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Why I Believe in God
By Miguel A. Cañete

I grew up in a non-religious home. My mother was a non-practicing Catholic, for a while my father thought that God was an extraterrestrial, and at least one of my brothers was an atheist. By the time I was a teenager, I also considered myself an atheist. Eventually, however, through a series of events, I became a Christian. That was almost two decades ago. Today, I know that God exists and there is no doubt about it in my mind. Why, then, do I believe in God?

One reason I believe in God is simply because it makes logical sense. Nothing can exist unless it has been caused to exist by someone or something. If you see a painting, nobody has to tell you that someone painted it. If you see a sculpture, you know that someone made it. In the same way, the very fact that the Universe exists shows that it was created by someone who Himself must be “uncreated.” It is a matter of logic: Nothing, including the Universe, can have created itself.

The Bible tells us that the Creator of the Universe is God: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1, NASB). Of course, someone might say that even though it is true that the Universe requires a Creator, this doesn’t have to be the God of the Bible—a fair point. However, the evidence does show that the God of the Bible is, indeed, the Creator of the Universe and we will examine part of this evidence in future articles. For now, let us remember that believing in God, far from being an irrational and unintelligent thing to do, is the most logical response to the dilemma of the origin of the Universe.

I also believe in God because of the fact that people everywhere, throughout history, have shown a need to worship a “Higher Being.” Whether it is the Mayans with their rituals, the Romans with their many gods, indigenous tribes with their worship of the Sun and the Moon, or the Jews with their monotheism, the fact is that every civilization that has existed has shown a great spiritual need.

Now, I know that someone may think that this is a silly reason to believe in God but, in reality, it is not. As C.S. Lewis, the British theologian, put it, “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for these desires exists. A baby feels hunger; well, there is such a thing as food. A dolphin wants to swim; well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire; well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”^{^[1]} In other words, the very fact that people everywhere clearly has a need for God implies His existence, in the same way that the fact that a baby gets thirsty implies the existence of the water that quenches his thirst.

Pascal, the 17^th Century mathematician, put it well when he said that there is a “God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God.” And Augustine wrote, “Thou hast created us for thyself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in thee.” A powerful proof of the existence of God, then, lies within our very hearts, where our thirst for Him, testifies to His reality.

Of course, this doesn’t yet prove that the God of the Bible is the One for whom every human heart thirsts (we will get to that in future articles). Even so, I must close by quoting Jesus, who said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him” (Jn. 7:37-38, NIV).

It may sound unbelievable, but it is estimated that between 30 and 40 million Christians died for their Faith during the 20^th century—and the suffering continues today. For example, days before I wrote this article, four Christian teachers were killed in Somalia, 46 believers were jailed in China for having an “illegal” church meeting, and a group of Christian children were attacked and beaten for distributing Bible tracts in India (and this is only part of a long list). So make no mistake, the persecution of Christians is real, very real. What can we do about it? We can pray, give and tell. Let me explain.

Pray! Think about it. Even while you read this article, there are countless Christian men and women in prison for their faith in Christ, and millions more live with the constant fear of being prosecuted for having an “illegal” Faith. Of course, we can’t visit someone in a jail cell in Somalia, for example, and neither can we change Chinese or Saudi religious laws—but we can pray. We can pray so the Lord gives persecuted believers His strength. We can ask Him to help them remain faithful, and so they can love and witness to their enemies even in the face of great suffering. And we should also pray for their deliverance. After all, weren’t the prayers of the Church responsible for Peter being delivered from certain death back in the first century (Acts 12:6-19)?

Give! Besides praying, we can also give financial support to reputable organizations that work on behalf of the persecuted Church. Ministries such as The Voice of the Martyrs (www.persecution.org), The Bible League (www.bibleleague.org), and Open Doors (www.opendoorsusa.org), serve the persecuted Church in different ways. They provide financial assistance to the families of imprisoned or murdered pastors and church leaders. They “smuggle” Bibles into closed countries. They build wells in places where Christians are not allowed to use the public wells. They train and disciple believers; they provide us with ways to actually write letters of encouragement to Christian prisoners, and also help to get the word out about the incredible hardships Christians go through in many countries, thus helping create political pressure on those that persecute Christians.

Tell! Lastly, besides praying and giving to help our persecuted brothers and sisters, we can encourage others to do the same. Many Christians are completely unaware of the suffering believers go through everyday, all over the world, partly because the secular media rarely reports on the subject. So it is important that we tell them about the plight of the persecuted Church and remind them of their responsibility towards their spiritual family. After all, if our carnal brother or sister were being beaten and mistreated, wouldn’t we do something about it?

It is my hope, then, that after reading these words you will start to pray often for your persecuted family (if you are not already doing it), that you consider financial giving in order to help them through extremely difficult times, and that you encourage others to do the same. One day, in Heaven, when you finally meet these persecuted believers face to face, they will thank you, and you will hear Jesus say, “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!” (Mt 25:40, NLT).

Those who deny the existence of God cannot escape the fact that our planet and the Universe at large show evidence of design and have to answer questions that confront them with this reality. For example, if it is not with the existence of a Designer, how can we account for the fact that, on the one hand, human beings feel hunger and, on the other, the earth produces fruits and vegetables whose main purpose seems to be satisfying that hunger? How can we account for the fact that living beings need oxygen to survive and, at the same time, the earth just “happens” to produce trees which provide that very oxygen life requires? How can we explain the fact that when a woman becomes pregnant and has a baby, her body suddenly starts to produce the milk that the infant needs to survive and thrive? Are we to believe that all these things happen by chance?

The fact is that none of these questions (and a host of others) can be satisfactorily answered apart from recognizing that someone must have carefully designed it all. But the earth is not the only place that provides us with ample evidence that points to a Divine Designer. In fact, the Universe itself seems to have been designed very carefully—with us in mind. This notion is what scientists call the Anthropic Principle. Allow me to explain it briefly.

We know the Universe started with an explosion known as the “Big Bang,” and that the matter expelled by it started to expand. By the influence of constant forces, such as gravity, the planets eventually formed. Now, scientists calculate that if the rate of expansion of this matter immediately after the Big Bang had been as little as a fraction of a million (1/1,000,000) faster than it was, the Universe could not have formed.^{^[1]} Also, the odds of the Big Bang producing a Universe stable enough for life to exist are so small that this is considered to be mathematically impossible.^{^[2]}

The Anthropic Principle, then, postulates that the Universe “was constructed within very narrow limits, in such a way that man could dwell in it.”^{^[3]} In the words of John Gribbin, the evolutionary cosmologist, “The ‘Anthropic Principle’ says that our Universe seems to be tailor-made for us because people like us can only evolve in this kind of Universe.”^{^[4]} In other words, the evidence shows that everything was designed with us in mind!

No wonder the Bible says that the existence of God is “evident,” and that His invisible qualities are “clearly seen” through that which exists “so that they [who do not believe] are without excuse” (Rom. 1:19-20, NASB). As the Moody Handbook of Theology puts it, “The alternative, that the world happened ‘by chance,’ is no more possible than a monkey’s being able to create a work of Shakespeare on a typewriter by haphazard play on the keys.”^{^[5]} It really does take more faith to believe that the Universe exists by pure chance than to believe in the existence of a Creator.*

^{^[1]} Collins, Francis S, The Language of God, (New York: Free Press), 2006, p. 73.

^{^[2]} Ibid. p. 74.

^{^[3]} Jastrow, Robert, The Astronomer and God,” The Intellectuals Speak Out About God, ed. Abraham Varghese (New York: Regnery Gateway), 1984, p. 21, 22. [As quoted by Bert Thompson, Ph.D, in http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/327].

^{^[4]} Gribbin, John, Genesis: The Origins of Man and the Universe, (New York: Delacorte Press), 1981, p. 309. [Quoted by Bert Thompson, Ph.D, in http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/327].

^{^[5]}Enns, Paul P.: The Moody Handbook of Theology. Chicago, Ill. : Moody Press, 1997, c1989, S. 183.

*This article presents what is known as the “teleological argument” for the existence of God.

One powerful clue to the reality of God is the existence of what has been called the “Moral Law” in the human heart. Have you noticed that people from all over the world, no matter where they are from, agree about some basic things that are good or right, and some that are bad or wrong? Whether you live in China or in Argentina, in India or in Egypt, things like lying, cheating, stealing and murdering are considered to be evil. At the same time, everyone agrees that things like honesty, love, and forgiveness are good.

This is not new. Throughout history every single civilization has had the same basic set of values. Of course, not all applied them in the same way. That is why the objects of, say, loyalty have varied greatly. For example, some have been loyal to a king, others to the cause or overthrowing a king. But what has never existed is a place where disloyalty was considered a good thing. In the same way, cowardliness, dishonesty and falsehood, have always been seen as bad things. This common code of behavior we all share is what is called the Moral Law.

This Moral Law is what is behind our conscience, which, according to The Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, is “the part of you that judges the morality of your own actions and makes you feel guilty about bad things that you have done or things you feel responsible for…” Now, notice that our conscience always moves us to do what we think is good. And so the obvious question is: Where does this innate desire to do good come from? In other words, who wrote the Moral Law in the human heart?

Some say that the Moral Law is learned, that it is a product of the influence of society. However, this doesn’t explain why throughout history radically different societies have had the same Moral Law. There must be another explanation.

Some argue that the Moral Law developed as we evolved. But this explanation has some problems. One of them is that it cannot explain our drive to do selfless acts of kindness or altruistic acts. As scientist Francis Collins puts it, altruistic acts present a “major challenge for the evolutionist.” Why? Because they “cannot be accounted for by the drive of individual selfish genes to perpetuate themselves [which is what is supposed to drive the entire evolutionary process]. Quite the contrary: it may lead humans to make sacrifices that lead to great personal suffering, injury or death, without any evidence of benefit. And yet,” he concludes, “…the motivation to practice this kind of love exists within all of us, despite our frequent efforts to ignore it.”^{^[1]} In short, evolution cannot satisfactorily account for the Moral Law.

We must conclude, then, that the existence of the Moral Law demands the existence of a Law Giver who must also be good and just, as the Law is—one with the characteristics of the God of the Bible.

In Romans 2, the apostle Paul writes that even those “who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it.” By doing this, he says, they “demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right” (Rom. 2:14-15, NLT). Once again, then, our hearts contain the evidence of the existence of God, the Giver of the Law.

^{^[1]} Collins, Francis S, The Language of God, (New York: Free Press), 2006, p. 27.

In my preceding articles I presented some evidence that, I believe, establishes the existence of God as an inescapable fact. We saw that logic tells us that the Universe cannot have created itself, thus requiring the existence of a Creator. We saw that just as our thirst is evidence of the existence of water, mankind’s need for God (as seen in every culture throughout history) speaks of the existence of God. We saw that the Universe shows a high degree of design, which implies the existence of a divine Designer, and we also discussed how the Moral Law in the human heart is evidence of a Divine Law-Giver. The question now is, is this Creator, Designer, and Law-Giver, the God of the Bible? I believe so. But, how could we assess that?

The biblical God Himself says that the true God must have the ability to “tell us what the future holds” (Is. 41:22, NLT). This, it seems to me, is a good test. So let us look at several Bible prophecies in order to determine whether Jehovah can pass His own test. We’ll start with Ezekiel’s prophecies against Tyre, in Ezekiel chapter 26.

At the time of these prophecies, Tyre was an important trade center which had commercial relations with “all parts of the Mediterranean world,” as the Encyclopedia Britannica puts it.^{^[1]} But she earned God’s wrath and the Bible describes in chilling detail the way she would be judged.

In Ezekiel 26, the prophet records God as saying, “³I am against you, O Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you… ⁷ From the north I am going to bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzarking of Babylon… ⁸He will ravage your settlements on the mainland with the sword; he will set up siege works against you...” He continues, “¹²They [the nations from verse 3] will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise; they will…throw your stones, timber and rubble into the sea…¹⁴I will make you a bare rock, and you will become a place to spread fishnets. You will never be rebuilt, for I the Lord have spoken…” (NIV)

This prophecy was given between 587 and 586 B.C. (see 26:1). About 2 years later, in 585 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar attacked Tyre and laid siege to it for 13 years, fulfilling verse seven. When he finally entered the city, he realized that the people had fled to a nearby island, so he ravaged the settlements on the mainland as verse 6 predicted. Still, the prophecy wasn’t completely fulfilled.

Then, in 332 B.C. Alexander the Great set his eyes on Tyre. Because he didn’t have a navy to take the Island, he decided to build a causeway using the rubbles of the old Tyre (the one Nebuchadnezzar destroyed), so he threw it all into the sea, fulfilling verse twelve. Meanwhile, vessels from Sidon, Aradus, Byblus, Soli, Macedon and Cyprus, among other nations, joined Alexander (fulfilling verses 3 and 5) and they all took Tyre, killing and enslaving thousands and plundering the city (v-12). But the prophecy still wasn’t completely fulfilled.

More than 1,000 years later (in 1291 A.D.), the Muslims destroyed Tyre one last time. It would never be rebuilt (v-14). Today, its ruins remain underground (v- 20), and a small fishing town sits quietly by the sea. Josh McDowell quotes Nina Seldon, author of “Your Guide to Lebanon” as saying, “I went to Tyre on a summer’s day. The town was sleepy, the harbor still. Fishing boats were putting out to sea. Pale turquoise fishing nets were drying on the shore.”^{^[2]} Today Tyre is nothing but “a place to spread fishnets,” as God predicted in verses five and fourteen.

^{^[1]} The Encyclopedia Britannica contains a helpful account of the story of Tyre (Online, see http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9074016/Tyre)

^{^[2]} Josh McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict Volume I, (Thomas Nelson, Nashville: 1979), p. 279.

The single most important tenet of the Christian Faith is the doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus. To use Paul’s words, if Christ “has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless” (1 Cor. 15:14, NLT). He is absolutely right. And while believing in the resurrection is ultimately a matter of faith, there is plenty of evidence that backs up this doctrine. Here is some of it.

It is undeniable that the tomb where Jesus’ body was placed ended up empty. If this wasn’t the case, we can be sure that someone would have said, “Hey, here is the body! Stop this resurrection nonsense!” But, of course, both the Bible and other historical records show that this never happened.

Some argue that the disciples stole the body while the guards at the entrance of the tomb slept, but this is plain nonsense. Why? Because the tomb was being guarded by Roman soldiers whose lives were on the line if they allowed anyone to steal the body. (According to Roman law, a guard caught sleeping while on duty was subject to death.)

Also, first century tombs were sealed with a very heavy rock that could not be moved very easily, much less silently. So even if the guards were sleeping (which we have seen is virtually impossible), the disciples could not have possibly moved the rock without waking them up.

All the disciples suffered tremendously for preaching the resurrection. Peter was crucified upside down, Paul and James were beheaded, and all the other apostles, with the possible exception of John, died for their belief in the resurrection. Had they been lying, they could just have said, “You know what? We made up the whole thing!” and save their skin. Instead, they were willing to die for the message of the resurrected Christ. This makes no sense at all—unless the resurrection did take place.

Lastly, if Christ did not resurrect, how do we explain the countless lives throughout history that have been changed by their belief in him? And how do we explain the countless miracles reported (and in many cases thoroughly documented) to have taken place in the name of Jesus? One of these miracles occurred to Norma, who lives in Miami, Florida. After a kidney stone obstructed her urethra in September 2002, her kidney “backed up” and contaminated her blood with urine. She was given two days to live. But her family believed that prayer in the name of Jesus worked. They asked many to pray for her, and believed God could do the impossible. Three weeks later, Norma was back in her house. When she first arrived at the hospital the doctors said she had no hope; now they called her “the miracle patient.” How come no other religion on the Earth can claim such miracles? Could a dead god do these things? Certainly not!

Much more could be said, but this should be enough to remind us that the resurrection of Jesus is not a superstitious belief, but a historical reality.

“Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead!” (Luke 24:5-6, NIV).

I Want to Die, So Help Me, God!
By Miguel A. Canete

"I want to die, so help me, God!" was my prayer for a long time. There was one problem, though: I didn't know how to actually die. I'm talking, of course, about dying to sin.

You see, I understood that if I was going to experience the fullness of the Christian life I had to die to sin (Gal. 2:20). But I had no idea how to do it! I did know that the Bible says that Christians have already "died with Christ" (Rom. 6:8, NASB), but I realized that the Bible also commands us to, "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry" (NIV), which means that even though we have been declared dead to sin we must make that spiritual reality into a practical reality in our daily living. But, how?

Was I supposed to suppress my personality so that Christ could "shine through"? But then, why is it that Paul, Peter and every other godly person in the Bible had a very unique personality? Obviously they weren't made into little carbon-copies of Jesus. Did I die by practicing rituals that humiliate the flesh—such as sleeping on hard surfaces or abstaining from any kind of pleasure? The Bible, however, says that these things don't really help in our fight against sin (Col. 2:20-23). Was I supposed to break ties with the world and everyone in it so I could avoid being tempted for the rest of my life? But, then, how could I be a light in the darkness if I chose to hide my light under a bushel? (Mt. 5:14-16).

The answer (as usual!) was right under my nose, in a passage I had read many times before:

"Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God" (Rom. 6:11-13, NASB).

Let me share with you what this passage taught me about how to make our death to sin into a practical reality in our daily lives.

"Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus…"

From time to time I meet a woman I find very attractive, but no matter how beautiful she may be I don't try to pursue a romantic relationship with her? Why not? Because I am married! And not only am I married but, to borrow Paul's expression, I consider myself to be married. I am dead to any woman other than my wife, so to speak. Flirting with anyone is out of the question, no matter how exhilarating the prospect may be. Yet, I've known people who, despite being married, have no problem flirting with someone they find attractive. Why? I think it is because in their hearts they don't quite consider themselves to be married. "I am married, but I'm not dead," some say. It's no surprise many of them end up being unfaithful to their spouses.

Now, we are dead to sin and all its power over us (Rom. 6:6-7), that is a fact of the Christian life. But all too often we don't consider this to be so. As a result, when we come across a sin we find attractive, we start flirting with it. "I'm a Christian," we tell ourselves, "But I am still human!" And so it is no wonder that we end up being unfaithful to Christ. But Paul is telling us that we need to get it through our heads that we have moved on from our days when we lived in sin—like a single person who has gotten married—and we have a new Master—flirting with sin, our old master, is now out of the question. Our allegiance and our love are supposed to be directed only toward God, our new Master. Our old master no longer has any power over us. Of course, our sinful nature, wants us to forget that. So, with the help of Satan, it constantly tries to convince us that we have no choice but to obey its desires.

Paul continues, "Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts…"

"Don't buy the lie!" Paul seems to say. "Yes, it is true: Even though you are dead to sin your sinful nature still lives in you. But remember that its power over you has been completely broken. Stop letting sin reign over you!”

In the biographical movie "A Beautiful Mind" John Nash is a mathematical genius who suffers from Paranoid Schizophrenia, which produces recurring hallucinations. These hallucinations little by little take over his life until everything falls apart for him. When he finally realizes that he's been talking to "invisible" people, and understands that they aren't going away, he decides to simply ignore them. They remain in his mind, trying to get his attention, but he no longer listens to them. Amazingly, he's eventually able to lead a normal life and even goes on to receive a Noble Prize in economics. His "invisible friends" never left him, but he left them.

In a similar way, our sinful nature will never leave us, but we can leave it. We can determine to ignore it; we can learn to no longer listen to it.

Paul continues, "Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness…"

This is what happens when we listen to the lies of our sinful nature: We end up being willing participants in its dirty and destructive games. We become its willing subjects.

Once we allow ourselves to, for example, start fantasizing about some sin, it's only a matter of time before we willingly jump into the waters of rebellion against God. No, Satan won't "make us do it." We will do it all by ourselves. You see, we Christians don't sin because we have to, but because we want to. We don't fall into sin, we dive right into it!

Paul's message is that if we want to die to the flesh we need to stop being flippant about sin. With this in mind he seems to raise his voice as he says, "Present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God."

It is as if Paul is saying, "You have been resurrected to a new life, you have been given a new heart that craves for God, and you even have the mind of Christ, so start walking in the new man/woman once and for all!" It always comes down to a decision on our part, doesn't it?

How, then, do we become instruments of righteousness? By obeying God, instead of our flesh, and by dedicating our lives to the service of the Master, which we do by putting our spiritual gifts to work. No believer is as fulfilled and as motivated to die to sin as he/she who serves God and others by exercising his/her spiritual gift(s). Those who are busy being instruments of righteousness, have little time for being instruments of unrighteousness.

So next time your old master comes knocking on your door, remember: You are dead, gone, no longer available to him! He may try to convince you that letting him in will be a lot of fun. But make no mistake, he's there to trap you and enslave you once again. "Sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it" (Gen. 4:7b, NASB). May God be with you as you do just that! Amen.

Ever since the New Testament was completed and disseminated by the early Church there have been those who have seen in it a God that is much different from the God described in the Old Testament.^{^[1]} The New Testament is said to present a God of tenderness (2 Cor. 10:1) whose main attribute is love (1 John 4:8, 16). The Old Testament, on the other hand, is alleged to present a God of anger and of punishment, whose main attribute is His Justice. But is this a fair representation of the way God is portrayed in both the Old and the New Testament? Does the Old Testament truly present to us a God whose main attribute is justice while the New introduces us to a more loving version of this God? Has God changed His mind? Are there two Gods in the Bible?

These pages are an attempt to argue for an emphatic “no” to all the questions stated above. We will argue that the God of the Bible is not a Schizophrenic Being but one that is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8, NASB).

Our method will be to, first, look at some Old Testament passages that seem to present to us a God of anger and terror, and then to turn to the New Testament in order to see if there are any passages that “match” the God described in those texts. Next, we will look at a sampling of New Testament passages that present to us a God of love and tenderness and then we will turn to the Old Testament in order to look for a “match” for those texts.

One of the most shocking passages of the Old Testament is the stoning of the man who breaks the Sabbath (Num. 15:32-36). We don’t know exactly how much time had transpired since the Israelites had been given the Law and with it the command to keep the Sabbath, though perhaps not much time had passed. What is clear is that, for some reason, a nameless Israelite decided it was time to test how serious the Lord was about His Law. He went out “with unblushing boldness in broad daylight, in open defiance of the divine authority”^{^[2]} and proceeded to gather some wood, presumably in order to build a fire even though the Law clearly stated, “You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day” (Ex. 35:3, NASB). When he was found gathering the wood those who found him brought him to Moses who put him in custody “because it had not been declared what should be done to him” (Num. 15:33-34, NASB). Moses consulted the Lord and the answer came, “The man shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp” (V-35).

Now, it is important to note that in Exodus 35:2 God had already said that those who broke the Sabbath should be put to death (even though it appears that Moses wasn’t sure how the man should be put to death.) In other words, the man knew exactly what he was getting into. This is also made clear by the context of the passage. Numbers 15:30-31 which immediately precede our text states that anyone who breaks the Law “defiantly” is committing blasphemy against the Lord and is to be “cut off from among his people” (V-31, NASB).

It is obvious that the author of Numbers included our text as an illustration of defiant disobedience. Verse 36 tells the end of the story: “So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, just as the Lord had commanded Moses” (NASB).

“Isn’t this ‘unlike God’?” Someone may say, “The God of the New Testament would never do that!” But, is that the case? There is only one way to settle this question and that is by looking at the New Testament itself.

One New Testament passage that clearly shows us God acting in a way similar to the way He acted in Numbers 15 is Acts 5:1-11. It is the story of the deception of Ananias and his wife Sapphira.

Like many other believers at the time, they decided to sell their property in order to donate the profits to the Church. But they decided to keep some of the money while maintaining that they were giving all the proceeds from the sale to the Church. It seems, as Wiersbe points out, that “their sin was motivated by pride.” He writes, “No doubt the church was praising God for the generous offering that Barnabas had brought [which is recorded a few verses before our text], when Satan whispered to the couple, ‘You can also bask in this kind of glory! You can make others think that you are as spiritual as Barnabas!’”^{^[3]} But they were making a deadly mistake. Verses 3 and 4 record Peter’s words to Ananias:

“Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God”(NASB).

After these words, Ananias “fell down and died” (V-5, NIV). Three hours later his wife suffered the same punishment (V-7-10).

What is interesting about this event, as compared with the story of the Sabbath-breaker, is that in the case of the Old Testament passage the man knew exactly what he was asking for when he broke the Law, while in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, as far as we can tell, they did not. That is, they did not know that they would be put to death for their sin. Even so, God still executed them Himself. One might even say that He was harder on them than He was on the Sabbath-breaker.

Another troubling aspect of God in the Old Testament is the fact that He tells His people to go to war in order to conquer the Promised Land, action which seems to go against everything the New Testament teaches. For example, in Deuteronomy 33, verse 27, we read: “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemy before you, saying, 'Destroy him!' (Deut. 33:27; Italics added). Later, after the Lord brought down the walls of Jericho, the Bible tells us that, by His command, the Israelites destroyed “everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword” (Joshua 6:21, NASB).

As troubling is the fact that when the Israelites later rebelled against the Lord, He turned against them and sent the Babylonians (Jer. 22:25), the Assyrians (2 Chr. 33:11) and others (2 Kings 24:1:3) to attack them and to inflict a tremendous amount of suffering on them. So great was God’s anger toward His people that in Jeremiah 19:9 He said about Judah: “I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another's flesh during the stress of the siege imposed on them by the enemies who seek their lives” (NIV). When this prophecy finally became a reality Jeremiah himself cried, “Look, O LORD, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for? (Lam. 2:20, NIV) About this passage The Bible Knowledge Commentary says, “The starving to death of children was a sickening twist. The siege against Jerusalem was so severe that all her inhabitants were in danger of starvation.” It continues, “In a shocking display of their self-preservation drive, some parents became cannibals and ate their own children.”^{^[4]}

The fact is that the Old Testament is filled with instances in which God inflicted great pain on the enemies of Israel and on the Israelites themselves when they rebelled against Him. Is there any way to reconcile these actions with those of the God of the New Testament? Can this God possibly be the same one that later said, “Love your enemies…” (Mt. 5:44, NASB)?

In order to provide a satisfactory answer to these questions we must understand the role of God as a Judge.

In Genesis Chapter 18, verse 25, Abraham lays the groundwork for our discussion when he says to the Lord:^“Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (ESV)

“God is the Judge of all the earth,” writes Matthew Henry when commenting on this passage. “He gives charge to all, takes cognizance of all, and will pass sentence upon all.”^{^[5]}

The point is that God is the Judge of all the Earth, and as such, he passes judgment on His creatures. One way He does this is by bringing war on those who have openly defied Him. For instance, though one may get the impression that the reason God told the Israelites to conquer the Promised Land was that He was in the mood for a nice gift for them, the fact is that He was first and foremost bringing judgment upon the Canaanites, and was using the Israelites as His instruments of punishment.

Many years prior to the conquest of Canaan, the Lord had told Abraham that his descendants would be strangers and slaves in the land of Egypt until He delivered them. “In the fourth generation,” He said, “your descendants will come back here [to the Promised Land], for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure" (Gen. 15:16, NIV; Italics added).

God later reminded the Children of Israel of this, when He told them: “It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you…” (Deuteronomy 9:5, NIV).

So it is clear that the reason God declared war on the Canaanites was their sinfulness which finally “reached its full measure.” He waited hundreds of years before He judged them but eventually their sinfulness caught up with them.

In the same way when the Israelites later rebelled against God they became the objects of His wrath and as such they went through a period of great suffering.

In the New Testament God is also seen as the Judge over all the Earth. For instance, in 1 Corinthians 11, Paul rebukes the believers for taking the Lord’s Supper with an attitude that showed disdain for the Church of God (11:22). After reminding them that the taking of the bread and the wine is a serious matter (since it is a proclamation of the death of the Lord) Paul goes on to tell them that “anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body [of the Lord] eats and drinks judgment on himself” (11:29, ESV). He concludes with a sobering piece of information: “That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (11:30, ESV; Italics added).

Peter also writes that judgment must begin “with the household of God” (Peter 4:17, NASB) and the author of Hebrews tells us that “our God is a consuming fire” (12:29, NASB) and, “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (10:31, NASB).

Just how terrifying it is to fall into the hands of God is clearly seen in the way He deals with unbelievers in the New Testament. In Matthew 25 Jesus describes a time when all the nations will be gathered before Him in order to be judged (V-32). The unbelievers will then hear the terrifying words, “Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels” (V-41). “These,” Jesus says, “will go away into eternal punishment…” (V-46) Their fate will be final, irreversible and unending.^{^[6]} Then, in Revelation 20, John writes about the Great White Throne Judgment at the end of which those whose names are not found in the book of life will be “thrown into the lake of fire” (V-15).

It is clear then that God is as much a God of judgment and punishment in the New Testament as He was in the Old. In fact, His most severe punishments are seen in the New Testament and not in the Old, (being thrown into the lake of fire is much worse than being attacked by a human army). But can we also establish that He is as loving in the Old Testament as in the New?

Only five chapters into the New Testament, Matthew records some of the most radical words ever spoken: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Mt. 5:43-44, NASB) However, are those words of Jesus really a New Testament “innovation”? The phrasing certainly is, but the idea of loving one’s neighbor, even one’s enemy, is not.

Leviticus 19, verse 18, reads, “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord” (NASB).

The word for “enemy” (ἐχθρός) in Matthew 5:44 carries the connotation of someone that is hateful, someone who hurts another in some way^{^[7]} while the word “vengeance” (נָקַם) in Leviticus 19:18 carries the idea of one who has been hurt and seeks to avenge himself.^{^[8]} So Matthew 5:44 and Leviticus 19:18 are both talking about how a godly person is to deal with his enemies. The command in both cases is clear and strikingly similar: Love them!

We could say then that the commands to “love one another” (Rom. 13:8, NASB) and to “love your enemies” (Mt. 5:44, NASB) are as old as the Old Covenant itself, which of course tells us something about how loving the God of the Old Testament really is.

Perhaps the most attractive feature of the God of the New Testament is His unconditional love toward His people. For example, in Romans 8:38-39, Paul writes that nothing could ever separate believers from the love of God. He says that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities…nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (NASB).

Does the Old Testament also present to us a God that loves this way? The answer, of course, is “yes.”

Micah 7:18 asks the question: “Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?” The answer follows: “He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love” (NIV; Italics added). He continues by giving a beautiful picture of this “unchanging love:” “He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (V-19).

So Micah reveals a God that pardons the sin and transgression of His people; one who “delights” (takes pleasure) in unchanging love; one that has compassion (רָחַם, “tender, heartfelt concern”) for His people; one that will “tread our iniquities under foot” (subduing them as if they were enemies), and who will throw them into the sea (a picture of complete forgiveness). In short, he describes a God of unconditional love.^{^[9]}

One of the remarkable things about the Old Testament is that it contains many descriptions of God’s love “in His own words.” Some of these are found in the book of Hosea. In Chapter 14, verse one, God pleads with His people, “Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God. Your sins have been your downfall!” (NIV) Before that, in Chapter 2, verse 14, we read, “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her” (NIV). Here the term “allure” refers to tender and even seductive speech (it is also used of the seduction of a virgin in Ex. 22:16). The Hebrew idiom translated “speak tenderly to her” (literally, “Speak to her heart”) refers to gentle and encouraging words like those a man would say to his bride.^{^[10]} It is difficult to miss how passionate God’s love for His people really is when one reads these words.

Then in verse 19 the Lord adds, “I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion” (NIV). Here the word for “love” (חֶסֶד) carries the idea of kindness, faithfulness, and loyalty.^{^[11]} In other words, God’s commitment to His people is, once again, unconditional, and it is characterized by kindness and compassion.

The New Testament tells us that God is faithful (1 Jn. 1:9); that He is kind, tolerant and patient (Rom. 2:4); and it also tells us that He is meek and gentle (2 Cor. 10:1). But there is no description in the entire Canon of Scripture that could ever match God’s very own description of Himself, as recorded in Exodus Chapter 34.

The story is a familiar one: Moses, in a moment of boldness, asked the Lord to show him His glory. After telling him that he could only see His back, the Lord agreed to pass before Moses and to “proclaim the name of the Lord before [him]” (33:19, NASB). The Bible tells us that the next day the Lord descended in a cloud to meet with Moses (34:5) when He proceeded to proclaim:

“The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations” (34:6b-7).

If one were to look up the word “God” in a heavenly dictionary, this is probably the definition one would find. So what does God say about Himself in these verses?

First, the Lord proclaims that He is “compassionate” ( רַחוּם) or, merciful. The word is used only of God (13 times) and carries the idea of showing favor instead of punishment. It implies a forgiving relationship.^{^[12]}

Then He says that He is gracious (that is, He forgives the repentant sinner^{^[13]}), slow to anger (patient), abounding in lovingkindness (The word for “lovingkindness” is the same word used in Hosea 2:14, which carries the idea of being faithful, loyal and kind) and truth (faithfulness, reliableness^{^[14]}). He “keeps lovingkindness for thousands” and forgives iniquity (עָוֹן, “depravity”^{^[15]}), transgression (פֶּשַׁע, the idea is that of willful rebellion^{^[16]}), and sin. However, He will punish the guilty (that is, as Matthew Henry points out, “the impenitently guilty, that go on still in their trespasses”^{^[17]}) and He will visit “the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” It is worth noticing that while four generations are said to be affected by an individual’s persistent sin, the Lord says that He will keep “lovingkindness for thousands” (V-7; Italics added).

Wiersbe points out that this proclamation “became a standard ‘statement of faith’ for the Jews”^{^[18]} and it is obvious why it did.

It is clear, then, that the God of the Old Testament is the same loving God of the New Testament.

“Where does the cross fall in all this?” Someone might ask. The answer is, “Right at the center.” For it is at the cross that we see God’s righteousness and terrible judgment poured out in its fullness, but it is also there that we see the fullness of His love manifested as He Himself takes the punishment in the place of His sinful creatures. In a sermon titled “The Power of the Cross,” John Henry Jowett once said, “If I want to gaze upon the holiness of God, I [know] no place like the cross.” He continues, “Nowhere else do I see, as I see at the cross, the wondrous purity of the Great White Throne.” Then he concludes, “Nowhere do I more find such fruitful stillness as when I am near the cross.”^{^[19]}

At the cross we find the perfect balance that exists within God: Perfect love and perfect justice; perfect mercy and perfect holiness; perfect forgiveness and perfect punishment. It is at the cross that we most clearly see the glory God.

There will always be those who will choose to believe that the God of the New Testament is not the same God of the Old, or that He is an “improved” version of Him. But, as we have shown, the Bible leaves no room for such ideas. The fact is that the God of Genesis is the same one we encounter in Revelation and the one that is presented to us in between these books. Yes, it would be convenient to think that our “version” of God is an improved one: A more tamed God; one that is not as dangerous and as fierce as He used to be. But if we truly want to know and enjoy Him we must come to the realization that He truly is the same yesterday and today and forever (Heb. 13:8) and that in Him there is no variation or shifting shadow (James 1:17b). We don’t have to completely understand Him (which, in fact, cannot be done) but we do have to be willing to accept Him as He is: “Love,” on the one hand, and “consuming fire” on the other. If we secretly choose to deny either of those realities we will be missing part of the awesomeness of God in our own lives. But if we choose to accept Him without reservations, then, we will know the joy that only those who have surrendered to the mystery and the majesty of God can experience.

May we always remember the words of Moses: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Dt. 6:4-5, NASB). Amen.

Classic Sermons on the Cross of Christ. 1990. Hendrickson Publishers and Kregel Publications: Grand Rapids, MI.

Gonzalez, Justo. 1984. The History of Christianity. Harper San Francisco: New York, NY

Henry, M. 1996, c1991. Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume . Hendrickson: Peabody

Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D., & Brown, D. 1997. A commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments. On spine: Critical and explanatory commentary. Logos Research Systems, Inc.: Oak Harbor, WA

Strong, J. 1996. The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the test of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.) . Woodside Bible Fellowship.: Ontario

Swanson, J. 1997. Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.) . Logos Research Systems, Inc.: Oak Harbor

Thomas, R. L. 1998, 1981. New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek dictionaries : Updated edition . Foundation Publications, Inc.: Anaheim

Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. 1983-c1985. The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures. Victor Books: Wheaton, IL

Wiersbe, W. W. 1993. Wiersbe's expository outlines on the Old Testament . Victor Books: Wheaton, IL

Wiersbe, W. W. 1996, c1989. The Bible exposition commentary. "An exposition of the New Testament. Victor Books: Wheaton, Ill.

^{^[1]}For instance, Marcion (Second Century AD) believed that the God of the Old Testament was an inferior “god” of justice, while the God of love of the New Testament was the Supreme God. See, Gonzalez, Justo. The History of Christianity. (Harper San Francisco, 1984), 61.

^{^[2]}Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D., & Brown, D. 1997. A commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments. On spine: Critical and explanatory commentary. Logos Research Systems, Inc.: Oak Harbor, WA

^{^[3]}Wiersbe, W. W. 1996, c1989. The Bible exposition commentary. "An exposition of the New Testament. Victor Books: Wheaton, Ill.

^{^[4]}Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. 1983-c1985. The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures. Victor Books: Wheaton, IL

^{^[5]}Henry, M. 1996, c1991. Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume . Hendrickson: Peabody

^{^[6]}Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D., & Brown, D. 1997. A commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments.

^{^[7]}Strong, J. 1996. The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the test of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.) . Woodside Bible Fellowship.: Ontario

^{^[8]}Ibid.

^{^[9]}Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. The Bible knowledge commentary

^{^[10]}Ibid.

^{^[11]}Thomas, R. L. 1998, 1981. New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek dictionaries : Updated edition . Foundation Publications, Inc.: Anaheim

^{^[12]}Swanson, J. 1997. Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.) . Logos Research Systems, Inc.: Oak Harbor

^{^[13]}Ibid.

^{^[14]}Strong, J. 1996. The exhaustive concordance of the Bible.

^{^[15]}Ibid.

^{^[16]}Ibid.

^{^[17]}Henry, M. 1996, c1991. Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible.

^{^[18]}Wiersbe, W. W. 1993. Wiersbe's expository outlines on the Old Testament . Victor Books: Wheaton, IL

^{^[19]}Classic Sermons on the Cross of Christ. (Grand Rapids, MI: Hendrickson Publishers and Kregel Publications, 1990), 39.

Have you ever faced a temptation that seemed too attractive to overcome? If you have, then, you probably have asked yourself: "Why shouldn't I do this? Why shouldn't I sin? Why should I be holy?" Though we wouldn't ask them aloud, the fact is that these are valid questions for which we must have an answer. So, why should we be holy?

We should be holy because God is holy (1 Pet 1:16). It is a simple concept. If God is so pure that He can't even look upon sin (Hab 1:13), and given the fact that His Holy Spirit inhabits every believer, how could anyone pretend to live a sinful lifestyle and still have a close relationship with Christ? The Bible is very clear when it reminds us that "if we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth." (1 John 1:6, NAS).

We should also be holy because sin has a very high price tag. The Bible says: "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." (Gal 6:7-8, NIV) The truth is that every time we sin we are sowing spiritual, emotional and, perhaps, even physical hurt and destruction into our lives and the lives of those affected by our sin. And make no mistake; the seed we sow will surely grow into a horrendous tree, which will cast its dark shadow over our lives. It is important to remember that the consequences of our sins are not always proportional to the sins themselves. Our sins often cost us more, much more than we are willing to pay for them. God's commandments, on the other hand, are meant to protect us and to give us a good life. They are not designed to satisfy a self-centered Lord, as Satan would have us believe. Instead, they are like fences that keep us from falling into a cliff, and the only way to a truly fulfilled life. For example, when God tells us to abstain from sexual immorality (1 Th 4:3) it is not that He doesn't want us to have fun, but rather that He knows that the consequences of immorality are things like gonorrhea, syphilis, AIDS, unwanted pregnancies, abortions, broken hearts, broken families and unfulfilled lives. And He doesn't want us to go through any of that.

Thirdly, we should be holy because there is no better way to live our lives. There is no one as unhappy as a Christian living in disobedience to the Lord, but when we do not allow sin to entangle us we can experience the peace of God that surpasses all understanding and the freedom the Holy Spirit gives to those He controls (Ps 119:165; 2 Cor 7:9-10; Ps 119:45; 2 Cor 3:17). When we walk in holiness we are powerful instruments of God as we let the world catch a glimpse of His holiness (2 Tim 2:20-21). Those who live holy lives are unshakable, victorious, and joyous believers. They will walk with God and He will walk with them; they will talk to Him and He will talk to them; and they will know the unspeakable joy experienced by those who say "no" to the world and to their sinful nature in order to follow Christ, the Holy One.

So, "let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..." (Heb 12:1-2 NIV) May we never allow the world, Satan or our sinful nature to stop us from enjoying the eternal blessings associated with living holy lives before the One who saved us and who deserves our reverent obedience. Amen!

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"...She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers." (Luke 2:37, NAS)

For thousands of years believers have practiced the discipline of fasting. Moses, Daniel, Paul, and even Jesus, all fasted. Some did it for up to 40 days and others for a shorter period of time; but they all had one thing in common: Their hunger for God's presence far surpassed their hunger for physical food. They hungered for righteousness and because of that they were blessed! (Mat. 5:6)

By fasting some received special revelations (Dan. 9:3-21), others were delivered from harm (Esth. 4:3; 9:25-31), and still others received mercy from God instead of punishment (I King 21:27-29).

In a time of technology and sophistication, however, many see fasting as an archaic practice for times past. But if we believe in the timelessness of the Bible and its message, we must accept fasting as a discipline to be practiced today.

Though there is no specific biblical command to fast, (besides Israel's Day of Atonement, Lev. 16) we do have many examples in the Scriptures of people, including Jesus Himself, who made fasting a part of their lives. In fact, when Jesus addressed the subject during the Sermon on the Mount He started with the words: "When you fast..." (Mt. 6:16) assuming that His followers would fast.

Who should fast?

Those who are physically capable of abstaining from food for a period of time, and who are hungry for God and His intervention in their lives. (People with any kind of illness should consult their doctor prior to fasting.)

Why should we fast?

In the Bible the reasons for fasting vary from person to person. There are fasts of repentance (Jl. 2:12), for protection during a dangerous trip (Ezra 8:22-23), for a sick person (Ps. 35:13), for deliverance from death and annihilation (Esth. 4:3), to worship God and to be strengthened in Him (Luke 2:37; Mt. 41-0), etc. But whatever the reason, fasting is always linked to an urgency to draw closer to God, to humble before Him, and to receive His supernatural intervention.

How should we fast?

There are many different ways to do it. Some abstain from meat for a period of time and only eat fruits and vegetables; others skip breakfast for a few days in a row; some do a complete fast (no food and no water) for up to three days, while still others fast from time to time as they feel led by the Lord. It is really a matter of personal choice and the leading of the Spirit.

It is important to never go without food longer than we can endure it, though. God doesn't want us to hurt our bodies, which are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19-20). It is, perhaps, better to fast for a day, or for half a day, and to do it often, than to fast sporadically for much longer periods of time.

The important thing is that we fast and pray. In other words, it is not about starving ourselves but about substituting physical food for spiritual nourishment. We fast to seek the face of God. We abstain from our "daily bread" so we can better taste the "Bread of Life." (Jn. 6:48) We refrain from the pleasures of eating earthly food so we can focus on the greater pleasures found in a deep fellowship with the Savior. We fast because we are hungry, hungry for more of God and His presence in us, because we long to hear His voice, to experience His touch and to see His glory. We fast because we want to dive deep into the river of God's living water!

Dear friend, are you hungry for God? Do you have a great need? Is there a sinful habit that seems to control you? If so, I challenge you to make fasting a part of your life. Not as those who try to manipulate God, (though He cannot be manipulated, Eccl. 7:13) but in order to humble yourself before Him, to express your urgent need for His intervention in your life, and to simply worship Him. Remember: "No chains may remain, no heart can stay the same, no life can go unchanged, when fasting is a part of its ways!" Those who live a life of fasting and prayer will no doubt see the glory of God. Amen!

In the love of Christ,

Miguel A. Canete

We love hearing from you. E-mail us your comments or prayer requests at: letters@windsofrevival.org or go to: http://www.windsofrevival.org/prayer-request.htm

May God Bless you!

Copyright Winds of Revival PO Box 268583 Weston, Fl 33326, USA

May God Bless you! Copyright Winds of Revival PO Box 268583 Weston, Fl 33326, USA

It is so easy to grow spiritually cold! In fact, it is possible to work hard for Christ and even to suffer persecution for His name, while having left our first love and our passion for Him. This is what happened to the Ephesian believers, to which Jesus spoke in Revelations 2. In verses 2 and 3 the Lord commends them for their "hard work", their "perseverance", the fact that they could not "tolerate wicked men", for testing self proclaimed apostles and even for enduring hardships for His name and "not growing weary." But they had committed a great sin, one that threatened their very existence as a church. In verse 4 we read, "But I have this against you, that you have left your first love" (NAS).

We don't know exactly how it happened. Apparently, somewhere in the middle of all their work for God, their hearts started to grow cold, they lost their passion for Christ, their thirst for His presence and their hunger for His Word; and even though they continued to be faithful to Him, in their hearts they forsook Him. The scariest part of it all is that this happened so subtly that they didn't even notice it.

It is important to understand that the same thing can happen to any of us today. We can be very involved in church work, have a good testimony, or even endure persecution for Christ without realizing that we have left our first love!

That is why it is so important for us to examine ourselves very often, by asking the hard questions about our own spiritual walk. Questions like: Am I more tolerant of sin than I used to be? Do I long to be with God as much as I used to? Do I desire to read His Word as I once did? Do I care, as I used to do it, about what God thinks about my actions?

Questions like these will help us to know if we have lost our passion for God. And if we have, we must, urgently, follow the instructions Jesus prescribed to the believers in Ephesus, in Revelations 2:5. Here is what He told them:

1) "Remember therefore from where you have fallen..."

In other words, we need to look back and remember what our spiritual lives used to look like. What has changed? What good patterns of behavior have we broken? What negative habits have we allowed to creep into our lives?

2) "... And repent..."

Once we realize where we have failed we must confess it before God and repent.

3) "... And do the deeds you did at first..."

We have to go back to those habits that once kept our relationship with Christ alive. Disciplines like prayer, fasting and the daily meditation in the Scriptures, which used to nourish our spiritual life.

4) "... Or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place--unless you repent."

We don't know exactly what will happen if we don't repent, but one thing is certain, there will be consequences.

Dear friend, it is my hope that this letter finds you deeply in love with the Savior. But if you are one of the many believers whose hearts have grown cold over time, I encourage you to come back to your Lord and to renew your commitment to Him. Don't let the world, your flesh or the devil rob you the blessing of loving Him with everything you are. We have been created to love God! And we are never happier than when we fulfill this supreme purpose. So go to the Lord, confess your sin, and decide to get rid of everything that is pulling your heart away from Him; and you will, once again, experience the abundant life He has prepared for those who love Him (Jn. 10:10). May we always walk in the fullness of our first love! Amen!

In the love of Christ,

Miguel A. Canete

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We love hearing from you. E-mail us your comments or prayer requests at: letters@windsofrevival.org or go to: http://www.windsofrevival.org/prayer-request.htm

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May God Bless you!

Copyright Winds of Revival PO Box 268583 Weston, Fl 33326, USA

Pray before you choose your text and your subject so the Lord leads you. Pray while you prepare the message for God’s guidance and wisdom. Once you have finished preparing the sermon, pray for the people who will hear it. And pray after you have preached your message so it becomes a reality in the lives of your listeners.

Choose a text that isn’t too long or too difficult.

Once you have the text, read it at least 10 times, and read the book of the Bible in which it is found.

Study the internal and external contexts of the text using Bible commentaries and other study tools.

Look for “the” message of the passage (or choose one of the messages, if there are several) and write a Proposition (a one-sentence statement of truth that encapsulates what you want to tell your listeners). It should sound something like, “God wants you and I to be thankful, even in the midst of hardships.”

Then, look for the question(s) the text answers about the Proposition. If the text says that we should have faith, for example, what question(s) does it answer about that faith? Here, the key is to not impose the question that one wishes on the text. Rather, it is like playing “Jeopardy:” We read the answers given in the text and figure out what the question was. For example, if the subject is faith, see whether the text says how we should believe, who we should believe, when we should exercise that faith, and so on. Try to deal with only one question. This will be your “Big Question,” or, Sermon Interrogative (the question you ask about the Proposition).

The answers to the question should make up the points of your message.

Next, apply the Homiletical Cycle (Present the point, provide a biblical base, explain it, illustrate it, and apply it) to develop each point.

Prepare a conclusion that quickly summarizes the message and make sure you call the people to make a decision about what has been said.

Now that you know what you are going to preach, prepare an introduction that will get people’s attention. Remember that a sermon with a bad introduction is like a movie with a very slow beginning.

If you choose to title your message, choose an attention-grabbing title.

Go over your sermon as many times as needed before you preach it so you can do it with ease.

Trust God and see Him change lives—starting with yours!