Psalm 31:23-24 “Oh, love the Lord, all you saints! For the Lord preserves the faithful, and repays the proud person. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord.”

There’s a question: How do we intend to make it through this life?

If  you wrestle with hopelessness, chances are you have invested your hope in the wrong place. We have a choice, we can continue in our hopeless state to or we can embrace the Truth that God loves you, and has promised provision and preservation for his children no matter what the circumstance.

That word “preserves” in the hebrew language (which was the original translation) is “natsar” which means to guard, protect, maintain, or to watch out for. If we ever feel like we are not being protected or preserved, maybe we need to check where our faith is invested. If we invest our faith in earthly relationships, we will be disillusioned. If we invest our faith in the economy and our country, we will be greatly disappointed! If we invest our faith in anything on this earth out side of our loving savior, we can expect to be devastated. If we are to survive in this life, we have to stand on this promise found in Psalm 31, that the “..Lord [will] preserve the faithful.”

My challenge for us today is this: be faithful! Continue to walk in the good works He has placed before you no matter the external circumstances. God will preserve you. Sounds easy? The book of James makes it very clear; we can talk about our faith all we want, but really, it means nothing and is of no value until it is tested. ..“count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing…”

To confess, I wrestle with that vary thing. When something comes up that challenges me, I am tempted to become depressed and weary. I also, however, have learned from experience that God will bring you and me, into a deeper relationship with Him. We have to remember to just let go of the rudder sometimes and let Jesus take the wheel. God bless you all.

During worship last Sunday, a particular song’s lyrics provoked an uncomfortable thought. The words of the song are as follows, “You are good, You are good, and Your love endures today.”  Although I was glad to hear my views of God expressed with such a nice melody, thoughts of recent headlines prevented me from enjoying the worship.

Chelsea King, a pretty high school girl, was recently raped and murdered while on an after school jog.  Thousands had been killed and tens of thousands of lives were ruined when earthquakes rocked Haiti, Chili, and China.  Meanwhile, Europe was tossed into complete disarray when, of all things, an Icelandic volcano erupted shutting down most of the continent’s airports and stranding thousands of passengers (leaving many of them financially ruined).  As the song continued, drowning out the lyrics were the imagined voices of my skeptical friends and family asking, “If God is so good and loving, why?”

Years ago, events and questions like those mentioned above, if thought about too long, would have weakened if not destroyed my faith. But today, understanding the implications of a key Christian claim has helped me not only face these types of objections without fear but has freed me to explore them with confidence.

Unlike other philosophies and religions, we find at the heart of Christianity’s teaching something unusual – a historical claim.  Whereas most world religions acquired their influence primarily through the persuasiveness of their founders, Christianity’s initial influence stemmed solely from the truthfulness of the historical claim that Jesus of Nazareth rose from dead.

So how does this fact prevent doubt both in God and in the legitimacy of the Christian worldview?  Simply put, if Jesus rose from the dead, then it is to his teachings where we must go in order to find the true explanation of why things are the way they are.  Because of the resurrection, we now have an individual whose philosophical assertions supersede all others due to the fact that his authority is not grounded in the persuasiveness of his words or his personal charisma but in time and in history.

How so?  Consider a person who predicts his death and subsequent resurrection, and it actually happens as he or she predicts.  It is this person who has been able to objectively prove that his or her metaphysical teachings are legitimate.  This is exactly what we find in the biography of Jesus Christ.[1]

Case in point, while we may not fully understand the presence of evil, two possible explanations not available to us are that God does not exist or that He is not good. Why not?  Because Jesus credits his rising to the power of a good God.[2] Therefore, due to his authority established by the resurrection event, we cannot because of disturbing current events today deny God’s existence or goodness.  Moreover, to better understand catastrophes such as those cited above we need to look to whatever knowledge Jesus provides on like matters.

In addition to understanding evil, trusting in the authority of Christ over our own speculation gets us infinitely closer to the truth when contemplating other philosophical questions such as life’s meaning, the afterlife, and moral responsibility.

Granted, this conclusion begs the obvious question: Did Jesus Christ really rise from the dead? More interestingly, how can we be sure given the fact that we are separated from the actual event by more than 2000 years?  In part 2, we will explore the historical facts for the resurrection.

[2] John 10: 15-18

Joins us join June 6th 2010 as we move our service location to the Santa Clara Recreation Center in Mission Beach.

Service starts at 9:30am

The spacious earth on which we tread,
And wider heavens stretched o’er our head,
A large and solemn temple frame
To celebrate its builder’s fame.

Here the bright sun that rules the day,
As through the sky he makes his way,
To all the world proclaims aloud
The boundless sovereignty of God.

When from his courts the sun retires,
And with the day his voice expires,
The moon and stars adopt the song,
And through the night the praise prolong.

The listening earth with rapture hears
The harmonious music of the spheres;
And all her tribes the notes repeat,
That God is wise, and good, and great.

But man, endowed with nobler powers,
His God in nobler strains adores;
His is the gift to know the song,
As well as sing with tuneful tongue.

Fasting alone in the desert, tell of the days that are past.
How for our sins he was tempted, yet was triumphant at last.
Tell of the years of his labor; tell of the sorrows He bore.
He was despised and afflicted, homeless, rejected and poor.

Tell of the cross where they nailed Him, writhing in anguish and pain;
Tell of the grave where they laid Him. Tell how He liveth again.
Love in that story so tender, clearer than ever I see.
Stay, let me weep while you whisper, Love paid the ransom for me.

Ps. 27:4 “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,…”

Have you even pondered the thought of what life would be like if you were fully dependent on God? What does it mean to fully trust the will and works of our El Shaddai. (“all sufficient God”)? No matter what happens you know its ok when you are into what God has for you.You know, that out of all the things that could happen, his way is best. You see, with God there is no second best.

Our relationship with God is not like a time-share or a random vacation spot. We can’t use God as a weekend getaway. Ps. 27:4 doesn’t say  ” that I may visit the house of the Lord.” or ” that I may retreat to the house of the Lord.” No, it says that I may dwell!! That means move in, make yourself a resident. We need to be fully dependent on Him.

How can we expect to trust someone if we don’t know who they are. If a  complete stranger were to to stop me and my wife while we we’re walking our baby and say, “Hey I run a daycare and I want to watch your baby, and there is room for her today!”  we would, in no way, give her the stroller and let her walk off with our little girl. Not a chance! We would need to see references, background checks, licenses, the last 5 years of nanny-cam footage, the whole nine yards. With God its similar, only His Credentials are flawless and as a stranger, we can accept His word for face value. However, He desires much more than a shallow recognition that he is trust worthy; He desires that we explore the depths of His being. (Ephesians 3:3)

When we, as christians, go through hardships, one of the greatest challenges we face is applying the truths presented to us in scripture. Why is that? Why is it so difficult for us to let scripture effect us in those times?   I submit, that it could be that we have acquainted ourselves with the surface truths of God  and neglected to become familiar with the depths of His character.  If we are to trust Him, we must go deeper.

We need to “dwell” with the Lord in order to understand Him. Its is out of that understanding that we trust the power and love that He promises.  When you enter into that place with your walk, you can feel the force of God’s love around you, protecting you from any circumstance that may come. It is an amazing feeling and is a crucial part to your relationship with the Lord. Go deeper!