The Gates of Fire - 1 Peter 2:9-10

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. - I Peter 2:9-10

    A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and His own special people. All descriptions of a group of individuals that for all intents and purposes should stand out of the crowd. There should be no mistaking who this group of individuals is. There should be no question and certainly - certainly - no challenges or indictments against such a group. When we see these descriptions and look beyond the words to their meanings we get an even greater picture of what this group truly is.  Using Strong’s Concordance we see that “chosen” is reliably defined as “elected.” We need look no further for a more pinpoint definition. “Royal” is defined as “kingly” referring to our relationship to the Lord and King, Jesus Christ. “Holy” tells us we are “saintly” or “set apart” for God. Finally, “special,” which is better defined as “for His possession” defines us as a people acquired, purchased, and preserved as promised to us by our heavenly Father. All these things we are to God; yet, we are still at an impasse.
    As Christianity trudges forth into the 21st Century we face a Thermopyle all our own. And just as the noble Spartans were sorely outnumbered at the Gates of Fire, we too are in the minority. The secular provocateurs who wish to persecute and ultimately bring an end to us have all the worldly power in their hands. In fact, the only greater advantage they could have would be if we Christians were to shackle and betray ourselves by our own behavior. That would bring the secularists their greatest victory. It would bring the sweetest taste to their mouths if we would but help them complete their worldly crusade.
    Each and every year we see more and more attacks on Christianity. The secularists’ most recent victory has been in the realm of marriage, where they have successfully managed to turn history on its very head and proclaim to the world that marriage is no longer an institution between one man and one woman even as God, Himself proclaimed.  “He said to them, ‘Have you not read that He Who made them in the first place made them man and woman? It says, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will live with his wife. The two will become one.’ So they are no longer two but one. Let no man divide what God has put together.’” - Matthew 19:4-6.
    This victory has brought many a Christian public official into the field of battle. Most recently a Kentucky County Clerk, Kim Davis, was jailed for six days for refusing to issue marriage licenses to homosexual couples based on her “Apostolic Christian beliefs.” It soon became public knowledge that Mrs. Davis has been married four times to three different men. I am not going to get into a discussion of Mrs. Davis’s personal life. My only point in bringing this up is the fact that this is the very type of smear upon the Christian life that secularists thrive upon. They seek human weakness, fallibility, and sin among those who follow Christ. And in followers like Ms. Davis they find them then exploit them, and in doing so ultimately cast a dark shadow over all who claim Christ as their Savior. It is this type of scandalous “Christian behavior” that makes the secularists victories so much more spectacular!
    We must think about it. When the secularists see us, do they see a people chosen, royal, holy, and special to God? What do they see when they look at us? Do they see behavior that reflects the glory of God living within us? If not, then why not?
    As Christians, we must remember the words of Peter. We are chosen, royal, holy and special people to God Almighty. We were once not a people. We had not obtained mercy. But now we are and have! Let us go forward from here seeking not to please men but to please God, remembering that we were called out of darkness into His marvelous light. Let us walk in that light unashamed of our behavior before men, but more important let us pray and walk humbly before God, knowing our battle is a spiritual one. “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”- Ephesians 6:11.
     Mrs. Davis is not perfect; we are not perfect, but let do all we can with the power of the Holy Spirit to rise above question, challenge, or indictment by the secularists even as we stand before the “Gates of Fire” to defend our God and our faith in Him.

Marching Orders - Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. - Matthew 28:18-20

    All authority in heaven and on earth? Who but God could ever possibly wield that kind of power and authority? And yet in exercising that power and authority He, Christ our King, gives us our nonnegotiable marching orders: make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to observe all the things He has commanded us! There’s no wiggle-room, no expansion or contraction of Christ’s parting command. Jesus not only gave us His command but described what the end result of a successful campaign would look like. “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—  the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” - John 14:15-17.  We will all show the results of successfully carrying out our orders with the obedience and the in dwelling of the Holy Spirit in those we have proselytized to. The end-game of successfully carrying out Christ’s Great Commission is the salvation of just one more soul. “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.” - Luke 15:7.
    Turning souls to Christ is the focus of the Great commission. As Christians we are bound in our duty to do all we can, to preach in and out of season, to declare the glory of God to each and every person on the planet! To the extent that we do so our heavenly Father will say to us
“Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” - Matthew 25:21.
    May we all follow our Christ-given marching orders and enter into the joy of our Lord.

Everybody Must Get Stoned -Acts 7: 57

Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; - Acts 7:57

Stephen had just delivered a sermon so powerful that it cost him his life! He spoke openly about God’s covenant with His saints. He spoke without hesitation. He spoke without pretension. He spoke without anonymity. Those he had been speaking to knew exactly who Stephen was. When his audience had heard enough they did three things; they cried out in a loud voice, they stopped their ears, and they ran at him with one accord. That singular minded accord was to murder Stephen to keep him from further sharing the Gospel! And why not? They had already murdered the Son of Man for the same crime!
                           
They cried out in a loud voice-
“Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue with that; I’m right and I will be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity.” — John Lennon

“When I got untethered from the comfort of religion, it wasn’t a loss of faith for me, it was a discovery of self,” explained Pitt. “I had faith that I’m capable enough to handle any situation. There’s peace in understanding that I have only one life, here and now, and I’m responsible.” - Brad Pitt

I don't believe in Heaven and Hell," he says. "I don't know if I believe in God. All I know is that as an individual, I won't allow this life -- the only thing I know to exist -- to be wasted. - George Cloony

It's an incredible con job when you think about it, to believe something now in exchange for something after death. Even corporations with their reward systems don't try to make it posthumous. Gloria Steinem

"I`m an atheist... I regard religion with fear and suspicion. It`s not enough to say that I don`t believe in God. I actually regard the system as distressing: I am offended by some of the things said in the Bible and the Qur`an, and I refute them." — Emma Thompson

"I’ve often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying this is fiction." - Ian McKellen

"I don't believe in the afterlife. I believe this is it, and I believe it's the best way to live."- Natalie Portman

This handful of opinions about Christianity comes directly from celebrity folks who are known as being in the “A List.” These are the celebrities who everyone else tries to emulate in some fashion or other. There are people who live for every word that proceeds from their mouths. I mentioned this situation because we face the same paradigm today. These celebrities ARE the high priests of today.

Stopped their ears- In a very general sense this is the modern day response to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They don’t like it so they don’t listen! “But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’” - Luke 16:31.  I would appear that the myriad of worldly positions made by unbelievers have taken on that nihilistic tone. There are so many opinions out there that you need a crowbar and a pitchfork just to separate them. The only difference is Christianity. On that subject they all agree: they hate it; they don’t want to hear about it!

And ran at him with one accord . . .
    Persecution begins slowly like a well lit camp fire and burns and burns until it reaches it apex of might. Today I can say that we are merely feeling the sparks from the tinder. There are simply far too many examples of Christian Persecution taking place in America for me to recount them to you. If you’re a Bible-believing Christian you have probably already felt the sting of persecution at the hands of your employers or the school-board or the military establishment. Now, using the tentacled arms of anti-Christian groups like the ACLU, Freedom from Religion Foundation, GLSEN, Human Rights Campaign (they sound so “righteous” don’t they?), Americans United for Separation of Church and State, to name but a few, they attack private individuals who fail to comply with their sinful agendas. Charges are filed, judges become involved, and for the average Christian American there is no one to defend them. That is what persecution looks like NOW! There have been beatings. There have been Kristallnacht moments and the law turns its head. But we were told to expect this very thing. “‘If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.’” - John 15:18-19. Praise God the words are Christ Jesus’ alone!
We may not be suffering like those Christians in Muslim lands yet, but persecution develops by a matter of degrees. It is a slowly burning wick that will not go out. We may not hear the lions but they lie quietly, and attentively, in the grasses around us. And they are hungry.
    Fervent prayer for both ourselves and our persecutors is the strongest spiritual weapon that we have. May we enjoin with the Holy Spirit to use them often and effectively.

Diligence And Its Rewards - 2 Peter 1:5-11

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. - 2 Peter 1:5-11

    Diligence, said to be characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort. Some also refer to it as painstaking. Matthew Henry said, “Without giving all diligence, there is no gaining any ground in the work of holiness.” What Peter is suggesting to us then is that without diligence  in applying the gifts that Christ has made available to us we can never be certain of either our call or election. Living a life with Christ as our focus cannot be accomplished haphazardly. We must make our endeavor worthy of our Savior.
    Just knowing our Lord and Savior is not enough, unless you prescribe to the heresy of Antinomianism, It is all easy-believism from there on out. And we know from Christ’s words that we will not have an easy time of being Christians. “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?’” - Matthew 16:24-26.
    None of us can claim the Kingdom if we aren’t willing to give all diligence in following the perfect obedience of our Lord and Savior. Even then our obedience will not be perfect but our heavenly Father will see our hearts’ desires. He will see Christ’s perfect obedience within us and thereby declare us just. “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,  even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” - Ephesians 2:4-5.
    May we always remember the need for diligence in our walk with Jesus and the rich reward we are called to by God’s grace and by His grace alone!

In Spirit and Truth - John 4:23-24

 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” - John 4:23-24

    “In spirit and truth.” Hardly an argument can be found in Christ’s words. Away with all the ostentation and pomp; we must worship in spirit and truth. Jesus holds nothing back. He declares it to all the earth, “the Father is seeking such to worship Him!” And if that were not enough, He doubles-down - “ God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” Do we need more?
    The Jews and Samaritans had a long standing feud of sorts as to the proper place to worship God. Much the same way we today bicker over denominational “doctrines.” It was as if Christ had had enough of it all. He was setting the community of believers straight, once and for all. The veracity of the believer’s worship had nothing to do with where they chose to worship, whether on Mount Gerissim or in Jerusalem. The significance of worshiping in spirit and truth is firmly placed within the heart of the believer - “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever - the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” - John 14:16-17. The Spirit of truth whom Christ empowered to dwell within each and every true believer is the Spirit of truth whom has been indwelling believer’s hearts ever since the Day of Pentecost. Those who worship in truth and spirit do so without regard for where they worship or minor doctrinal differences. They worship without ostentation or dramatic pageantry or pretense because those who worship in spirit and truth worship from the heart! “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise.” Psalm 51:17.
    May we always worship in the spirit and the truth as commanded by Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

Submission To Love - Ephesians 5: 22-24

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.” - Ephesians 5:22-24

    The Greek word for “submit,” hupŏtassō , in its simplest translation means “to obey.” Countless disagreements have arisen from these three lines of scripture. With the rise of feminism in the latter half of the 20th Century to its highly fanatical form today, new antagonisms have reared their ugly heads suggesting that Paul was at the very least a condescending chauvinist if not a blatantly outspoken misogynist. Neither of which accusation is true. But the misunderstanding of the passage owes itself to two patently obvious errors. (1) That women are under no obligation to submit or obey any man, let alone their husbands; and (2) that men have carte blanch power over what their wives think, say, and do. There isn’t an element of truth to either of these relational errors. The lynchpin of the misunderstanding lies in our failure to properly understand  the word “submit.”
    Do we show our love for one another by the way we disagree with one another? By the way we intentionally ignore or defy one another? By the way we backbite, argue, and fight with one another? Do we exhibit our love for one another by blatant disobedience? Love truly is a demonstrable emotion. In other words we more easily exhibit it by our actions than with our words. Love is not defined by contention. It is more truly defined by cooperation and compatibility. Men and women who love one another do not exhibit it by expecting their demands to be met based upon conditions held over one another’s heads.
    “ Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” - 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.
    In fact, the only true submission we make to one another is when we submit to one another in love. We submit neither to command or demand; we submit only to love. This is the point of our title verse. Wives are to submit to their husbands AS TO THE LORD! Would the church flagrantly disobey Christ? To what purpose? Would the church suggest that Christ might demand or command something unholy of them? By the same token would a woman charge her husband with some unreasonable demand? Her husband must be at the task of doing what has been commanded by God - “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her . . .” - Ephesians 5:25 As Christ would never mistreat His church neither would a Godly husband ever mistreat or disrespect his wife! This speaks directly to the mutuality of love between a husband and a wife. This being said, a husband would just as surely “submit” to his wife were she to ask what is righteous and what is holy of him.
    To all of us who have been blessed in this lifetime with a Godly husband or wife let us submit to them as to the Lord. Let us submit to love.

Resisting the Fight - Romans 12:17

 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. - Romans 12:17


    If two sides were engaged in mutual combat in the middle of a field, how would we be able to determine the right side from the wrong side? The good from the bad? The moral from the immoral? If their tactics were the same, their anger the same, their violence the same, how could we tell? Without some symbol or uniform there would be no way to tell; they would all seem to be the same: simply two sides fighting one another. Our title verse seems to close out such options for Christians pacing for a fight. “Repay no one evil for evil,” is not a call to us to lay down our lives before violent men but a call to us to resist the use of violence to merely remedy what we see as “evil.”
    “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” - Romans 12:18. The command is clear - “live peaceably”, if it is possible and as much as it depends upon us. The mere presence of evil in the world is nothing new and certainly cannot excuse us for using tactics similar to those of unbelievers. Such behavior neither justifies us nor ingratiates us to our heavenly Father. His command is clear.
    “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” - Romans 12:19. Perceived wrongs, whether from the secular world or the state, may in deed be wrong in the eyes of the Lord, but we are not contracted by God to undue these wrongs. We must not support them but we must not take it upon ourselves to extract the vengeance that belongs to God alone!
    “Therefore, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” - Romans 12: 20-21. Our heavenly Father is the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth. He is in no imminent danger of being “a king deposed.” There is no power in the universe, either physical or spiritual,  that can undo God’s sovereignty.
     Let our goodness heap coals of fire upon the heads of those who are evil and let us patiently remain faithful in prayer as we wait upon God’s holy judgment against those who deny Him. Anathema maranatha.