ask questions like, “what has God called you to be?” and “what has God called you to do”.

I don’t hear this type of language much anymore.  And to be transparent, I don’t hear it from the people that I would think I would hear it from. I don’t hear it from some people in the ministry, and I don’t hear it from people seeking the will of God in their lives.

So here is the crux of the problem.  If you don’t have a sense of the calling of God in your life, then the big decisions in life are ultimately made along pragmatic lines and are not made along the lines of calling.  Decisions are made based more on what makes sense and less on the basis of God’s call on a persons life.  To follow and obey the call of God on your life involves sacrifice and for some tremendous sacrifice.  Abraham had to leave his country and his people.  Moses had to leave a quiet obscure life and come out of hiding from the backside of the desert to the center of the world.

Christian men and women today who hear and respond to God’s call must leave jobs, homes, careers, geographical locations, family and comforts to prepare for and to live out the call of God.

The whole concept of the call of God centers on hearing God’s still small voice speak to you concerning what He wants you to be and what He is calling you to do.  Hearing and understanding this call is critical for the Christian.  One of the greatest examples of God’s call in the Bible is the calling of the apostle Paul.  Paul, Saul at the time of his call, was heading in the opposite direction of God’s call for his life, and then he had an encounter with Jesus Christ.  Jesus spoke to him, saved him and called him all in one fell swoop.

Jesus called Paul to be an apostle to the Gentiles.  Now understanding God’s call is linked to how God has made you, gifted you and positioned you.  Paul was concerning the law of God a Pharisee.  So that made him qualified to unlock the mystery of the gospel because of his training in the Word.  He was also a Roman citizen, which positioned him to reach the citizens of the Roman Empire.  Paul was a man perfectly made, gifted and positioned to be the apostle to the Gentiles.

And then one last thing, he was prepared by the Holy Spirit in the desert of Arabia.  Paul tells us in his letter to the Galatians that he spent years in the desert conferring with and receiving from the Holy Spirit the message of the gospel, the mystery that he uncovered from Old Testament.

So having been saved and called by God to be the apostle to the Gentiles, Paul had been made, gifted, positioned and prepared to obey and fulfill God’s call.  The storyline of the book of Acts is Paul obeying God’s call on his life.  In his 2nd letter to the church at Corinth, Paul actually details the cost, the price he personally paid in obeying God’s call.

Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— 28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? - II Corinthians 11:23-29

And even though Paul went through all of these things and more he could still write in the salutation to many of his letters, “Paul an apostle by the will of God.”  (Romans 1:1)  Paul knew what God had called him to, so doing anything else was either out of the question or a means to obey God’s call.  When Paul was a tentmaker, he didn’t go around bragging about how he was a tentmaker.  It was a means to the end of obeying God’s call.  In fact, this is the whole reason we have the euphemism of “tent-making”.  Tent-making was what Paul did for a season so that he could fulfill his calling.  Paul didn’t go around talking about his tent-making only to the extent of letting us know what he did for provision so he could do his work as an apostle.  And he certainly didn’t allow his tent-making to get in the way of him being an apostle.  

At the end of Paul’s life he was able to say this: “ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (II Timothy 4:7)  This should be the desire of every Christian believer.  And I believe that knowing, understanding and obeying God’s call is a big part of that.

So let me ask you a question that maybe no one has ever asked you before:  What is your calling?  Do you know?  If not, find out!  And one last question: What are you doing about your call?  Are you preparing?  Are you obeying?

 Grace and Peace,

 

Pastor Charles Nestor II

 

Hunger & Games in the American Church

According to recent reports, tweets on Twitter and status updates on Facebook you would think that the church in America is exploding.  There are glowing self-reports of everything that the church in America is doing and all the success that it is experiencing.    Mega-churches are becoming Giga-churches with the latest technology, state of the art auditoriums and satellite campuses.  But something doesn’t seem right.  An article this week in the Orlando Sentinel, my hometown paper, reported the numbers of the fastest growing congregations in the Orlando metro area.  And what are they?  What are the fastest growing congregations in Orlando?  They are the Mormon temples and the Muslim mosques.  

Now I’m not an expert as to why this is the case, but from my vantage point I have a couple simple observations.  The Muslim mosques are growing fast due to the tremendous increase in immigration from Arab and Muslim countries and those giving it a try.  The Mormon temples are growing more than likely due to their consistent and aggressive door to door evangelism.  There is usually not a day that goes by that I do not see two young men in white dress shirts and black pants riding their bicycles down the street.  

Meanwhile, while all of this happening, the churches are trying to entertain people into the pews with gimmicks and giveaways.  Just a sampling of the mass mail efforts from churches in Orlando for Easter weekend services included opportunities to win iPads and experience Easter in 3D wonder with 3D glasses and everything.  The problem with these strategies of filling the seats is that most people in Orlando who want an iPad already have one or something equivalent like a tablet or smartphone, and most people have already “experienced” the latest 3D movies and all of the 3D attractions here in Orlando, which is one of the entertainment capitals of the world.  

So these people that have gadgets and access to some of the greatest entertainment and thrill rides in the world are lured into church to experience more entertainment and leave without having been given a spiritual meal from God’s Word.

Interestingly, I’ve been reading the book of Amos the last two days in my devotional time, and I came across a familiar verse and one that was not so familiar.  The familiar one is Amos 8:11.  In the midst of what seems like an unrelenting indictment of Israel’s idolatry and unfaithfulness, God declares that He will be sending a famine on the land.

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God,
“That I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread,
Nor a thirst for water,
But of hearing the words of the Lord.”  - Amos 8:11 NKJV

I believe this famine has come to America.  And it has come to the churches of America.    Zechariah gave a woe to the idle or worthless shepherd who forsakes the flock.  Isaiah the prophet meanwhile gives one of the most concise Pastoral theologies in one verse, 

He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young.  Isaiah 40:11 NKJV

From this verse, we can see the calling of a true shepherd.  The shepherd is to feed, gather, carry and lead his flock.  One of the primary responsibilities of the shepherd is to feed the flock.  A shepherd or pastor is called to feed the flock of God that Jesus has put in his care.  The flock is not the pastor’s flock.  It is the flock of God.  And God wants “His” flock fed with His Word.  The apostle Paul was able to tell the leaders of the Ephesian church that he was innocent of the blood of the men there in Ephesus because he had fed them all of the Word of God. (Acts 20:26-27)  Joshua, after leading Israel to victory at Ai after the previous defeat at Ai, read every word of the Law of Moses to the people.  

There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the strangers who were living among them.  Joshua 8:35  NKJV

One of the reports that I received was that a local pastor replaced his Easter message with a time of stand up comedy.  So while the people need to be fed the Word of God, they are getting heavy doses of candy-coated entertainment. The people of God are literally dying spiritually from spiritual starvation.  You might say, “well can’t people read the Word of God for themselves?”  Yes, they can, but Jesus gave some special gifts to the body of Christ, the church for their edification, namely pastors and teachers.  There is a difference from reading the Word devotionally and being taught the Word doctrinally.  

I understand that one of the stages of starvation is atrophy of the stomach.  Atrophy or wasting away of the stomach weakens the perception of hunger, since the perception is controlled by the percentage of the stomach that is empty. Victims of starvation are often too weak to sense hunger.  I believe that this is the state of the American church.  It is in the state of Atrophy.  It cannot even perceive the hunger for God’s word any longer.  And because of the lack of God’s Word in the system spiritually, the church has become anemic and weak.  Meanwhile, the false shepherds are reporting that everything is alright.

God describes people that are in a dangerous position spiritually this way: 

“You honor me with your lips, but your hearts are far from Me.” God said this in Isaiah’s time (Isaiah 29:13).  And Jesus echoed this in Matthew 15:18.

With God having said that, you could say that one of the bright spots of the modern church is the focus and the flourishing of the modern worship movement.  In many ways over the last decade, worship music has taken over the Christian music scene and nearly every church has a competent worship band.  The modern worship scene has taken over in the void of Biblical preaching.  Sometimes the strongest doctrine a church goer these days will be exposed to is the theology in a Chris Tomlin song before the rest of the entertainment and self-help psychology takes over.  It is interesting that the other verse that stuck out to me in my reading of Amos this week is a verse on music.  Apparently Israel while being completely unfaithful to the Lord had still offered sacrifices to the Lord.  They offered the burnt sacrifice, the grain sacrifice and the peace sacrifice.  God told them that He did not accept their sacrifices.  There was something grievously wrong with their hearts.  Then God says this:

Take away from Me the noise of your songs, For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.  Amos 5:23  NKJV

It is interesting to me that in the same passage God speaks of a famine of His Word on the land that He is also not interested in the songs of worship.  In John chapter 4, Jesus met with a sinful woman at the well in Sychar and told her that God is looking for worshippers.  But what type of worshippers?  The world is full of “worshippers”.  Just check out the next arena concert that comes to your town.  No, God is looking for a specific type of worshipper.  He is looking for those who will worship Him “in spirit and in truth”.  God wants those who worship Him to worship in spirit and in truth.  Yes we need to worship God with a passionate heart that truly loves God.  That is worshipping in spirit.  But we also need to worship in truth.  And the only way we can do that is by having the truth of God’s Word as a priority in worship.  My Senior Pastor in the Calvary Chapel movement, Pastor Chuck Smith, put it this way:

WE BELIEVE worship of God should be intelligent; therefore, our services are designed with great emphasis upon the teaching of the Word of God that He might instruct us on how He should be worshiped. - Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa - Pastor Chuck Smith

In other words, it can happen that we are worshipping in spirit but not in truth.  We are worshipping with passion and excitement but we are missing a crucial element to true Christian worship - Truth!

This is not simply a critique of the current contemporary church but really a passionate call to pastors and churches to come back to the true calling of the church and to the true calling of a pastor.  The apostle James cautions those who would be teachers and preachers that they would receive a stricter judgment (James 3:1).  I think that this admonition is all but lost in the current dialogue.  I pray for the church.  I pray for the pastors of this nation today.  Let us not lead the lukewarm church of Laodicea (Revelation 3:16).  Let us lead the faithful church of Philadelphia, whom Jesus commended for having kept His Word! (Revelation 3:8)

By Charles Nestor II

Pastor - Calvary Chapel South Orlando

 

Salt and Light

I have a question.  What if all believers decided to live by the Word and the conviction of the Holy Spirit?What if we decided to be the salt and light that Jesus has called us to be in this world? What a difference it would make!  Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount, "You are the salt of the earth.  You are the light of the world."

The problem today is that we supposedly are seeing all this church "growth" with hundreds and thousands being saved in our mega and giga churches while we are witnessing little to no cultural impact at all.  Why is this?  Let me suggest an answer.  The modern church has done a wonderful job at making people feel comfortable at church while not teaching people to repent and be converted from a lifestyle of sin.  So church is wonderful.  The band and lights are powerful.  The screens are huge.  The dramas are cute.  The sermons are carefully crafted.  And after its all said and done there is very little impact.  All we have done is rearranged the deck chairs on the Titanic!

What would happen at most churches today if the pastor this Sunday taught on sin and getting it out of our lives and our house?  In Israel, God had them go through a yearly practice during the Feast of Unleavened Bread of going through the entire house and clearing out of the house every trace of leaven from the house. This command is found in Exodus 12:15 when Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread was commanded.  On the first day of the 7 day feast they were to go through the house and clear out all the leaven in the house.  Jews to this day still practice this command.  But most are unaware of the significance or the point of it.  The point is this: Leaven in the Scripture is a picture of sin.  The root of all sin is pride.  Pride puffs up and corrupts.  The picture of leaven is a good one.  Leaven puffs up and corrupts.  God was saying, "I want you to get everything that is sin out of your house and out of your life."  

As long as we have sin in our lives and in our houses, and by that I mean as long as we have a sinful lifestyle and are giving place to sin, we will not have any impact upon the world.  We will simply be blended in to the world.

Jesus did say concerning the salt, "But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot." -Matthew 5:13 

He said concerning our light, "A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house."  Matthew 14-15

Jesus goes on to encourage us to let our light shine before men so they can see our good works.  We do this when we live holy lives for Jesus.  Not by bashing the world or judging the world, but by simply living our lives according to the Word of God and not the pattern of this world.  The world will then see the contrast.  They will see light.  They will taste the saltiness.  

Don't lose your saltiness or hide your light under a basket by conforming to the world. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind in the Word.  Whatever is not honoring the LOrd in your life or your house, get it out right now.  Don't wait for a church service.  Get it out right now and see what God will do in your life.  We can be the Salt and LIght that Jesus has called us to be and this all happens when we take our bodies and make them a living sacrifice to Jesus.(Romans 12:1)

Check out Kyle Bistutti in this video.  She was a Victoria Secret model but decided she wanted to honor the Lord with her body and save her body for her husband.  This to me is powerful example the world needs to see.  They need to see us simply following our Lord and obeying His word, being Salt and Light1

By:  Charles Nestor II

 

Cortez Kennedy and the NFL Hall of Fame

My friend, Cortez Kennedy, who also attends Calvary Chapel South Orlando played 11 seasons for the Seattle Seahawks.  Cortez was the #3 pick in the NFL draft in 1990 out of the University of Miami.  He went on to be one the most dominant interior lineman in the NFL.  He was an NFL All Pro for 3 seasons and was elected to 8 NFL Pro Bowls.  One of his biggest accomplishments was being named NFL Defensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press in 1992, a season where his team had a record of 2-14.  He was inducted in the Seattle Seahawks Ring of Honor in 2006.

Right now, Cortez, is in the final 15 finalists for induction into the NFL Hall of Fame.  This Saturday night 4-7 of those 15 finalists will be elected.  So would you pray with me for Cortez Kennedy that he would be elected to the Hall of Fame for the glory of God.

Watch this fun video to see just a few of Cortez' great highlights and to see how dominate he was on the defensive line.  Specifically listen for how Warren Moon describes Cortez in the video, a great compliment coming from one of the NFL's all-time leading passers.  Hope you enjoy it!

 

Destinations Invite

This is a video where I share about our current teaching series at Calvary Chapel South Orlando called Destination - Your Place in God's Plan.  Check it out and have a great day!

 

 

Tim Tebow and Praying in Public

There is now a group of atheists who are calling out Tim Tebow for praying in public.  The American Atheists — a New Jersey based group that promotes the separation of church and state, is led by President David Silverman.  Silverman calls Tebow out for his public prayer stating, “It’s not that Tebow prays, it’s that he waits for the cameras to be on him to do it,” Silverman says.

Silverman goes onto say that Tebow ignores Jesus’ admonition in the gospel of Matthew.  In Matthew 6:5, Jesus says, “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.”  In the next verse, verse 6 Jesus says,  “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

Was Jesus saying that there should be no public prayer? Should we not pray at a restaurant, giving thanks to God for our food?  Should we not pray at graduations, sporting events and Presidential inaugurations?  To obey Jesus teaching in these verses should Christians abandon public prayer altogether or was Jesus driving at a deeper issue?

If you look at the context of Matthew 6, Jesus is dealing with a few issues not just prayer.  He talks about prayer, giving and fasting among other things.  When you look at Jesus’ teaching on these things there is a principle that Jesus is driving at.  Jesus says, “When you do these things...”  It is key to understand that Jesus assumes that the believer in God does these things, namely praying to God, giving to God and fasting.  But the main principle that Jesus is driving at is the motivation of the person doing them.  Jesus looks past the outward appearance.  Jesus looks to the heart.  He looks at what is motivating your actions.  Are you praying to receive attention or are you really praying to God?  Are you giving to receive attention and pats on the back or are you  really giving to the Lord or those around you.  Are you fasting to be seen by others as religious or that you go through religious motions?  Or do you do these things with the right heart and for the right reasons?

God doesn’t just look at our actions.  He looks at our motives as well.  The bottom line is that if we are really praying, giving or fasting, we should be doing those things to please God.  We should really be doing them to glorify God.  In fact, we should do everything we do with that motivation, to glorify God.  The Apostle Paul states in I Corinthians 10:31, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Was Jesus outlawing public prayer?  Certainly not!  Jesus prayed publicly.  Jesus prayed at His public baptism at the Jordan River in Luke 3:21.  He gave thanks to the Father for the fish and loaves when He miraculously fed the multitude in John 6.  Jesus prayed on the cross, his public execution.  For what is prayer?  It is communicating with the Father in heaven.  Jesus cried out from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

So was Jesus outlawing public prayer for the Christian and for the church?  Certainly not!  What Jesus is driving at in Matthew 6 is the proper motivation for prayer and other spiritual disciplines.  And this motivation should be to honor and glorify God in all things.

By: Charles Nestor II

 

Feast of Trumpets - Rosh Hashanah

Tonight at sundown will mark the beginning of Rosh Hashanah or the Feast of Trumpets.  In the Old Testament, God gave Israel 7 feasts to celebrate and commemorate throughout the year.  7 is the number of perfection and completion.  The calendar of feasts all together are the plan of God to redeem man and establish peace and righteousness upon the earth.

The significance of the Feast of Trumpets is huge.  First, for Israel, the feast signified the beginning of the seventh/Sabbatical month.  It was the end of the harvest and God gathered His people to worship Him at the sound of that Trumpet.  The trumpet would be sounded at the sighting of the new moon.  The sighting of the new moon would happen either on the 29 or 30 day of the month.  So no one knew the day or the hour that it would be sounded.  They knew the season but did not know the exact day or hour.  Jesus used this phrase in reference to His return for His people. (Matthew 25:13)

The Apostle Paul exhorted the church at Thessalonica to watch and wait for a sound of the last trumpet, the Trumpet of God.  In Thessalonians 4:16-17, Paul tells us that the sound of that trumpet, that the Lord would descend to gather His people to meet Him in in the air.  This an event called the rapture.  The word "Rapture" is taken from the Latin word in the Vulgate from the Greek New Testament word "harpazo", which means "caught up".  

The picture of the Feast of Trumpets was always the beginning of a time of rest and an end to work of the harvest.  Jesus will fully fulfill the Feast of Trumpets as He has perfectly fulfilled all the other feasts and right on time.  Where we are in the calendar of Feasts in terms of Jesus fulfilling them is that we are right now in the summer harvest that was begun on the day of Pentecost, 50 days after the crucifixion/Passover.  The spring feasts have been fulfilled.  The next feast on the calendar is the Feast of Trumpets. I go through in detail the 7 feasts of Leviticus 23 in detail in my book "Who Is Jesus?" Check it out at jesusidenity.com. 

We are taught in Scripture to be ready for the last trumpet, the time of the upward call of God to his people to meet Him in the air and we will be with the Lord forever.  As Paul the Apostle exhorts us, "Comfort each other with these words."

 

By:  Charles Nestor II

Who Is Jesus? - The Central Issue of Time and Space is available at jesusidentity.com, on Amazon, on Kindle and in the iBookstore for iPad.  Get your copy today!

Summer 2011 - One of the Greatest

The summer of 2011 has been one of the greatest summers I can remember.  My family and I were able to spend a week in Arizona.  We visited Pheonix, the Grand Canyon and some dear friends in Tuscon, Lane and Wendy Smith.  I was also able to preach at my friend Ben Lee's church, Living Water Bible Church in Queen Creek just outside of Pheonix.  It was great to be with them and reconnect.

Then later in the summer, Mary Jo and I rode up to Toronto, Canada where I was able to preach at my friend Pat Seiler's church, Calvary Oakville.  We had great time with them and spent Saturday sightseeing in Toronto.

While in Toronto, we were able to have lunch with a good friend from college, Kevin Pauls.  Kevin and I played in a band together at Southeastern College, now Southeastern University.  It was great to reconnect with him and his wife and son.  Kevin has a great ministry career in Canada with various opportunities.  He has even sang with the Gaithers.  Below I've attached a video of a studio recording of his remake of Broken Wings by Mister, Mister.  Kevin has a great voice and a great heart.  Check out his ministry at kevinpauls.com.  He has a couple songs available on iTunes and complete albums available on his website.  Enjoy and be blessed!