I have been greatly encouraged by everyone’s comments and we are incorporating a number of them to strengthen this blog like:

• A Complete redesign.

• Pop up Bible verses.   When your cursor rolls over a Bible verse, the verse will pop up.
• A Resource Guide.  At the bottom of each post, there will be 3 to 5 recommended books for further study.
• Images.
• Book Reviews.
• Greater number of links between each posts.  One of the things that I have discovered is how closely related some the the of posts are to each other.   We want to take advantage of that!
• Best of the web.  Under each post, we will have links to what other bloggers and resource sites like Monergism and Desiring God have to say about each topic.

Stay tuned as we roll out the New Physical for the Christian Soul.

Blessings,

David

Though the man on the street would most likely agree with this statement, Scripture does not support it…anywhere. The only way that God will accept us is through Jesus’ work (John 14:6), not ours. God points out through Isaiah that even our best works are filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6)

This concept that there is nothing good we can bring into the relationship with the Lord is disturbing. After all, man is capable of doing good and there is plenty of evidence to support this claim. Unfortunately, God’s point is missed when thinking this way. He is not looking for good, He is looking for perfection…and that is quite a gap.

God is unmistakeably clear on this point. Twice He says that man has to be holy, for he is holy. (Leviticus 19:2; 1 Peter 1:16) That is to say that man has to be perfect for God is perfect.

So despite all the good man does on earth, it is counted as polluted because they are not perfect.

Still, many will bristle at the notion that being good will not grant them a place into heaven, so we have to ask the question, “What is good? and “Who defines it?” Are there degrees to good?…like kind of good, real good, very good, excellent and so on. What degree of good do you have to be in order to go to heaven? Where is the definitive work that answers these questions?

There isn’t one…even the Bible doesn’t answer these questions because they are the wrong questions to ask.

It seems to me that the root of this thought is bound up in either pride or ignorance. Pride is a dangerous thing, particularly when one looks through the lens of man. I’m better than him. I have done more good things. He is worse off than me. I could not be all that bad, after all I never have committed adultery or killed anyone. From man’s eyes these statements may be true, but from God’s eyes He is painfully aware that none of that matters in order to get into Heaven.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, execpt through me.” John 14:6.

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By David Zook, Pastor Morningside Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, AZ.

It’s fair to say that disagreements between people tend separate them from one another.  The conflict in the relationship sometimes is so deep that permanent separations occur.

“Irreconcilable differences” is the term used to describe this situation in marriages.

“Difference in philosophy” often describes business partnerships breaking up.

“Lack of results or personality conflicts” describes people leaving their jobs.

The point is that people were not seeing eye to eye on the critical issues to maintain their relationships.

Do you think this sort of thing can happen with God?  That the differences between humans and God are so great that it would cause a separation?  Some would argue no.  They base their answer on the knowledge that God is loving God so to separate himself from those He created is not possible.

Certainly, God is loving.  The Bible tells us that He is love (1 John 4:8).   But to leave it at that misses the point of the conflict.  God demands that we should be perfect just as he is perfect.  We are not.  This is what separates us from God.  Here’s how the Lord puts it:

“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”  (Isaiah 59:1-2 ESV)

The problem is not with God, rather with us…you and me.  We are the ones that run from his love.  We reject his grace.  We try to usurp his power and authority and replace it with our own.  Our desires do not match his desires, our motives are not his motives, nor do our actions reflect his actions.  This is precisely what separates us from God.

For many, the difficultly with this issue lies in the perspective in which they choose to look.  They are looking at the universe through their eyes rather than through God’s.  They see the world as revolving around their worldview rather than seeing the world through God’s worldview.  They see God owing them something rather than owing God something.

Admitting that you are wrong is one of the most difficult things to do in life, yet with God it is the most liberating things you will ever experience.

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By David Zook, Pastor Morningside Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, AZ.

This is the very definition of mercy.  As we draw closer to God and He pours more and more of Himself into us, there will come a point when we start reflecting many of God’s attributes including His mercy.  As we see how undeserving we are in times of great need and how God meets where we are, we experience His mercy.

Some get a sense of mercy when they throw themselves at the mercy of the court.  They have been convicted of a crime, know that they are undeserving of escaping punishment, and are in great need of relief.  Before the judge, they plead with him to reduce or waive the sentence.  They are at the judge’s mercy.

Likewise,  a child is at his/her parent’s mercy when they get caught red handed doing something that they are not suppose to do, then the child pleads and cajoles begging for the parent’s mercy.

The Bible has several instances in which people reflect God’s image of mercy upon others.  Joseph granting mercy to his brothers is such an instance.  Joseph’s brothers were in a real pickle.  Driven by famine they left their home in Canaan and went to Egypt to buy grain.

Unbeknown to them, Joseph was in charge of grain sells and when they showed up, Joseph immediately recognized them.  Joseph could have vindicated himself by refusing to sell grain to them because his brothers sold him into slavery and told their father that Joseph had be torn into pieces by a “fierce animal” (Genesis 37:33 ESV).

But Joseph didn’t choose revenge, rather he showed his brothers mercy and sold them the grain and eventually invited his entire family to Egypt to preserve the family, the remnant of Israel, and bloodline that led to Christ.

Is there someone in your life that you have been riding hard?  Is there someone that you won’t extend the time of day?  Is there someone in your life that doesn’t deserve your kindness?

Reflect this aspect of God’s image into their lives by being merciful to them.  Tough to do?  You bet.  Think of it this way, God has a beef with man.  We don’t live up to his expectation of perfection and He has every right to release His wrath on us as He did when He turned Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt for disobeying Him (Genesis 19) or struck dead Annanias and Sapphria for lying (Acts 5) as punishment for not being perfect.

Yet, he doesn’t…”the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.” (Psalm 145:8-9)

Let’s follow His lead and reflect His greatness to the undeserving.

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By David Zook, Pastor Morningside Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, AZ.

About 10 years ago, my wife and I had dinner with a friend of mine.  She was going through some transitions in her life and was taking some classes.  One of the men in her class and her got to know each other fairly well and he told her that it was his mission to convince her to trust Christ before the end of the semester.

Throughout the semester he kept on her by continually presenting the Gospel in different ways and pressing her for a decision.  Well, many of you can imagine the result of that relationship.

When the topic of what the future held for us came up and told my friend that I was going into vocational ministry, she told me not to try to convince her about Christ and then launched into her story.

After listening to the full account of what had happened, I assured her that I don’t personally possess the power to convince people that the Gospel is true, only the Holy Spirit does.  “because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction…”  (1 Thessolonians 1:5 ESV)

I explained to her that God’s people are God’s mailmen.  We just deliver the news.  We are not responsible people opening it up, nor are responsible to convince them that the message we are delivering is true.

Ezekiel flushes this point out by saying that God will “give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”  (Ezekiel 36:22 ESV)

It is God through His spirit that convinces people that the Gospel is true.  Not us.  That’s not to say that we do not play a critical role in the process, we do.  But unlike setting across the table from a potential client and trying to convince them that your product/service is what they need and not taking no for answer or using you persuasiveness in the courtroom to convince the jury that your side should win, presenting the Gospel is different.

Knowing that it is different ought to give us great joy and take a burden off of our collective shoulders.  It’s one less thing that we have to do.  God is a big God who has power that is too great to imagine.  Nothing is too difficult for Him, not even convincing someone that the Gospel is true.

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Sanctification is akin to holiness. Its essence means to be set apart. God sets us apart, that is He sanctifies every part of us, when we trust Jesus. Remember that on the cross Jesus gave us His perfect life and assumed every bit of our imperfect lives with every bit of its sin, so that God would pour out His wrath on Jesus, not us.

Because of this once and for all substitution, (“For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” Hebrews 10:14 ESV) God’s wrath is completely satisfied and when He looks at those who have trusted His Son, He sees His Son’s perfection covering them, not the stains of sin underneath. “…that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” (Acts 26:18 ESV)

This is why the Bible refers to those who have trusted Jesus as holy ones or saints. (Ephesians 1:1) They have been sanctified.

Being sanctified means that you have been completely and irrevocably set free from the slavery of sin and now you are able in to live rightly. (Romans 6:18)

This one aspect has immense implications. Being set apart gives you the ability to say no to the actions and thoughts that harm you and say yes to the actions and thoughts that are good for you. The power of sin has been broken. You have been set free.

With this new found power fueled by the Holy Spirit and the armor issued by God (Ephesians 6:10-20) you now have the ability to battle and conquer the things that haunt you.

Now to be sure these battles will be extremely difficult and there will be many times that you lose the upper hand and get knocked down. Yet as you draw closer to Jesus through these battles, He will draw closer to you resulting in you becoming more like Him and less like yourself.

As you stay close to Him, over time your thoughts will become more like His thoughts, your motives will increasingly reflect His motives, and your emotions will be in line with His Word.

As Jesus was praying to His Father he said, “sanctify them in your truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17 ESV)

I might add may He completely sanctify you…head, heart, body, and soul so that you may conquer the things that haunt you.  

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By David Zook, Pastor Morningside Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, AZ.

This may seem like a harsh statement to some, but it gets to the heart of what grace is and isn’t.  Grace is not an obligation, but a free gift that is simply given out of someone’s good pleasure according to his will.  In the Bible, God freely gives His favor out of His good pleasure and according to His will.  He is not obligated to extend it to anyone, let alone everyone.

Consider what God says to Moses in Exodus 33:19,  “And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” (ESV)

It’s the Lord’s call and there is nothing we can do about it.

God makes this point again in Deuteronomy 7:6-8.  “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.  It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

God chose the Israelites because of His love toward them, not because anything they did.  The same is true for us today as Paul wrote to the Ephesian church:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

and to the Roman church:

Romans 9:13-16 (ESV), “As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”  What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!  For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”  So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”

You see, it’s all up to God to decide which puts every human being in the same pot.  All we can do as humans is to throw ourselves down and plead for mercy.  Admittedly, this cuts against the grain of many of the popular notions about God, yet when we define the very essence of grace as unmerited favor and realize that God has all the power and we have none, statements like this one begin to make sense.  And our wonder for the reason He decided to shower His grace on you becomes even more amazing.

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By David Zook, Pastor Morningside Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, AZ.

1.  Faithfulness requires belief.

In order to have faith, you have to believe in what you have faith in.  For a child, it’s believing that mommy or daddy will pick them up from school or be home when they get home. For adults, it’s believing you will be paid by your employer for your work .  When it comes to the God of the Bible, it’s believing that His story is true down to the last period and that He is who He says he is.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrew 11:1)

2.  Faithfulness requires remaining steadfast when it’s not required.

The common expression, “hang in there with me” epitomizes this key.  Enduring difficult or awkward situations when it’s not deserved is having faith in that person or situation.  Spouses who have endured the tragedy of adultery and remain with their spouses fall into this category.  So does God who remains faithful to human beings despite their unfaithfulness to Him.

“The Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6)

3.  Faithfulness requires trust.

Being faithful to someone requires trusting that person.  This is a difficult issue for those of us who have experienced others breaking our trust.  It’s hard to be faithful to someone who routinely breaks your trust.  Yet, God is not like that.  He is the only one who has never broken His promises to you.  He has always delivered you, provided for you, and loved you in your time of need.  He is trustworthy.  We can be faithful to Him because of it.

4.  Faithfulness requires devotion.

Being faithful also means that your heart has been irrevocably affected, that you are devoted.  For instance, you won’t cheat on your spouse because you are devoted to him/her, not simply because it is wrong (conviction).  God is not only devoted to us because of His promises to us (his conviction), but also because we have been created in His image and that we are fearfully and wonderfully made by Him (his devotion).

5. Faithfulness requires honor.

If you are being faithful to someone, there is a element of telling the truth in that relationship.   Faithful relationships are built on authenticity and transparency, never deceit.

“A faithful witness does not lie, but a false witness breathes out lies.”  (Proverbs 14:5 ESV)

6.  Faithfulness requires consistency.

When you are being faithful to someone, it demonstrates that you are willing to be consistent with them over a period of time.  God promises never to abandon us or forsake us and He doesn’t.

“If a king faithfully judges the poor, his throne will be established forever.” (Proverbs 29:14)

If this post hits you between the eyes as you reflect on your shortcoming in this area, please remember that there is an antidote for unfaithfulness and the shame that goes along with it: God’s grace found in His Gospel through the forgiveness of sins.  If you are feeling the weight of unfaithfulness confess it to our Lord and He will freely forgive.  His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness.

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By David Zook, Pastor Morningside Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, AZ.

One of the pitfalls of having professional pastors (people who get paid to do ministry) is the false assumption that they are the ones that do “ministry” because of their gifting and calling.

Sure pastors do ministry, but effective pastors teach others to do ministry including teaching the Bible and Jesus to others.

To be clear, you do not need to be gifted in teaching to teach the Bible to others.  Let me explain.

If you can read a story out of a children’s Bible to a child, you are teaching the child about the Bible.

If you have a one-on-one conversation with a friend about an issue affecting him/her and talk about God’s grace, quote a verse, use biblical principles you are teaching them about the Bible.

When you share how you trusted Jesus and your walk with Him, you are teaching people about how Jesus came into your life and turned it around.

Teaching does not always occur behind the pulpit our in a Sunday School class.

We are just one to two generations away from Christianity being marginalized into obscurity.  The Old Testament teaches us that lesson.  How many times did God turn over His people because they were not worshiping Him and teaching others about Him?  Multiple. In one instance, when Ezra returned with the Jews to Jerusalem after a 70 year exile, only a few of the Jews in Jerusalem knew God.  If it happened then, it can happen now.

That is why Paul exhorts Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2 teach others about God’s Word. “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (ESV)

Jesus’ parting words to his disciples before ascending into heaven were
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20 ESV)

This is a empathic command.  He isn’t declaring, suggesting, or asking.  He is commanding His people (at the time his disciples; now it’s us) to make disciples through evangelism (baptizing) and discipleship (teaching).

All of us regardless of our gifting can explain to others what the Bible is about and who Jesus is…even if that means nothing else but our personal story to how He has affected and transformed your life.

Be encouraged…for you have been given the spirit of boldness, not timidity (2 Timothy 1:7), in part to teach others about the greatest book ever written with a hero who will never let you down.

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By David Zook, Pastor Morningside Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, AZ.