God Has Revealed Himself Through Creation

General revelation is God revealing Himself through creation. Whether one looks through a telescope or a microscope, God's fingerprints can be found on everything He has created. His beautiful and majestic work can be seen in the formation of planets, stars, and galaxies. The complexity of His craftsmanship can even be found inside a single cell. Inside this well organized and purposeful factory, called the cell, are codes and instructions which are carried out by machines that are obedient to the commands they are given. If one part of the cell fails to do its job then the entire cell is useless - irreducible complexity. God's handiwork can be seen throughout this entire universe. We live in a day and age where that should be most apparent to us. Our advances in science and technology have given us an advantage our ancestors never had. We are able to see the complexity and obvious design embedded throughout all of God's creation in a way that has never been achieved before. However, men have chosen to suppress the truth found in creation and exchange it for a lie - that being evolution. What's ironic (as you'll see in the video) is that those who refuse to acknowledge God as Creator, can't help but use language that confirms there is design and purpose to this world.

Psalms 19:1-6, "1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words,whose voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun,5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. 6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat."

Romans 1:18-21, "18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened."

The Gospel

The culture tells us that mankind is basically good. However, the bible says different. The bible says that we are all born sinners and our hearts are wicked. Our thoughts, our actions, and even our very nature are in rebellion towards God. God’s holy and righteous standard is set forth in the bible; however, we break those commandments every day. God’s requirement for mankind to be in His presence is perfection. Since we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, we all stand hopeless before Him. We all deserve hell. Good works won’t save us, knowing the bible won’t save us, having Christians parents won’t save us, being baptized won’t save us, going forth during an alter call won’t save us, filling out a decision card won’t save us, even having a clinical knowledge about God won’t save us, nothing will save us from this eternal damnation that we all deserve – except one thing, and that one thing is a Person – Jesus Christ. God sent Jesus, His Son, to save us. Jesus came to earth and lived a perfect sinless life and was crucified on our behalf. The wrath and judgment that was meant for us was poured out on Jesus. His mission was to restore us to God and set us free from the curse of sin. God has been good and kind to us and has allowed us time to repent and turn to Him. This should motivate us to forsake our sinful life and turn to Jesus Christ for forgiveness – this is called repentance. When we repent of our sins and place our trust in Christ by confessing Him as Lord and Savior, the bible says He will save us and grant us eternal life. The broken relationship we once had with our Creator will be restored through the saving works of Jesus Christ. He will make us into new creations and we will have the privilege of enjoying fellowship with Him for all of eternity. Our salvation not only means we have a new relationship with God, but we also have new relationship with sin. The sins that we once loved and embraced we now forsake and follow Jesus with all of our heart, soul, and, mind. And for those who reject this truth, their sins remain and they will suffer eternal damnation in hell. There is no other way, there is hope in no other name than Jesus – turn to Him, He loves you, He is able and willing to save you.

In “What is the Gospel?” Greg Gilbert explains the Gospel in very simple but profound terms. Gilbert says that the Gospel is throughout the bible, but is best explained in Romans, more specifically chapters 1-4. According to Gilbert, the Gospel should always be explained with these following points included:
1.) Who made us and whom are we accountable to? Answer: God made the entire universe including every human; therefore, every human is accountable to Him.
2.) What is man’s greatest problem or need? How are we in trouble and why? Answer: Mankind has rebelled against God, this is called sin. Since we are all guilty of sin, we all deserve hell.
3.) What is God’s solution to this problem? How has He acted to save us from it? Answer: God sent His Son Jesus to live the life we couldn’t live and die the death we should have died. By doing this, He paid the penalty for our sins in His life’s blood. His death and resurrection from the dead sets us free from our greatest problem – sin.
4.) How do I bring myself to be included in this salvation? How is this good news for me and not someone else? Answer: Turn from sin and turn to Jesus Christ – repentance; place your faith and trust in Jesus to save you as you would a parachute if you were about to jump out a plane. When this happens, Jesus will make you right before God and grant you eternal life.

God Saves Bad People

I've been a Christian for some years now and over these years I have studied God's Word and it has blessed me in innumerable and unexplainable ways. However, there is one thing that still baffles me, there is one thing that I cannot seem to wrap my head around, there is one thing that I just cannot comprehend. My dilemma is found Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Do you know that God saves bad people? Do you know that God only saves bad people? Jesus said He came to seek and save that which was lost, not those who "thought" they had found their way. Jesus came to heal the sick, not those who "thought" they were healthy. That’s what the whole Bible’s about. And I just don’t get it. Christ didn’t wait for us to get our act together before He died for us; He did while we had our backs turned towards Him. This defies human logic and our understanding of justice. When I die I’m not getting what I deserve because Jesus got what I deserve. I know for some of you this is hard to comprehend, but will you stop acting as if you must clean up your life before you turn to Him. Don’t you get it; He only saves those who are dirty – not the clean. Will you turn to Him? He is mighty to save.

Vampires, Shacks, and Undiscerning Christians

I'm sure you're aware of the infatuation our youth has been having with vampires due to the Twilight Saga. Unfortunately, adult woman have also begun to embrace this movement. But have you noticed this trend growing amongst Christians as well? Is this wise? I know we have freedom in Christ, but is this pushing the envelope? Can you honestly read or watch this type of genre and feel comfortable if Jesus was sitting right next to you? Can you defend watching or reading this stuff biblically? Because I can give a pretty strong argument from Scripture of why we should stay away from entertaining ourselves with this stuff (Exodus 22:18; Lev. 19:26,31;20:6,27; Deut. 18:10-14; Isa. 8:19-29; 44:25; 47:12-14; II Kings 21:6; II Chron 33:6; Acts 8:9,18-22;13:6; Rev. 19:21;21:8;22:15). We need to wake up Christians and stop entertaining ourselves with the things that Jesus came to die for. This is not a game. Do you not take the cross seriously? Come on Christian, turn away from this immediately.

Not only are we failing to discern what we should and shouldn't be watching in the secular arena, but we are also failing to recognize what we need to be staying away from in spiritual circles. Just because something is labeled "Christian" doesn't necessarily mean it is. Books like "The Shack" are selling like hot cakes. But what many fail to realize is that this book can be labeled as blasphemous. When it comes to describing God, fiction or non-fiction, it's theology. And books like "The Shack" present bad theology that's leading many astray about the true nature of God.

Christians my plea to you is simple: STOP EMBRACING TWILIGHT AND STOP READING THE SHACK.