Category Archives: Spiritual Life

Is the God I Believe in Real?

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Over the past few decades, I’ve realized that much of the thinking of irreligious society has been incorporated into the lives of church people. For example, more than one person in Bible-believing churches have told me about the ghosts in their homes. Ghosts? OK — I enjoy a ghost story as much as the next guy, but I also enjoy stories about Santa Claus. That doesn’t mean I believe there’s a guy in a red suit being dragged through the sky on a sled by flying reindeer. And I don’t believe in ghosts.

My perspective on ghosts is not a denial of the supernatural. I believe in the supernatural. I’ve experienced supernatural events. So how can I say I don’t believe in ghosts? Because the God I believe in tells me what happens when we die — and haunting the living isn’t part of the program.

“The God I believe in…” Is that one of the goofiest things we could ever say or what? Yet whenever you hear someone say something that is in opposition to the teaching of Scripture, that’s what they are saying. They are saying that their version of god is different than the Bible’s version of God. And, make no mistake about it, they are saying that the god they believe in is superior to the God of the Bible. Wow — Is that arrogance or folly? Maybe both.

You don’t pick and choose what God says or does. He’s a person, distinct from you and me. We can’t tell him who he is any more than we can tell gravity how to behave. The podcast attached to this post emphasizes this important concept. And it demonstrates that the place we go for a clear understanding of God has to be the Bible. And when the god I believe in contradicts the God of the Bible, the God of the Bible wins.

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PODCAST: Living Above Your Nature at School

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Back to School Sermon Presented August 19, 2012 at Curwensville Alliance

Just last year, Austin Smith, a 15-year-old from Michigan, was bleeding the brakes on a 1991 Buick Century with his grandfather.

muscleWhile Austin was inside the car pumping the pedal, the vehicle shifted and after he got out, it fell off the blocks, pinning Grandpa Ernie under 2,000 pounds of steel.

As he tells the story, Austin says, “I was just so scared. I didn’t know what to do.” So Austin grabbed the car by its front bumper and lifted. He lifted it high enough that his grandpa could crawl out.

How did he do that? Huey Lewis might say, “That’s the power of love.” We all know it’s adrenaline. When you are in that kind of situation, sometimes, your body can do things that aren’t humanly possible. Or at least not ordinarily humanly possible.

Austin was living above his natural abilities — empowered to do something he could not naturally hope to do. God does that for Christians — empowers us to live above our nature.

This podcast suggests that you can do that as you head to school this fall.

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Deprogramming for Emotional and Spiritual Health

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Smartphones have apps on them — computer programs that accomplish tasks and effect performance. Any app that is on the phone changes the phone — some for the better, some for the worse.

Materialism App

We’re like that phone. We live in a world system that offers us apps that influence us. In fact, whether we install the apps into our lives or not, we can’t deny their influence. Perhaps some of the apps come bundled into our lives as the sinful nature. Others are ones that come without warning. Still, others, are ones we foolishly install without first determining how safe they really are.

This podcast suggest three apps we might have in our lives that, if we are going to be emotionally and spiritually healthy, must be removed.

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