God's not Dead....

God's not dead......

I learned how to use a "new to me" button on my tv remote last night, "vod", "video on demand"....and watched a movie that I had wanted to watch earlier this year, "God's Not Dead".  I had watched the writer being interviewed,which was good, about
Christians in Hollywood and faith based movies..

The movie follows a university student taking a philosophy course in which the teacher demands his students sign a paper saying that "God is dead" so that he can "dispense" with the portion of the class that deals with the "lies" of a belief in a supreme being...one student cannot sign that paper and the debate begins...there are also other "separate" lives and scenes which eventually all intersect and play out together showing that, indeed, God is working everywhere in people lives...

Can't you just go back over your life and see those intersections, where with hindsight, you see God's touch in the activity or life decisions?

-an engaged couple breaks up after one's conversion, the other leaving for the military only to be surrounded by Christians...
-divorced couple, going their own separate ways, surrounded by Christian friends, brought back together to recommit their lives to Christian service...to divorced couples...
-prisoner meeting Christians in prison, leading him to a lifetime of service to prisoners and their families...
-student with religious background, leaving home to party, to be surrounded by Christian roommates...
-runaways finding shelter in Christian housing...
-Jewish foreign exchange student encountering The Messiah in grad school...
-suicidal man finds a Gideon Bible in a hotel room...
-homeless person stumbles into a downtown mission...
-VBS teacher finds Christ while teaching preschoolers...
-a cancer patient is drawn to Christ through a Christian nurse and doctor giving out hope as well as medicine...
---and on and on and on...

God meets any of us anywhere, anytime....from the lowest or highest place to the cross....His appointments for us...and so many others around the world...bringing us to Himself...His Son and our moments of decision .....

Thank YOU that You touch us...You bring us to Yourself....creatively, tenderly drawing us to You....

John 3:16New International Version (NIV)
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

 Psalm 139:7-12 New International Version (NIV)
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.


Even today's devo by Ray Stedman....so I included it...a much better writer ...pastor...another intersection in time and place...

"The Fear of the Lord
Daily Devotional for August 27
From the Writings of Ray Stedman
 
From your friends at
www.RayStedman.org
Read the Scripture: Jeremiah 36:1-32

So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them. Jeremiah 36:32

Judgment came against Jehoiakim not simply because he acted foolishly in burning the Scriptures but because of the condition of heart which that action revealed. This is given to us in one flaming sentence in Verse 24: Yet neither the king, nor any of his servants who heard all these words, was afraid, nor did they rend their garments. These men had lost the fear of God. And when a nation or a people or an individual loses the fear of God, they are on their way to destruction. For the fear of God is based upon the sovereign power which he exercises in life. These men were shown to be stupid and senseless men who had lost their sense of reality entirely, because they had lost the fear of God.

There is one great fact everywhere revealed — in Scripture, in history, and even in nature — which has been called the law of retribution. That is, there is an inevitable consequence for doing wrong, and there is no way to escape it. Even an atheist, who does not believe in God at all, must admit that when he examines the laws of nature he is faced with the conclusion that you either obey the laws of nature and live, or disobey them and die. And man is helpless to change that. We are in the grip of forces greater than we are, and everything on every side testifies to this. That is why we learn respect for the laws of electricity. You do not fool around with 10,000 volts of electrical potential, thinking you are going to make up the laws as you go along. You had better find out what they are first, for you disobey them to your peril and death.

This is what God has implanted in every part of life. How foolish and utterly stupid is the person who seeks to ignore that fact. God requires of every nation that there be the recognition of his sovereign government of men, and the law of retribution for evil. History has testified repeatedly that God always accomplishes what he says he is going to do. God rules in the affairs of men. Napoleon, at the height of his career, once very boldly said, God is on the side that has the heaviest artillery — his cynical answer to someone who asked if God was on the side of France. Then came the Battle of Waterloo, where he lost both the battle and his empire. Years later, in exile on the island of St. Helena, chastened and humbled, Napoleon said, Man proposes; God disposes. This is the lesson with which life seeks to confront us. God is able to work his sovereign will — despite man. Therefore the basic, elementary knowledge of life with which everyone ought to start is the fear of God.

Our Father, these words sober me. I pray that I will not point the finger of self-righteousness at others, but rather will acknowledge the times I have not shown you the fear worthy of your name.

Life Application: Is the arrogant defiance of God in our cultural environment eroding our reverent fear of our holy God? Do we need to inventory our hearts for signs of self righteous pride?

Related Message: This daily devotional was inspired by one of Ray's messages. Please read "What Does God Require?" or listen to Ray for more on this portion of scripture.
Copyright © 2014 by Ray Stedman Ministries — This daily devotion is from the book Immeasurably More: a year of devotions from the writings of Ray Stedman; compiled by Mark Mitchell. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice and a hyperlink to www.RayStedman.org if the copy is posted on the Internet."