If God Be For Us, Who Can Be Against Us? – Steven Menking

Posted on October 15, 2016 by ccpastormike

And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
2 Kings 6:15-17

Lord God, we are hearing of wars and rumors of wars. Your word tells us that this must surely come to pass eventually, but Lord we also know that we have an advocate at the throne of grace: Jesus Christ – your son and our Savior. Lord we pray in the name of Jesus that your angelic armies would be dispatched to thwart the plans of our enemy to steal, to kill, and to destroy. God we thank you for your mercy, grace, and forgiveness. You are good and holy and true and righteous and just.

Lord give us the hearts, the strength, and the faith to continue in prayer to intercede for our families, our nation, and our world. Jesus we are aware of the besetting dangers that have been unleashed and stand poised to bring great harm. God you are the Creator of all things. We pray in Jesus name for your mercy and for your protection in the midst of chaos and danger.

Your word teaches us that we should fear no evil. Lord we pray that you would write those words in our hearts. You are victorious Jesus and nothing can snatch us out of your hand. We give you glory and praise and worship for you are worthy. Destroy the works of the enemy. Bring confusion into their camp. Pour out your Holy Spirit on your people. Protect us and defend us Lord as we rely on you rather than on our own strength and understanding.

Nevertheless Lord God let your will be done. Whatever it takes for the sake of your glory, your name, and your kingdom. Jesus be exalted in our lives and in our nation once again. Have mercy on us Lord and bring us to the place of repentance, healing, and restoration. We pray in the name of Jesus for the discernment and wisdom of your Holy Spirit. God keep us from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Make a way for us. Open our ears and make us sensitive to your leading in this hour.

God we pray that everyone would be given an honest opportunity to accept your son Jesus as Savior. Show everyone who you are and what you have done, that multitudes would come to know you and those that would willingly reject you do it knowingly and not under the deception of the age. Jesus bring us a moment of utter clarity of purpose and meaning.

Lord protect us and strengthen us. Holy Spirit imbue us with the faith that we need to endure and to proclaim the name of Jesus in this generation. Keep us safe in the storm. We cling to you Jesus and stand firm on the rock of the foundation of our faith knowing that your name is above all names. You are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords Jesus.

In your name we pray for mercy, protection, and encouragement in this hour. Amen.

This article originally posted on The Amateur Society here – https://amateursociety.wordpress.com/2016/10/13/if-god-be-for-us-who-can-be-against-us/ on October 13, 2016

The Night When No Man Can Work – Steven Menking

Posted on September 15, 2016 by ccpastormike

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
John 9:4

These are the words of Jesus Christ. Here Jesus first declares His imperative to perform the will of God the Father. The second statement, a future tense proclamation with prophetic undertones, is more challenging to understand. Interpretations of this night when no man can work are numerous and varied. I believe that this verse is multifaceted. The night could refer to the death of Jesus specifically, death in general, the new heavens and new earth where our work will cease, a time during the Great Tribulation where because of either Satan’s wrath or God’s wrath our work will not be possible, or even several among these and others not listed here. I don’t claim to offer a definitive interpretation of this verse, but I’d like to pose a question that the Holy Spirit has laid on my heart.

What if there is soon coming a time when the disruption of the global financial system leads to a general inability to work?

When I began to ponder the potential practical and economic implications of the verse several other questions arose…

What happens if the credit cycle freezes for a month?
What happens if the unemployment rate goes to 100%?
What happens if our ability to work out God’s calling in our lives is interrupted?
How should we act in light of these possibilities?

I won’t be able to address all the aspects of these complex questions here, so instead I’ll offer some thoughts and considerations from scripture and then provide some encouragement to my brothers and sisters in Christ on that last and most important topic: what we should do.

If you have responded to the call of God then you have taken on an incredible role as a child of the King and a bondservant of Christ. In order for the love of God to be made manifest, we have been created with free will. Love inevitably involves choice simply by definition. Suppose we program a computer to say ‘I love you’ whenever a particular command is entered. Even if we hear those words millions of times in such a manner true love will have never entered into the equation. God loves us so far beyond our capacity to imagine that even the degree to which our understanding is eclipsed is beyond our comprehension. You could even call it a known unknown unknown. We know that we don’t know how much we don’t know. Eat your heart out Donald Rumsfeld!

As part of the parable of the wedding feast, Jesus makes a remarkable statement:

For many are called, but few are chosen.
Matthew 22:14

Responding to the call of God is on the short list of the most important and valuable things that you can do in this life. Few are chosen because we have the free will to ignore the calling that God has given us. Sadly many of us ignore God totally, most of us ignore God for extended periods of time, and all of us – if we’re honest with ourselves – ignore God in intervals and moments.

But what is the calling of God? Let’s again go to the Word of God made flesh, Jesus Himself:

And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mark 8:34

Notice how Jesus literally called the people as well as the disciples. The call to take up our crosses is universal. There is but one way to God. Believe on Jesus Christ, the Son of God, His death, burial, and resurrection, and follow Him.

But weren’t we talking about economics? What’s the relevance of all this calling stuff?

Don’t miss this: believe it or not we never stopped talking about economics. Economics at its most basic concerns how we deal with scarce resources. Our primary scarce resource in this life is this life itself. Time is the scarcest resource because we’ll never know how much of it we have. Today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow is not promised. As such, economics is concerned with virtually all of the decisions we make during our lives, including the eternally critical decision whether or not to follow the calling of God.

Through following God’s calling we know that we are called to follow God. However, each of our callings is definitively unique. My calling is different than yours even though they have many similarities – such as all three parts of Mark 8:34 listed above. God can call you to be a preacher, but the vast majority of Christians are not called to professional ministry. We are all called to be disciples of Christ, but we can also be called to be doctors, teachers, athletes, politicians, scientists, lawyers, sailors, cashiers, salespeople, musicians, bankers, miners, artists, writers, business owners, mechanics, homemakers, judges, assistants, nurses, and thousands more.

I believe there is coming a time when no man can work. I don’t know exactly what that would look like, but it won’t be pretty. But be encouraged brethren. While there is daylight left, while there is still time for you to respond to the call of God, while others still need to be saved, while the Holy Spirit still convicts us, and while we can still advance the Kingdom of God regardless of the position we have been called to, it is our responsibility to work with diligence and fervency.

After looking at the global financial landscape for as long as I have, I can tell you that a sense of urgency has developed toward my work. Take note: urgency is not the same as panic. We should be diligent and focused on accomplishing the tasks that God has given us, but that doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit can’t still provide us with patience, peace, calm, joy, and rest in Christ as well.

Answer God’s call. Press in to Jesus through the Word, prayer, and work. After all, God’s promises are sure, and that includes this one:

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much
Luke 16:10

A great reward will be ours both in this life and the next if we rely on God to give us the ability to accomplish His calling and purpose for our lives. Let us endure to the end, run the race, and fight the good fight of faith my brothers and sisters in Christ!

For more great insights from Steven visit his website The Amateur Society here.

BOOK REVIEW – God Against the gods: Storytelling, Imagination and Apologetics in the Bible, by Brian Godawa

Posted on May 19, 2016 by ccpastormike

“The Christian should be the person who is alive, whose imagination absolutely boils, which moves, which produces something a bit different from God’s world because God made us to be creative.” Francis Schaeffer

Understanding the world we live in and how to live an impactful life was the crux of Francis Schaeffer’s life and work. He encouraged his generation of Christians to take their writing, art, and storytelling seriously for the glory of God as well as for the testimony of Christ. This legacy continues to inspire artists of every genre and I am pleased to say that Brian Godawa has taken up the task of exceptional storytelling, using imagination and apologetics to tell the “grandest story ever told.”

In “God Against the gods: Storytelling, Imagination, and Apologetics in the Bible,” Godawa takes aim at several lofty goals, and hits the bull’s-eye of each one. Of primary importance in this writer’s view is that Godawa states that the Bible takes a far different view of historicity than modern people do.

Godawa’s claim is that the Bible uses mythopoeic and figurative language intentionally, but that this usage in no way undermines the truthfulness or the theological accuracy of what is stated. This is an important point for modern readers who have a somewhat different understanding of what constitutes historical accuracy and even truth.

It is an impressive assertion that God never intended to satisfy the rigorous and often ridiculous demands of critics throughout the ages who would point to this passage or that statement as an example of why the Bible cannot be trusted. Instead Godawa argues that God’s inspiration of the biblical texts remains intact, having been providentially guided for His purposes, by intentionally utilizing imagery, symbolism, metaphor, and poetic figurative language much the way Jesus Christ did during His public ministry. In this way Godawa is arguing against the modernist obsession with rational abstraction and empirical observation as the only gate keepers of truth.

To make his case Godawa presents seven chapters based on articles and essays he has written that explore various topics such as:

God’s intentional unmasking of the spiritual reality behind pagan gods.
How Israel’s use of mythopoeic elements shared with other Near Eastern peoples can be used apologetically today.
The biblical depiction of our universe is a theological expression of the grandeur of God and not a detailed physical or scientific expression.
Paul’s sermon on Mars Hill is really a powerful Christian theistic worldview apologetic.

Readers will find a thorough and thought-provoking examination of such things as the true meaning behind “the host of heaven” and God’s “divine council”; of the penchant of Hollywood filmmakers to use Near Eastern mythopoeia to make blockbuster movies (hat-tip to the 2012 Marvel adaptation, The Avengers); of the necessity of understanding the Bible through a supernatural Near Eastern worldview which by the way, is very different from our own; how biblical cosmology/cosmography is not aimed toward scientific concordism, and it is a mistake to insist on that outcome; and the relationship between metaphor and prophecy especially in the eschatological genre.

In God Against the gods, Brian Godawa has provided a wonderful primer for the Christian apologist, author, and Bible student who is interested in engaging our modern world with powerful information and answers to questions commonly asked by those searching for understanding and truth.

Brian Godawa’s website – www.godawa.com

*A copy of this book was provided to me in PDF format free of charge. I received no remuneration for this review.

Faith and Freedom Friday- God Contends With Those Who Contend With His People-Pt 1

Posted on February 22, 2016 by ccpastormike

My friend Mark Goodwin – author of The Economic Collapse Chronicles, The Days of Noah series, and his latest offering, Behold Darkness and Sorrow, was kind enough to post my 5-part teaching through Psalm 35. His synopsis is below.

God will defend His people against those who oppose Him and them. How far will God go and how far should the Christian go in denouncing evil? Psalm 35 gives us an in-depth look into the answer to that question and much more. Buckle up for this 5-part teaching through Psalm 35. You might be surprised by what you will learn.

This Part 1 lays the groundwork for the studies that will follow and as such serves as an introduction to the principles that are drawn out of the text in the last 4 parts.

View other teachings from Pastor Mike on his YouTube channel HERE – Calvary Chapel of Lima.

Listen to Psalm 35 Part 1 here.

Marks’ website – www.prepperrecon.com