Nick’s Walk

Indictment 10: Lack of Discipline The Spirit makes it clear that as time goes on, some are going to give up on the faith and chase after demonic illusions put forth by professional liars. These liars have lied so well and for so long that they’ve lost their capacity for truth. You’ve been raised on the Message of the faith and have followed sound teaching. Now pass on this counsel to the followers of Jesus there, and you’ll be a good servant of Jesus. Stay clear of silly stories that get dressed up as religion. Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. You can count on this. Take it to heart. Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity. Verses from 1 Timothy 4 Some of the lies. I’m from the government and I’m here to help you. God wants you rich. (Guess that’s why the Son of Man had no place to lay his head.) Only the faithless are ever sick, poor or struggling. (Christians in Sudan and Iraq […]

  A wise son heeds his father’s instruction,     but a mocker does not respond to rebukes. Proverbs 13:1 He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will suffer harm.” Proverbs 13:20 Indictment 9: Replacing Biblical Discipleship with sociology and psychology.  It’s about time. Recently I have spent even more time with my grandchildren, especially my grandson Nick. His father died when he was very young and he is getting to that age where his Dad’s absence is very significant. It’s fun. I have greatly enjoyed the time together. I pick him up at school on Fridays. We do things together: some play, some work. We are looking forward to a day trip to the New Orleans Bowl next Saturday. It’s God’s way. The obvious has  become clear to me: that God’s plan is for us to disciple through personal contact. Jesus spent time with His disciples. Paul did the same with Timothy. For much of history, parents spent time with their children. Fathers trained their sons in the family business. Mom’s taught daughters how to run a house. I know how very old-fashioned that sounds. I’m not suggesting that we go back in time. I […]

14Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. 15See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; Hebrews 12. The Eighth Indictment is that the church is Ignorant about Holiness. We score high on “holier than thou” and apparently don’t understand that’s not the same thing. Let’s hit some basics about holiness. Holy means to be separated for a divine purpose. When most of us think of “holy” we think, “super good.” It’s actually being separated for a purpose. Since that purpose is divine; a certain amount of purity is certainly involved. That’s where the “goodness” comes in. Holiness is achieved through Sanctification. Sanctification is a divine process. It’s something that God does and nothing for us to get big-headed about. After He saves us, He sanctifies us. What do I do? We do play a role in sanctification. We have to keep our eye on Christ. We have to abide in Him. We have to look to Him for direction, guidance and power and execute the “plays” we are given. Anyone who spends […]

15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. Matthew 18 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 2 Thessalonians 3:6 Indictment 7: Ignorance and a lack of loving and compassionate church discipline Church Discipline? You have to be kidding. Sounds like something out of the middle ages. Surely that’s not for today. Let’s look. Brother or sister. We are talking about something initially between you and someone with whom you have relationship, a brother or sister. There is already love there. You are concerned because someone you love appears to be in trouble. Remember […]

Indictment 6: Ignorance of the nature of the church. The church isn’t a building or a denomination. It’s all of those who have been regenerated into new creations by the power of God. There have been some of these creations in every church I have every been a part of. Sometimes they were a big part. Other times they were such a small minority,  you had to seek them out. The most potent local church is one in which most of its members are real followers. Sadly, that’s rarely the case. Not only are the real followers often the minority; they are usually a silent minority. The loud voices belong to control freaks and look-at-me types. These guys are often up front, running programs, making decisions, and making loud noises when their gold coins hit the collection plate. The real followers  are working with kids, down on their knees in prayer and being quiet blessings to everyone they meet. We need to learn how to identify, multiply and edify the real church. We need to call out and separate from the church fraud types. Let them run social clubs. The Lord’s church is a beautiful bride. If we can clear […]

Indictment Five: Ignorant Invitation. Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony,honor your father and mother, and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” Jesus answered,“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Matthew 19:16-22 The simple but most important question.  “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” The answer was there is no way to do a good thing and get eternal life.   Why didn’t Jesus say, “Just invite me into your heart?” I haven’t been able to find any place in scripture […]

        Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17 When we come to know scripture, the holy and just nature of God and the depraved nature of man, we begin to see the problem. If we are create for relationship with God, how can a God that we know just begin to understand, have depraved man in his presence? The fourth indictment is: Ignorance of the doctrine of regeneration. God the Just and Righteous became God the Justifier. He doesn’t just forgive. What good does that do? We will soon sin again. He creates anew. He makes us new creatures. Things change. Hearts of stone become hearts of flesh. Our dark ignorance becomes knowledge of sin. Our death in sin becomes life in Christ. Our depraved minds become renewed. Slaves of sin become slaves of righteousness. This miracle can’t be performed by clever preaching, emotional pleas, or any act of man. Regeneration is a miracle of God greater even than the initial creation. In the beginning God made man out of nothing. In regeneration he begins with depravity and produces righteousness. Through […]

I was watching 60 Minutes, a story about refugees from Syria. It was heart wrenching. Thousands of families crossing wasteland with nothing but their clothes, facing a very uncertain future. Many emotions weld up: sympathy, thanksgiving for my own life, anger at those whose greed and quest for power created these situations. There is  so much evil in the world. We see it every day. The World is full of Evil. We see evil on an international scale, but it’s also in our face nationally if we pay any attention to politics, locally, even in our personal lives. We don’t just see evil on television; we know evil people. You would think that with so much evil that the church would not be facing indictment number 3. Indictment Number 3: Ignorance of the nature of man. I am evil. I’m sorry. The “man is basically good” folks are just wrong. We can recognize that there are evil people. We just can’t admit that we are one of them. The problem is that compared with war mongers, murders, and people who post “like this” things on Facebook, we look pretty good. The problem is these obviously evil people are not […]