With the imminent release of One Day With The Creator, I was pondering the immense privilege—and responsibility—it is to know the truth of God’s Word that we do. That reality is amplified by the simple fact that only a minute percentage of earthlings know the Truth that you know. If you do not know why that seemingly astounding statement is true, a glance at the history of the Christian Church will make it quite clear. One Day With The Creator contains such an overview.
In this letter I hope to pierce your soul—and my own—with some biblical truth that prompts each of us to live the rest of our days with the holy boldness that our Lord Jesus Christ manifested, and to which he is calling us daily. What else is there worth doing? If we take God’s Word for it, the answer is nothing. The purpose of life is only to know God and Christ, live the Word, and communicate it to others (Eccles. 12:13; Mic. 6:8; Col. 3:16).
Recently, while being interviewed after his Butler Bulldogs, without their best player, miraculously defeated a higher-ranked opponent on a last second shot, basketball coach Brad Stevens talked about how he tells his players to always exert every ounce of effort and let the results take care of themselves. He then said: “The pain of regret is far greater than the pain of discipline.”
How profound! And how relevant to you and me as Christians whom God has entrusted with a sacred trust. The other day I realized that most of the believers I know are 50 years old and up. Surely you too realize that the sands of time are steadily draining out of your hourglass—and that no one is guaranteed tomorrow. It’s kind of ironic that while this realization motivates us “Seniors” to get off our duffs, we no longer have as much energy to do so. Nonetheless, each of us has TODAY, and with the Lord energizing us, we can do a lot! Let us consider some Scripture along this line.
2 Corinthians 4:4–7
4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
The “treasure” in verse 7 is the “knowledge” in verse 6. And as God, through Jesus Christ, has shined this light in our hearts, so we are to reflect His glory to those in our world. A primary way we do that is by speaking the truth in love. What is it that too often stops us from speaking the Word to someone? FEAR (with apathy as the runner-up). But the more we realize our sacred trust, and that our Lord Jesus is not only backing us up but will also reward us, the more fearlessly we speak.
1 Thessalonians 2:3 and 4
3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4 On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts.
We also want to please The Man who gave his life for us. Consider the following words of the Apostle Paul, which were penned in a dank Roman dungeon. It was his final communiqué to his young protégé Timothy as the end of Paul’s life was approaching and the Sacred Secret he had faithfully preached was under massive assault. As you read, please reflect upon your own spiritual heritage and legacy, as well as the current degree of your spiritual fervor and the spiritual fruit in your life.
2 Timothy 1:5–15
5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. 9 He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. 13What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. 14Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. 15 You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.
How poignant those words are. And how sad for me to say that I know many, many dear brethren who have, in essence, deserted the Truth they once heard. The “good deposit” is the Word that Timothy heard from Paul, and especially the Sacred Secret vividly set forth in Ephesians. Although few of us have been persecuted like Paul and other Bible heroes were, whatever opposition we have received does grind on us. Be encouraged as you consider the heart of Jeremiah, who once stood virtually alone against great evil:
Jeremiah 20:8–12
8 Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long. 9But if I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. 10 I hear many whispering, “Terror on every side! Report him! Let’s report him!” All my friends are waiting for me to slip, saying, “Perhaps he will be deceived; then we will prevail over him and take our revenge on him.” 11 But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonor will never be forgotten.
Maybe, for whatever reasons, you have gotten tired of proclaiming God’s truth and have lost the zeal you once had for doing so. Swimming upstream against the apathy of unbelievers and the polluted “mainstream” theology so prevalent among Christians can be tiring, that’s for sure. Certainly there is no need to bang your head against the inner walls of some church. Instead, you can do your own thing with the Lord and teach people the Truth. Those of us in TLTF will do our best to help you. It may be that God is giving us a window of opportunity, and that One Day With The Creator is the tool we need to take advantage of it.
Here’s a good question: Are Satan’s pawns worried about what people may think of them, or are they bold in their promotion of atheism, evolution, drugs, homosexuality, pornography, spiritualism, witchcraft, the occult, Islam, Communism, Marxism, human trafficking, GMO “food,” and certain false religions whose advocates go door-to-door to tell people the Bad News of salvation by works? Omigosh! They are SO BOLD!!!
How bold am I? How bold are you in your promotion of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only answer to “all of the above” rip-offs? What is boldness? The primary Greek word used in Scripture is a winner! It is parrhesia, and it refers to one of the most prized rights in Greek culture: freedom of speech. A study of its 31 noun/9 verb uses is well worth the time. What they present is this definition of boldness: “Saying what needs to be said when it needs to be said how it needs to be said to whom it needs to be said.” What it does not mean is holding back when you know in your heart you should speak. Here are some NKJV excerpts of its uses:
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb. 4:16)
Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment [i.e., now, when man is doing the judging]; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4:17–19)
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)
Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude both of the Jews and of the Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren. Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. (Acts 14:1–3)
Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech (2 Cor. 3:12)
and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery [sacred secret] of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. (Eph. 6:19 and 20)
Can you picture yourself manifesting that kind of boldness? How much more fulfilling would that be than being frozen by fear or atrophied by apathy? Hey, the Lord Jesus really is going to show up one of these days, and when each of us stands before him to be judged for our works as his representative on earth, he will ask us something like this: “What did you do with what you knew?” How will you answer him?
1 Corinthians 9:16 and 17 (ESV)
16 For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship.
Look, I am a human knucklehead like you are. I have far too often let down my heavenly Father. I am too often afraid to speak the Word boldly. I have too many regrets in my life, and I don’t want any more. How about you? You are the only you God has, and you may be the only you a person looking for Truth has. We’re in this thing together. Let’s give our utmost for his highest.
[Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version®. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Also Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version™ © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.]
