Following Jesus and Still a Muslim?

Any thoughts on this video? It hits me pretty hard to see what Christ is doing around the world. I am picking up this book today to read more about the understanding of the Muslim world: A Deadly Misunderstanding by Mark D. Siljander

As a follow up to this video, please read this article as well: Muslim Followers of Jesus?

Following Jesus from The Global Conversation on Vimeo.

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A Prayer for the Lost

Dear Lord.
I thank you for your grace. I thank you for your patience with me. I thank you for how you have given me the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ. My God, I know that you own everything, that you are above everything, that you created everything, that you know everything and that you are in control of everything. I know that you did not need me, but you wanted me. You did not have to save me, but in your will, and for your glory you did so. My Lord, I thank you for my salvation and benefits of having a loving relationship with you, my Abba, my Father, My Master, My Lord. I cannot fathom to be without you.

Dear Lord.
I earnestly pray for John that you would place your grace upon him. I pray that you would open his eyes to see your glory. Open his ears so that he can hear your gospel call. Open his mind, so that he can understand the depths of your Scriptures. Open his heart, so that he can follow you all the days of his life.

My God, I pray that you would earnestly seek him, and lay hold of him, so that the light of the gospel would shine upon him that he would turn to you and away from his wicked ways, from following Satan, to following his Creator and Saviour. I plead that you show mercy and give grace to him that he would be saved from the bondage of sin to the loving arms of your Son, and become a slave to righteousness. I pray that you would give him the same gift of salvation that you have bestowed on this undeserved sinner.

God, I say this all as your child and not your master. I don't pretend to know all things, or understand all things, so I surrender this request at your feet. I know that all your ways are good, just and right and that you are most holy. I know that no purpose of yours can be undone and I trust you in your ways, for you are God and I am, as Job put it, but dust and ashes.

So, as I bring this to my God I ask out of ignorance, but I also ask out of love for John and plead for his soul, but I also beg that your will would be done.

So God, I leave this to you and your will and ask that your name be glorified in it. I ask that you continue to use me to show the Gospel to John. I pray that I would be your vesel and that the seed would be planted and that the Holy Spirit would be able to use the seed that I planted to fulfill your will for John.

Out of the respect of Your Word where you command that we make our requests be made known to you I now ask simply that you would open John's eyes to your Gospel and that he would become a warrior for the cause of Christ for the glory of You.

Through your Son's blood, because of His name, I pray these things to my Father, my Creator, My God.

Amen.

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Biblical Miracles: Part III

Aspects of Miracles

Biblical miracles always, understand this, always accompany God’s message. Now think of the televangelist. No gospel is ever presented, nothing about sin, repentance or surrendering to Christ. What you see with the televangelist is simply the “healing” but for what purpose? It seems to be for the purpose of the individual being healed or the glory of the healer and his/her ministry, not the pursuit of the glory of the gospel.

Look to Elijah.

1 Kings 17

Verse 2: The word of the LORD came to him, saying
Verse 8: Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying
Verse 16: The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke through Elijah

All to authenticate the word of the Lord.

And to clear it all up, look at verse 24. This is my favorite part of this entire understanding of biblical miracles. It is so clear.

Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth."

This is three fold: The man of God is authenticated and the word of the Lord is truth. This is the reason for the miracle. To convert the woman by truth. In verse 12 she says "your God," there is no personal possession of God, but the Lord is Elijah's God not the woman's. Now, in verse 24 she calls the Lord, "THE Lord" showing more of a personal thought to God. Giving God His rightful place. He is no longer "a" god of Elijah, but THE God of all, including herself.

Think about the Paralytic being put through the roof. His sins were forgiven and, oh yeah, he got up and walked. The main emphasis is not on the miracle. The main emphasis is clearly on the forgiveness of sins. It is the thesis, it is the climax. The miracle is just to prove that Christ had the authority to forgive sins, but was not the importance.



We are also shown the same in John 9 where we have the blind man. Why was he healed? Christ tells exactly why… to show the power of God. Notice where man puts the emphasis throughout the entirety of the chapter…on the healing, not on God’s glory being shown.

Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

Romans 15:17-19

Why was there miracles? For the Gospel to be preached. All past tense, once again.

So, if miracles were being toned down, and that is how the prophets were authenticated, how do we authenticate someone now? The perfect and complete word of God.

Moses even tells us that there will be some who do miracles and signs and are not from the Lord, how do we test these people?

If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.
Deut 13:1-4

Know also that the antichrist will come as well, with signs and wonders and deceiving if possible even the elect. (Matthew 24:24)

The last aspect of miracles is how they are performed and what happens when they are completed. You need to know something very important about the miracles in the Bible and how they are portrayed on TV. In the Bible when a miracle happened, everyone could see it and knew about the person. Everyone knew about the paralyzed and the blind because they had been this way for years. They sat at the city gates of these towns, begged for years, so all knew their hideous plight in life.

Not only were the people known to the region who had these deficiencies, but the healings that took place were obvious to all who stood in amazement. Hands stretching into place, leprous people being healed of their wounds, blind to see, lame to walk. It was NOT like what you see on TV. Where they say I have this small tumor in my back that no one can see. Or my back hurts and then they are fine. I believe most of this to be adrenaline, not the true working of a miracle man.

Do you know that there has never been an instance where a televangelist can give doctoral proof that someone was healed…never! Actually when skeptics have done follow ups with these who were healed on the stage, they are back to their pain once again three weeks later, but the evangelist is long gone with the person’s donation to their ministry in their back pocket.

The most amazing question is simply this: Did Jesus wait for the sick or did he go to them? Look at John 5:1-9

Let me ask you this. Why don’t these televangelists ever go to the hospitals and heal these people and then share the Gospel? Would this not be the most amazing revival we have ever seen? There is only one conclusion: they can’t really heal anyone.

Conclusion

First, I am not denying that God still uses miracles. I believe that He does many times, in many ways. My denial are those who purport that they have the gift of miracle healing power that the Christ and His apostles possessed. Know that when you understand biblical miracles, you are not putting God in a box, you are not saying God has changed, it is actually just the opposite. Really think of the word miracle and how you use the word. We say that if we find a good parking spot that it’s a miracle. But what it meant in the Bible was for:

Paralytics to walk; the blind to see; dead to life.

Instead of using the word miracle know that it is God’s provision in your life. Your parents, your church, your friends, you living another day is not a miracle, but God’s provision.

I am not saying that miracles do not happen anymore, but I am saying that this is not a gift that is given to people these days.

The most amazing and unrecognized miracle that happens today is the miracle of rebirth. The miracle of a dead man awakening to the miracle of knowing Christ. Think of the biblical miracles. What did Christ have to do in order to heal the sick, make the blind to see, lame to walk? It was a simple word.

What did Christ have to do to bring the spiritually dead men to spiritual newness of life? He had to come, live a perfect life, die on the cross and rise again. You tell me which was a bigger miracle. We can see that the miracle of rebirth was, by far, the biggest, and continues to be, the biggest and greatest miracle for God’s glory ever known.

Do you know Christ? Do you know that you have sinned, if you have ever lied, even once, that is a sin and has separated you from God. You need a Saviour to pay for that sin or you will have to in hell forever. 2000 years ago, amidst all these miracles, the one that sticks out the most is the miracle of our God coming down from heaven, living amongst us, dying for us and then rising again on the third day.

I hope you are asking, “What must I do to be saved from my punishment of sin?”

Repent, or turn from your sin and run to Christ, and call on His name to save you. That is what He calls us to do: repent and believe.

If you are a Christian, think of the miracle of your rebirth. Do you take it for granted? Do you understand that we stand just as Lazarus did, being brought from death to life? Where is our thankfulness?

Don’t be like those in Christ’s time who were constantly looking for signs and wonders, but be like Stephen and be ready to die for the one who bought you.

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Biblical Miracles: Part II

Purpose of Miracles

The purpose of miracles was two fold: To indicate new revelation was coming and to authenticate the messenger.

God did this, each time as the three parts of the Bible were spoken. The overflow of miracles, if you look in the Bible, happened only three times. At the time that the Law, the Prophets and the New Testament was about to be written.

Miracles were set up to really be for God to say, “Here I come to speak!”

Miracles were the opening act, so to speak, on the night for the headlining band to play.


Look to 2 Corinthians 12:12 and we’ll start to see this play out.

The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles.

Notice, also that when Paul says this he is speaking in past tense. Indicating here that the miracles TOOK place and were not taking place or were at least dying down.

To continue look to Hebrews 2:2-4

For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.


Notice again, that this is past tense. Also, if you know when the actual books took place you’ll notice that the miracles that are reported, only happen in the early books. It was in the Gospels, Acts and 1 Corinthians.

Later books = No indication of miracles but just the opposite

Look to 2 Timothy 4:19,20 and also Phil 2:25-28

Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. Erastus remained at Corinth, but Trophimus I left sick at Miletus.
2 Timothy 4:19-20

But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need; because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned about you.
Philippians 2:25-28

As we can see from these two verses Paul speaks about leaving people sick, even to the point of death. It would seem that the reason is plain and simple. Unlike those who choose to teach that your sickness is by the lack of your faith, Paul is showing us that these people were not healed for the mere fact that the reason miracles existed was for the glory of the Gospel, not to make men merely healthy for the sake of themselves and “their faith.”

I would contend that the power of miracles were being faded because they were not needed anymore. The Gospels and early epistles were written and there was sufficient evidence of the miraculous power of God through the miracles that were already shown throughout the lands.

What these “miracle” people need to realize is the reason for miracles. It is NOT for the sake of the Christian nor the miracle worker. There is only one reason that any miracle ever takes place: for the glory of God. Specifically, God uses miracles for the sign of His coming word. Does God still do miracles today? Yes, of course. But not in the way that Benny Hinn would make us think. But we will get to that in our last installment.

So as we take a look at miracles, we need to understand that their purpose was to authenticate the message and the messenger. As the New Testament was written, the miracles started to fade away.

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Biblical Miracles: Part I

One of my favorite sayings is this:

We should be constantly conforming to the Word and not expect the Word to be conforming to us.

Paul puts it even more plainly in 1 Thess 5:21: examine everything carefully

Do you know what a biblical miracle is? Do you believe they still happen? Can you support your views with Scripture?

We have really all kinds of views of miracles in the world today. We have those pagan skeptics who say there is no such thing as miracles, all the way to the televangelists who believe that they see Jesus everyday healing someone from an ingrown toe nail. Yet, we must be able to decipher this through the word.

Ernest Renan who wrote “The Life of Jesus” back in the 1800’s denied the existence of miracles.

He said that Christ only aided the sick people by his gentleness to make them feel better, and that is how Jesus healed people

When Jesus walked on the water on the Sea of Galilee he was only walking on a thick amount of lily pads.

When Christ fed the 5000 there was really a hidden stash of food that the apostles secretly went to, to feed the people. Making the illusion of a miracle

We have this, and then we have people like Jan Crouch, who is the wife of Paul Crouch, who started TBN, who said that God answered two 12 year old girls prayers when he raised their pet chicken from the dead.

I have also heard, from a close friend of mine, where his music pastor stood up and said that he raised his son’s dead gerbil from the dead.


I have also seen on TV, many lies being spread; from no evil oil, so that when you spread it on your aches, God heals you, to prayer cloths that will heal your wallet from being sick and without money. I have also heard direct reports that Oral Roberts, being in the front of his school, baptized wallets so that they would have the miracle of money placed in them.

With these posts, I would like to answer, biblically, the thoughts on everyone one of these instances, so we can have a better understanding of why we believe what we believe, and then to challenge you and aid you in what you believe about the topic of miracles.

The Timing of Miracles

The hard thing sometimes when reading the Bible, is how long periods of time relate to each other. You can go from one verse to another and years have passed. So when thinking of miracles it can seem as though, also because of the order of the Bible, that miracles have always been around throughout the entire narrative of the Bible. That is not the case.

There are three distinct times of miracles and they are not continuous. The other amazing thing is that they are never more than 100 years in length.

Three periods:

Moses and Joshua

Elijah and Elisha

Jesus and the Apostles

First take a look at Exodus 4 to see why miracles came.

Then Moses said, “What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’ ” The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he said, “A staff.” Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. But the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail”—so he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— “that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

Exodus 4:1-5

Notice verse 5: that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.

This is a key to understanding what the purpose of miracles are, but we will cover this more in detail in part II of this discussion.

Second distinct period is in the time of Elijah and Elisha. One example comes from 1 Kings 18:20-39. Notice again the reason behind this miracle on the Mount. For the glory of God and His word being proclaimed. The response of the people in verse 39 really shows the reasoning of the miracle in the first place:

When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, "The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God"

As we continue to look at this division notice that Christ Himself speaks about the Old Testament in what way? He says :

The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.
Luke 16:16

The two time periods that Jesus continues to point to is the division of the Old Testament is the Law and the Prophets. Think of also Matthew 17, who did Jesus show himself with on the mount of transfiguration?

Moses and Elijah. Moses being the representation of the Law and Elijah the representation of the prophets. This is not just by coincidence. This was for a purpose. These represented distinct, historical times of God that were important for the laying of God's word, confirmed by miracles.

Then, Christ came to fulfill the Law and the prophets and with Him he brought the most miracles showing that He was more powerful and greater than all before and more powerful over sickness, death and even nature.

Wayne Grudem

So as we see this introduction to the time period of miracles, it was definitely for a purpose divided into three specific times. In the next couple of posts we will deal with the purpose and aspects of miracles. Before that comes do know that I am, what is called a concentric cessationist, which is defined as:

Miraculous gifts have indeed ceased in the mainstream church and evangelized areas, but appear in unreached areas as an aid to spreading the Gospel

So, you will notice in the upcoming posts that I don't deny miracles happen today, but I will deny those who are rampantly purporting the happenings of miracles "...who suppose that godliness is a means of gain."

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