Child warriors

Posted on by kevinjandt

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Throughout history children have been used in warfare, through either direct combat roles or in support roles.  Can you imagine strapping an AK-47 onto your 12 year old and sending them out into the field to fight?  Seems crazy, yet this is not uncommon in parts of the world that are entangled in fighting for freedom, or at least what they view as freedom.

Today I’m asking Believers to do the same thing with their children.  Today I’m asking and telling myself, my children need to be engaged in war.  I don’t own much in the way of firearms.  I have a shotgun that I’ve missed a few pheasants in my day.  In fact I’m not sure I’ve actually killed anything with this shotgun, but my poor shooting is not the point of this article.

Today I hope we’ll consider the purpose of the training and equipping of our children.  Why did you have children?

Psalm 127:3-4 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.

The first thing we see is that children are a reward.  We recently attended a conference and one of the speakers was telling a story of his father and how his father had discussed this with a couple that were committed to not having children.  He said to them if God wants to give you a gift, why would you refuse that?

Most of society views children as a nuisance, not a reward.  Something we are obligated to have.  Two and out is the general rule of thumb, unless you have the same variety twice and then it’s okay to have a third to try for a boy or a girl.

Verse 4 tells us children are arrows in the hand of a warrior.  The first question to ask, are you a warrior?  If you’re not a warrior, there’s no need to have arrows in your hand, they will only hurt you.  Have you ever watched someone untrained try handling a weapon; they look clumsy doing it.  If you are not being trained for battle you have no business training your children, you are incapable of this without being this yourself.  Note: this does not absolve you of your responsibility, and if this is not you then I would encourage you to read my articles on A Sure Guide to Heaven.

Ephesians 6:4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

So what is the battle?

Ephesians 6:11-12 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against power, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

This battle, this holy war, is against things seen and unseen.   Our only offensive weapon in this battle is the word of God; verse 17 goes on to say, And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

To engage this battle we must be saved and we must be training in the word of God.  This word is sharp and it cuts and it divides.  It discerns the intent of one’s heart (Hebrews 4:12).   Have you experienced this before?

This article draws a clear line in the sand and I’m hopeful exposes our hearts before God.

Are you bumping through life with no clear purpose and no clear vision for your family?  Do you have purpose in your own life?  Please don’t pass over this question today.  Sit and think today about your purpose.

Society is training children very well for the playground of life.  A Believer should be training children for the battleground, to take ground for the Lord Jesus Christ.

What simple, practical steps can you take today if you’ve failed in this endeavor?

Repent.  Gather your family together tonight and confess your lack of vision and leadership and explain to them their new mission.

Create a vision statement.  Write something out on paper.  Have them help and develop a plan.  Have you heard the worn out financial advisor cliché, “nobody plans to fail, they only fail to plan”.

Turn off the television.  The word “amusement” means to NOT THINK!  How can you be engaged in a battle if you turn off your brain?

Have family worship consistently.  Sit around a table and talk with your family.  Have deep and meaningful conversations.  Learn to know your children and your spouse.   We’ve benefited from a study in Proverbs by Kevin Swanson.  Other ideas are going verse by verse through a book of the Bible; we’ve done this with most of Paul’s letters and parts of Matthew.

Today we were discussing Proverbs chapter 11 and with tearful eyes my daughter Grace said, “thank you Dad for reading this with us”.  Praise God for His grace.

Don’t be lazy.  Just do it!

This call is primarily to men.  If you are a man that is concerned about your family and wants them to be warriors for Christ, you must take action.  The world will quickly scoop them up and take their hearts if you don’t.

May the Lord bless you today as you fight for His kingdom!

Kevin

 

Born again?

Posted on by kevinjandt

Sunrise w man B&W

John 3:4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

What a strange thing to be born again, what does this mean?  Jesus tells us we “must” in order to see the kingdom of God but what is He talking about?  We certainly cannot enter the womb a second time so we surely understand this is not a physical rebirth.

Jesus goes onto say, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”  John 3:5-6

Is Jesus telling us without a water baptism one cannot see the kingdom of God?  Many believe this but we know that Jesus welcomed the thief on the cross into the kingdom and he certainly was not baptized nor was he capable of any sort of works.  What does he mean by being born of water?

John Calvin gives a simple answer:

By water, therefore, is meant nothing more than the inward purification and invigoration which is produced by the Holy Spirit. Besides, it is not unusual to employ the word and instead of that is, when the latter clause is intended to explain the former. And the view which I have taken is supported by what follows; for when Christ immediately proceeds to assign the reason why we must be born again, without mentioning the water, he shows that the newness of life which he requires is produced by the Spirit alone; whence it follows, that water must not be separated from the Spirit  Calvin Commentaries 

Jesus affirms the doctrine of human depravity (Romans 3:10-12, Genesis 6:5), as he explains that in the flesh we cannot see the kingdom.  Again, there must be a newness of life (2 Corinthians 5:17), a change that is recognizable to us and to the others around, a newness that produces a difference.

This newness of life is generated or I should say regenerated by God’s Spirit.  The natural man is dead in sins and trespasses, all of humankind is dead from the moment they are born and without God’s work we will die in our corruption, and we are under the power of Satan.  (Ephesians 2:1-2)

Unless the Spirit breathes life into the dead… we will remain dead.

The word Spirit is pneuma a current of air, that is, breath (blast) or a breeze; by analogy or figuratively a spirit, that is, (human) the rational soul, (by implication) vital principle, mental disposition, etc., or (superhuman) an angel, daemon, or (divine) God, Christ’s spirit, the Holy spirit: – ghost, life, spirit (-ual, -ually), mind.

If one is to truly comprehend the magnitude of this miracle it must be understood that God does the work in the heart of sinful man.   Mankind cannot save himself…  Many or I should say “most” will say, what do I need to be saved from, I’m not that bad.  I’m a “good” person.

Unless you’ve been morally perfect your entire life, you are not a good person.  You might be a good person by your standards, or even by the standards of comparison against others in the world, but if you hold your life up to the perfect standard of Christ you are incapable.

Have you ever told a lie?

Have you ever stolen anything?

Have you looked lustfully at another person?

Have you loved God with all your heart soul and mind?

This is the standard by which you will be judged and no man has met this perfect standard.  In order to receive the Spirit you must recognize your need for the Spirit.

James 2:10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.

If you’ve broken any of God’s law you are guilty of breaking it all.  This puts you in the same class as the worst villains in all of history.  Do you understand this; is it something you can really believe?

If you can recognize your sin you have an opportunity to be saved, to be born again.  Jesus tells us we must receive the Spirit, but how?  What causes His Spirit to come to us?

Repentance!

Acts 17:30-31 “Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.  He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

Repent is the Greek word: metanoeō – to think differently or afterwards, that is, reconsider (morally to feel compunction): – repent.

This is a complete turning from who you were to receive a new life in Christ, recognizing the need for a Savior, calling out to Him, the only One that can save.  To recognize your sin has separated you from God and that separation has you dead spiritually.  There must be a newness of life and a change of direction.

If this is new to you I ask you to consider the words of Christ.  They are the words of life and without them you will not see the kingdom of God.  That’s clear.  Isn’t it?

Kevin

What did you say?

Posted on by kevinjandt

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Have you ever been told something that seems completely unbelievable?  I don’t mean William Shatner is the son of an alien like you would see on a supermarket tabloid headlines.   I mean something that just really blows your mind…  You just can’t grasp the meaning of it.

Imagine if you were the foremost expert in brain surgery and you go to meet the new intern surgeon because you hear he is pretty bright and doing some good things and he begins to tell you every way you’ve practiced brain surgery in the past is completely wrong.  Then this new intern goes on to say to you, do you mean you are supposed to be the world’s greatest brain surgeon and you don’t know these things?

In an instant he destroys everything you ever thought about your system of brain surgery.

Can you imagine your reaction…?  How ridiculous does that seem?

This is exactly what happened to Nicodemus as he came to Jesus one night.  What did Jesus say to him that seemed so hard to believe?  Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews.  He was at the top level of Judaism and Jesus blew his mind.

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus knew the Law of Moses better than anyone, he was a teacher of the law, he had the books of Moses memorized.  Can you imagine memorizing all those begots?

This is a big question for all of those who don’t understand what Jesus meant by being born again.  This is a common term among Evangelical Christians and I would guess not many truly understand its meaning and implications.

I know I didn’t.

First of all Jesus says this must happen for you to see the kingdom of God.  This is very clear right?  “Most assuredly”, the King James Version says “Verily, verily”, which is the word amen.   This is a word of Hebrew origin which means we are in agreement with it, that it is trustworthy, and sure.

Jesus says this must happen or one cannot.

How few messages in Christianity stress this point today!  How few people are having their minds blown to their present situation!  How many people will not see the kingdom of God (heaven) because they never knew they “must” be born again?  There are only two choices, heaven or hell.

I hope you will meditate on this today.  Next time I want to discuss what happens next, how can one be born again?  “Can you enter the womb a second time and be born?”  That’s also what Nicodemus asked Jesus.

Kevin

 

Wide or narrow?

Posted on by kevinjandt

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“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. – Matthew 7:13-14

The way of True Christianity is difficult, narrow, constricted and exclusive…

There is only one way… John 14:6

For MANY this is impossible to understand, so what did Jesus mean by many?

pol-oos’  – Often, mostly, largely, abundant, altogether common, many, much, often, plenteous,

 

Can Jesus be saying what it appears He is saying?  Have you ever contemplated this before?  It appears He is saying the majority of the people will walk the wide road that leads to destruction.  Hell.

How about the few?  Will there be only a few that are saved and travel the narrow and constricted path that leads to life?

 

ol-ee’-gos – Of uncertain affinity; puny (in extent, degree, number, duration or value); especially neuter (adverbially) somewhat: – + almost, brief [-ly], few, (a) little, + long, a season, short, small, a while.

 

I see how very few seem to have any recognition of “a god” much less the God of Scripture; the actions that I see, the language that comes out of their mouth.  These are obvious signs of their current state.  The Lord tells us out of the abundance of the mouth the heart speaks, He says this is what defiles them (Matthew 15:18).  These seem to be pretty clear.

Then we have the less obvious…  The people that appear “good”, they live moral lives.  They might go to church, they might volunteer or they might do a lot of outward signs or good deeds.  They might be religious.

It’s all meaningless and that will incite anger within people because man is deceived by his sin.  Believing he has goodness inside of him.  Scripture completely disputes both of these claims.  (Jeremiah 17:9, Genesis 6:5, Romans 3:10)

That’s why this path is so narrow and so difficult.  Do you believe in Him and His challenging words?  Or is this foolishness to you?

Look at Jonathan Edwards’ sermon notes commenting on these verses:

1. There is a way to Heaven – God has opened the door

There is but one right way

Tis a hard thing to find this one right way

Appears: In that there are so few that find the way

Though all have so much need to find

Though so many desire to find and seek after it.

Though so many think they have found.

…so many are mistaken.

That many of those that do find it, first take a great deal of pains

Some for a long time

Many prayers

Many difficulties

Reason: Negatively, not that God hasn’t has not called us.

 “ “ very plain in itself.

Reasons:

Many wrong ways

Like traveling through a great wilderness

Full of difficulties…dangers….

But one right way

A narrow way

Many wrong ways.

Mention some of the wrong ways.

Do right in some things only.

Outward Religion only

Affections that go away

Religious out of regard to men

Religious only out of fear of hell.

…from self-love

Don’t love God for Himself.

Trust in their own righteousness

Depend on the good opinion of others

Apt to think themselves convicted when they are not

High pride: apt to think well of themselves

A little good looks great

Don’t see what is bad

How many things men often think are Conversion.

2. Men’s own lust blinds ’em.

The way is good and plain.

Right way is what men don’t like.

Up-hill

Contrary to all their lusts

… to their pride

… to their worldliness

… sensuality

… slothfulness

Enmity against God

Wrong ways are

Easy

Broad

Down-hill

3. Devils.

Blind them and deceive them

4. Things of this world blind ’em

5. Wicked men implead (?) ’em – Jonathan Edwards

We must examine our lives and constantly measure them by the truth of God’s Word.  We have an opportunity to live but that comes at the expense of a broken and contrite heart before God as we understand our sin (Psalm 51).  If you’ve not seen the ugliness of your sin I beg you to consider this today.  Most won’t and most will perish in their sins.  Don’t be fooled.

Are you willing?  Matthew 22:3

Kevin

R U Ready?

Posted on by kevinjandt

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Photo link courtesy Boston Globe

NBC News: Explosions rock finish of Boston Marathon; 3 killed and scores injured

CNN Report: As many as 35 killed in Texas plant explosion

NY Times: Avalanche in Colorado Kills Five Snowboarders

This past week I received lots of calls, emails and text messages whether I was at the Boston Marathon.  Friends, family and acquaintances had concerns as they know that our company had done work for the Boston Marathon for many years.  This dominated the headlines for most of the week despite the fact that people died all over the country.

This act of terror was just more heinous and sinister than some of the other ways in which people died.  Similar to the Newtown Connecticut Massacre, when the evil bound up in man bubbles to the surface and acts in ways that most find despicable, Boston just struck a chord.

I wrote previously about the why and that is the question that dominates most people’s thoughts.  Here is a previous article called Heinous Acts.

Today I ask a much more important question.  If this was you are you prepared to stand before God and give an account of your life?  What will that day be like?  We will all die someday.  There is a 100% guarantee you will face the Creator and be judged (Hebrews 4:13).

Revelation 20:12-15 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.  And there was found no place for them.  And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the book was opened.  And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.  And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.  The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them.  And they were judged, each one according to his works.  Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.  This is the second death.  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

I write this article today to disturb you…

I write today to afflict you if you are comfortable with your life.

If you have no assurance that Jesus Christ did the work you have no hope because you will be judged by your works and scripture teaches us that no one is good.  None of your goodness is good enough (Romans 3:10).  If that is your hope, it is a false hope and you will be judged and thrown into the lake of fire where you will experience eternal torment.

Today I want you to know that God will not tolerate your sin, but He is patient, and if you are living and breathing today He does not want you to perish, but commands you to repent (Acts 17:30).  He is calling you today to give up your life as you know it and follow Him (Matthew 16:24).  He wants you to have assurance of life and to know that if today is your last day you will spend eternity in perfect communion with Christ (1 John 1:5-7).

Ecclesiastes 12:14 For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Can you imagine anything you ever thought or said in anger, anytime you used the Lord’s name improperly, lied, cheated, stole?  All will be exposed before you; your memory will be perfect.  God will show it all to you on that day.

I will leave you today with an excerpt from an article by Dan Harris

Of this one thing we can be certain, Judgment Day is coming.  Every single day, for approximately 200,000 people around the world, today is the Last Day.  They will take their last breath, and their destiny will be finally sealed.  We do not know when our last day will be.  It could be today.  “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2).  Are you ready to meet God?

The Bible teaches that we can know that we have eternal life (1 John 5:13).  We cannot attain eternal life by our own merits.  “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourself it is the gift of God – not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:9-10.  Salvation is through grace alone.  There is nothing that we can do to inherit eternal life.  Salvation is by grace, plus nothing.  Whether or not we are baptized, or if we go to church, read our Bible, live morally – none of these things can assure salvation.  We cannot trust in our baptism, church membership, or even in some prayer which we may have recited for salvation.  We can only throw ourselves on the mercies of God, because our salvation is totally dependent upon God alone.  If we, like the publican (Luke 18:13), out of a broken heart, in true repentance, will throw ourselves before God and ask mercy of Him, He will hear our prayer.  If we, like the people of Nineveh (Jonah 3:1-10), who covered themselves with sackcloth and sat in the ashes (i.e., out of a truly repentant heart, totally broken before God) will “cry mightily unto God”, He will hear our cry.

Are you ready to meet God?  “Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.” (Amos 4:12).

 

Sola Deo Gloria!

Kevin