August Edition- 2018- Wonderful Words of Life- by Dr. Keith J. Wise
INTRODUCTION: August is before us and most of the summer has been filled with vacations, family reunions and just some weekend getaways. Most families in the month of August begin thinking of preparation for school. As you may have noticed, most of the box stores are already putting out notebooks, pens, and varieties of school supplies. College age students are planning with their parents for some type of orientation, if they are freshman, and if they are seasoned in collegiate life know their line of courses for another year. Which brings me to some political comments and observations. As a nation have you ever considered our greatest asset? In my humble opinion our true strength cannot be found in the weapons of war or in our great arsenal of technological advances; instead, it lies deep in our convictions and dedication to our American ideals.
Freedom's greatest enemies are indifference of spirit, weakness of will, and compromise of principles. This is the stern lesson of history from ancient to modern civilizations. The greatest achievement and glory of a free people is to transmit their freedoms to their children. A free people never give up their liberties, they lose them through spiritual apathy and material reverence.
Our greatest asset is the youth of America and whoever wins the youth, wins the future of America. Our ancestors understood this and made it a part of their daily dialogue. Teach your children the truths which have made this nation great and you will have done much to combat the viruses of foreign "isms" that would make us lethargic and forget the functional ideas of America.
BOOK REVIEW: Gospel Reset: Salvation made Relevant. Ken Ham
This is a new book by Ken Ham who in his travels and work is president, CEO, and founder of Answers in Genesis-US. He is the driving force of the highly-acclaimed Creation Museum and Ark Encounter. As a biblical apologist he has had the opportunity to see the changing culture of America over the last several decades. The basic premise of the book is explained by Ham on the book jacket in his written explanation: "The gospel message hasn't changed, but the way in which it needs to be presented in a secularized culture does need to change. It's time for a Gospel Reset!"
In his theory of biblical preaching and communication he proceeds with a logical and biblical framework. Hamm attempts to explain how we as a culture and society have changed. His theory is that we were once a people driven by general biblical knowledge and a social lexicon that knew the language of definitions such as God, Sin, Death, Savior. He parallels this with the biblical example of the first gospel sermon after the resurrection of Jesus by Peter on the Day of Pentecost. (Acts 2) He illustrates this by the response of the Jewish people who were informed by Jewish tradition and Jewish ideas of blood sacrifice, messiah, Jehovah and other names of God. These were the accepted words of redemption, consolation and hope in the minds of his Jewish listeners. He acknowledges this example to an informed audience, thus three thousand responses to the gospel in Acts 2. In short, they understood what Peter was saying to them. Ham will then compare and express this is how American and Western culture have communicated up until the last fifty years. There were the great revivals of Billy Graham preaching from the Bible and the responses, often at the local church level, where churches were either growing or influencing the surrounding culture of a post World War II society. A similar language of words and ideas were expressed.
He then compares and illustrates the biblical preaching of another Apostle, the Apostle Paul. He circles the outline of Acts 17 which enunciates a different approach to the scholars and philosophers on Mars Hill in Athens than that of Peter in Jerusalem. As a culture immersed in the teaching of "idols and evolution" Paul points to the beginning of God in creation and built from the foundation up. The Apostle Paul uses a different model when speaking to Greeks who exhibited no or very little references to the God of Israel. However, Paul knew and understood that unless there is an abandonment of a "man" informed society to a "God" informed society, the cycle of destruction and disillusionment would continue. Paul makes clear to his Greek audience in Athens that God, the creator, has in his time, sent a new revelation in the form of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, he has appointed a day, "into which he will judge the world by that man..." For us, Ham will note, we must do as Paul did, by getting people to think a different way with a Biblical world view of God. This new uniformity is one way and one destiny because of "God's revelation in Christ Jesus" . He points out that our secularized culture in America has moved off of its formerly Biblical foundation of operative words. In Paul's format to the pagan Greeks, he proclaims a living God, the defilement of sin, and the consequences of death and the only viable option as a resurrected savior in Jesus Christ.
Ham will speak commentary on our shifting culture which has become unintelligible from a biblical perspective to our society at large. Ham notes that Christians must approach our neo-pagan culture which now asks: "Which God? What sin? Why Death? and Why a Savior?" We must now restore the old values that bring about purity and understanding in our dialogue with our neo-pagan neighbors and media, much as the Apostle Paul did in his sermon on Mars Hill. Ham also partially blames the church for its blurring of focus and abandonment of biblical values over the last decades. He calls for revival and a fresh approach to explaining the preaching of the gospel. As always in his discussion, he iterates the tone that the gospel and the message of Christ is still relevant to our age and to our culture and I would note "multicultural" in its scope. We who are Bible believing Christians must never abandon the Great Commission to the world by the Word of the Lord Jesus himself. Let us get reinvigorated by the word of God and begin a new messaging of God through intelligent discourse and compassional service. Peter's words, some thirty or so years after Pentecost rings true in I Peter 3:15 "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have..."(NIV)
I. FAITH JOURNEY FOR AUGUST...GIVING IT TO GOD
In the chaotic world in which we live, our focus is often clouded by any host of distractions. One of the tools I used while ministering in the local church was for the individual Christian to think about scripture in a slow, meditative fashion. As the month of August will soon be upon us, I would like for you as readers of this blog to take a week by week "faith walk" through these scriptures a week at a time. Meditating on these scriptures for the week will be the source of therapy, healing, insight and energizing of your vision as a Christian. I will use a couple of different translations to help you in this "journey."
A. Week 1: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1) (NIV)
B. Week 2: With God's power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20) (New Century Version)
C. Week 3: Then Jesus told him "You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who haven't seen me and believe anyway." (John 20:29) (NLT)
D. Week 4: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5) (NIV)
II. QUOTES FROM THE BOATS...
Mark Twain as a riverboat captain use to collect sayings from that culture along the Mississippi River. Here are a few and an extra from Samuel Johnson.
A. "Live only for today and you ruin tomorrow."
B. "Teach the young people how to think, not what to think."
C. "All progress means change, but all change is not progress."
D. "In today's exchange of goods of all kinds, we know that price of everything and the value of nothing."
E. "What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence."(Samuel Johnson)
