Where Do I Go From Here?

Amidst the challenges set forth this weekend at the Family Driven Faith conference, I have been convicted to search my heart as well as the Word of God as standard for re-analyzing and re-establishing what I truly do believe to be truth; why I believe it to be truth and then living and communicating this Biblical Worldview within family foremost and then to those in my sphere of influence.

After studying Titus more I wanted to put things in better context and this is what I came across in relating to where do I go from here:

• Titus is obviously a letter to Titus in establishing and governing the church in Crete


• Titus was a Greek believer, probably converted thru Paul's teaching


• Like Timothy, Titus traveled with Paul and was nurtured and discipled in his faith


• Paul then sent Titus to Crete and instructed him to not only oversee the church in Crete, but to Disciple the believers there.


• Crete was an island known for Laziness, gluttony, lying, and evil.

Where do we find Paul encountering the Island of Crete? Head back to Acts 27:

Paul, a prisoner at this point, was headed to Italy. On the way over, a storm began to brew and Paul encouraged the ship to anchor at Crete for the time being. The centurion in charge, however, did not listen to Paul and they set out. The storm however, drove them off course and they feared for their lives as they had to begin dumping cargo overboard. Then we see Paul speak:

"After the men had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said, 'Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage & loss. But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed" Acts 27:21-22.

What does this have to do with anything? Well this is why these verses jumped off the page to me: I, as a christian, and part of the body of Christ, have been challenged to re-evaluate how I truly am living the Word of God in everyday life. Am I truly living the biblical precepts that are set forth for a "royal priesthood and chosen people?"

I saw Crete figuratively as the Word of God that has been given to us this past weekend at the Family Driven Faith conference. Not what the man Voddie Baucham spoke, but rather the conviction of the Holy Spirit that came through the teaching of The Word of God. I saw the storm as the current state of our culture. Trying aggressively to do everything it can to take us off course and destroy the effectiveness of the family dynamic. Lastly, I see the ship representing our families or possibly the effectiveness of the biblical family dynamic. All together, I see the opportunity now for all of us, most importantly the fathers, husbands, and other men, to build and plant our families ( dock the ship) on the Word of God (Crete) so that the culture (storm) can no longer have a say so in what happens to our families. I do believe that our choice on moving forward with knowledge of the Word will reflect our priorities....Paul goes on to tell the other people on the boat that despite the fact that they did not heed his warning their lives will not be lost, only the ship will be destroyed (v. 22). Will we (I) choose to heed the Word of God now and dock our families or will we continue to allow our "ships" to be tossed in the strom?

"Do not merely listen to the word and so decieve yourselves, do what it says" James 1:22

The Heart of the Matter

Christianity is based on the grace, the mercy, and the love of an Almighty God. A God who gave His one and only Son to die for us to provide a way for us to be declared righteous and holy before our God despite the fact that we are sinners and deserve eternal damnation. He offered us the gift of salvation, if we will but admit that we have sinned and are in need of a Saviour; we repent of our sin; and we declare Him Lord over our lives. To me this sounds like a pretty loving and personal God! All through the scriptures we see instances where the Lord yearns for a deeper relationship with His people instead of them just blindly following His commands. So many times we can lose site of the Lord in what we do, even the spiritual things. The Lord has reasons behind everything He commands us to do. If we simply get in the routine of just doing spiritual religious things, we can totally miss how God intends for us to grow closer to Him. We can miss the heart of the matter, which is a deeper relationship with our Lord.

The Jews in the Old Testament had a problem with this at one point. The prophet Zechariah was sent to them to give them a message from the Lord. The people were inquiring of God whether or not He wanted them to fast and mourn as they had consistently done during the same time of year for the past seventy years. Not necessarily a bad question, but listen to the Lord's response and you get an idea that the people were missing the whole heart of the matter behind the fasting:
"Then the Word of the Lord Almighty came to me (Zechariah): Ask all the people of the land and the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?" (Zechariah 7:4-6)
Clearly, the Lord understood that the people had last sight of why He had them fasting at this time each year, and that they had turned their fasting into a religious custom. I feel that you can really see the Lord's heart afterward though, He takes the time and reminds them of what it means to be His people. He reminds them how to live, and hopefully they will again understand His heart behind fasting:
"And the Word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: This is what the Lord Almighty says: Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other" (Zechariah 7:8-10)

Unfortunately, if you read on in Zechariah, the people did not listen. However, what a great lesson for us to keep in mind as we grow and serve the Lord. The Lord ultimately wants relationship with us. He desires us to do good and follow His decrees, yes, but more importantly He wants us to seek His heart behind everything we do. Here are a few additional verses that help us understand the Lord's heart. The one from Isaiah is long, but please read:

"Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail" (Isaiah 58:5-11)

"If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he decieves himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as puer and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:26-27)

The Sovereignty of God

"The Lord reigns, He is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and is armed with strength..." Psalm 93:1a

First thing I notice is the fact that 'the Lord is robed in majesty' is mentioned twice in one sentence. Usually if something is mentioned more than once, we ought to take special note of what the author is saying. Looking at a couple key words:

reigns- "the authority or rule of a sovereign"
majesty - "sovereign power, authority, or dignity"

As the definitions clearly state....The Lord has all authority, He is clothed with soveriegn power and authority; the Lord is clothed with sovereign power and authority and is armed with strength (paraphrased)

Clearly there is a common theme being spoken in this passage: the Lord is Sovereign! What is sovereign?

sovereign- "supreme in power or authority; having independent authority; power to govern w/out external control.

Clearly the writer of this Psalm wanted to make a point that the Lord is Sovereign. What does this mean for us? If we claim to be christians and claim to follow Him, than this is a very important aspect of God's character that we must seek wholeheartedly to embrace! Christ's love, grace, and mercy are what turn our hearts to Him; trusting wholeheartedly in the sovereignty of His character is what sustains us, as believers, in a fallen world:
"In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world!" John 16:33
So how do I get to the point where I do trust in Christ's sovereign character in all circumstances and situations in my life? Here are a few of my thoughts:

• Firstly, I truly must come to the point where I realize that I am a sinner (Romans 3:23). That my sin separates me from God and I am hopeless and broken w/out Christ. That I need a Saviour to cleanse me of my sins. Then I must accept His free gift of salvation and surrender my life to His will (Romans 10:9-10)
• Secondly, I must daily try and become more self-less seeking to draw closer to Him and learn more about who He is and what He has for my life (Matthew 10:38). This was a visual metaphor that Matthew used to convey a spiritual message. Back in Rome during this time, it was customary for the criminals to carry the very crosses for which they would be crucified on as punishment for their rebellion. In the same way, Christ is calling us to a deeper relationship by asking us to put aside the selfishness of our flesh, realizing we have rebelled against God (sin), and follow Him.
• Thirdly, I must fulfill the great commission (Matthew 28:18-20). In doing this, we can bring glory to God in everything: in both our joyous times and painful times.

Once we have truly surrendered our lives to Christ and allow Him to be our firm foundation, we can begin to gain confidence in the character of God and begin to put our faith and trust in His sovereignty in our lives....It is not always easy, but from our total surrender and trust comes a peace that surpasses all understanding!

For a cool glimpse into the power and soveriegnty of God, read chapters 38-42 of Job!