Month: September 2017

Resource: The Briefing with Al Mohler

The Briefing bills itself as a “Daily worldview analysis about the leading news headlines and cultural conversations.” Or as the host Al Mohler puts it, a daily analysis of the news and headlines from a Christian worldview.

In a time of unprecedented change and moral decline the world over, all Christians need to be pointed back to the Bible again and again to help us know how to think and respond to the latest news and legislation going on in the world around us.

Dr. Albert Mohler is a Christian speaker and author of no small repute. He is currently the President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a theologian with almost 25 years of experience. As we say in Ghana he is no “small boy” mouthing off about every current event but rather a mature Christian teacher who helps listeners make sense of the news and events going on in the world today.

Listening to The Briefing will help you articulate what exactly is behind that feeling of “But that’s wrong” you get when you read so many headlines today. Abortion, euthanasia, LBGTQI issues, war, natural disasters and all the other issues all require critical Christian thinking and responses. You’ll be able to make sense of these issues from God’s perspective and get the encouragement of knowing that His Word and His standards never change no matter what else does.

Through Al Mohler’s insightful analysis of the media and news articles of the day also comes in handy whenever you watch anything on the TV or radio, as you will quickly come to realize that there’s no such thing as agenda-free media. Every advert, every podcast, every movie, every broadcast has a message behind it that the discerning Christian would do well to listen to.

What I appreciate most about The Briefing is that it led me to realize that the Christian worldview is the only one that can stand up to the evil forces behind the so-called “moral revolution” sweeping the world right now. Everything else will crumble to the pressure eventually.

Tradition and culture? They change all the time.
Legality? Changes even faster, especially in the past 10 years.
Practicality? Just because something works or does not work doesn’t affect the morality of that thing in God’s eyes. It’s only the Christian worldview that lets you say “I’m going to do the right thing regardless of the consequences because God said so.” Whether you succeed or fail in the eyes of this world does not matter as long as you fulfill your ultimate purpose on this earth, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

It really helps you know how to engage with unbelievers on these issues so you can keep bringing God’s timeless truths to bear on recent matters. Dr. Mohler is especially good at pointing out the many contradictions and hypocrisies that attend this “revolution” – though at the end your goal is not to see unbelievers squirm but to bring them to the light of Jesus Christ.

There’s only one major drawback to The Briefing: it mainly addresses news and affairs in North America and Europe. I’ve been listening every day for almost a year and haven’t heard Africa mentioned yet, much less Ghana. No news is good news, eh? It’s only natural for Dr. Mohler to deal with what concerns him. We should make our own local version of The Briefing to cover Ghanaian matters. Economic issues. The media. Tragedies like the Circle fire, road accidents, tragic murders. The recent spate of acrimonious ‘celebrity’ divorces. We can’t expect someone outside to cover things we could be covering ourselves.

And a minor drawback: it’s too short! 30 minutes isn’t nearly enough time to cover every single news items I would like him to cover. But that’s just me being greedy.

Check out The Briefing on weekdays on its official website here. I’m sure it will soon become part of your daily routine.

Psalm for the Week – 25th September, 2017

PSALM 1

1 Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
    Nor stands in the path of sinners,
    Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He shall be like a tree
    Planted by the rivers of water,
    That brings forth its fruit in its season,
    Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

4 The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

 

This psalm has been a cherished one for many of the saints of God over the centuries and millenia and God has used it mightily in my own life. I find myself coming time and time again back to this simple but profound psalm. It is a beatitude and speaks of blessing or happiness. God pronounces the means by which a person will know true spiritual blessing.

Firstly, it starts by stating the negative. No one is blessed who walks in ungodliness (anything against God’s character and word) and it is interesting to note the progression here. You see it starts with walking, then standing and finally sitting. The world has its own wisdom and counsel and to be blessed, we must be far from that or else very soon we will find ourselves standing and then finally partaking.

On the other hand, the truly blessed person is one who finds his counsel in the law of God (His revealed will, the Scriptures) and He meditates or basically delves deeply into His word. This is not the casual attitude of grabbing a quick 5 minutes read here and there because we are too busy to make time but rather a deliberate attempt to know what God desires and making it our goal to conform our lives to this. How often do we seek God’s will in every aspect of our lives. How we work, how we use the gifts He has given us, how we seek a spouse, how we treat others, how we evangelize, how we forgive, how we give to His work, how we run our home. Indeed everything should be brought to His word and humbly and faithfully applied and in that we can know that God’s blessing is upon us.

The psalmist then contrasts the end of the righteous (those living like above) and that of the ungodly who refuses to be ruled by God’s word. Do not fret Dear Reader when it seems like by the world’s standards, the ungodly are doing well or prospering. God will vindicate His own at the due time. There is eternity ahead. Have a blessed week. Go serve your King!!!

What is the Gospel?

 

This is the most important question that any person no matter the time in which we live can hope to ask. In an age of so much confusion and sinfulness, what we know of the gospel will

determine where we spend our eternity.

So let us take it a step at a time.

Gospel means ‘Good News’ taken from the old English word ‘godspel’ which means ‘god'(good) and ‘spel’ (story/message). This is analogous to the Greek ‘euaggelion‘, from which we get our English words evangelist, evangel and evangelical. The gospel is, broadly speaking, the whole of Scripture; more narrowly, the gospel is the good news concerning Christ and the way of salvation.

Let us consider what the bible has to say concerning it:

“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” (emphasis mine)

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 NASB

http://bible.com/100/1co.15.1-4.nasb

For the good news to be appreciated, we first need to appreciate the bad news. The fact of the matter is that man is sinful and by this I mean all men, women and children. God clearly states in His word that “there is none righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). From the moment that Adam sinned, the entire race fell into sin and because of that sin, God cursed the entire race to die because He God is holy and just and will not abide sin. The death here was both physical and much more devastating spiritual which refers to eternal separation from God and a fearful expectation of judgment and hell once this physical existence is over.

Oh, men try to clean up their act and do many things thinking that God will have to forgive them because of their good deeds. Unfortunately, we do not realize just how holy God is and just how sinful our sin is. Isaiah 64:6 makes this abundantly clear when it states, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”

So to summarize the situation, we are born into sin and as a result are dead spiritually and all attempts to remedy the situation through our own efforts will ultimately not satisfy God nor help us.

Now comes the good news!!!

God is holy and just and He is also love. Therefore God in His great mercy, looked at our helpless situation and provided a way out for us in order that we might not be condemned forever because of our sin. At the right time, He sent forth His Son, Jesus Christ, who came to this earth in the form of man, lived a perfect life without sin and ultimately paid for our sins with His own life on the cross. With this act, God punished our sin on the sinless one and on the cross, Jesus drank the full cup of God’s wrath that you and I deserve. He is our substitute. Through that God satisfied his justice and wrath on Him and at the same time was able to express His love for sinful men.

Having said this, there is only one way to appropriate the death of Christ and that is through repentance and faith in Him. No matter who you are and what you have done, God promises forgiveness of sins if you will acknowledge that you are a sinner, being broken over your sin and confessing them and then trusting in the finished work of Christ on the cross on your behalf.

Looking at the verse above, you will notice that Christ did not remain buried but was raised up and that resurrection is a powerful proclamation that His sacrifice on our behalf was accepted by God the Father and therefore we can have confidence that in Christ our sins have indeed been forgiven. (1 Corinthians 15:17-22)

Have you heard anything better than this? Good news truly. Indeed the very best! Have you responded to Christ Dear Reader?