Great Outdoors, Fellowship, and Evangelism

This article was originally posted at The Speak:Truth Project

One of my most favorite things to do in life is to enjoy the great outdoors.  Last Saturday, a group of us headed to Grandfather Mountain in Western North Carolina to meet up with a couple of dear friends, Josh and Steve, who recently moved from Charlotte to pastor Higher Ground Church of God in Pineola, NC.   We also brought our families with us, so while we hiked the mountain, our wives and children spent the day hanging out.

The weather could not have been more perfect.  We got started around 10am and I was excited about all the people we would be seeing on the mountain.  The ice got broken for tract distribution as a gentleman took our picture near the Mile High Bridge, and I responded in kind with a Million Dollar tip!

Aaron and I both brought tracts with us for the hike, and between us both, I imagine we were blessed to hand out approximately 50 tracts.  We may have only spoken to one individual for a few minutes on one occasion, but dozens of people received the Gospel in their hands.  This gentleman in particular had mentioned he has been meaning to read his Bible and “get things right” for a while, so I can only imagine what it meant for him that we spoke the truth of God’s Word to him on the side of a mountain (literally on a ladder on the side of a mountain!).  Most people were elated and appreciative of what we handed them, and on a couple of occasions we met believers, which is always an encouraging experience.

The best part of our day was our time of fellowship together, especially during lunch.  Aaron had prepared a devotional about peaks and valleys and where our focus must remain through times of prosperity and trying times – on Christ.  We also sang a couple of songs and worshiped the Creator together.  It was really a sweet moment and epitomized what true fellowship is for the Body of Christ.  It seems most of our conversations throughout the hike were centered on God, and it was such a blessing to be in the company of like-minded believers who desired the same fellowship.
So dear friends, I encourage you to consider an outing where you might fellowship and worship our God in the great outdoors.  It is so refreshing to “get away” for a day and spend time in God’s creation with other believers.  It also affords you the opportunity to witness to the lost literally on “the ends of the earth”.

Even if you are not in a group, always keep Gospel tracts handy and have courage to hand them out wherever you go.  Had we left our tracts at home, it would have been a wasted opportunity to get the Gospel in the hands of folks we may have otherwise had no other contact.

Do you have any plans for this spring and summer?  Camping, hiking, fishing, mountains, beach, four-wheeling, horseback riding, lakes, rivers, etc.?  If not, try making some – and don’t forget your tracts!

You can check out the rest of our photos on facebook.

The Sovereignty of God in Creation

By Justin Edwards

From Chapter 2 of A.W. Pink's The Sovereignty of God, titled "The Sovereignty of God in Creation":

"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created" (Rev. 4:11).

In the great expanse of eternity which stretches behind Genesis 1:1, the universe was unborn and creation existed only in the mind of the great Creator. In His Sovereign majesty God dwelt all alone. We refer to that far distant period before the heavens and the earth were created. There were then no angels to hymn God's praises, no creatures to occupy His notice, no rebels to be brought into subjection. The great God was all alone amid the awful Silence of His own vast universe. But even at that time, if time it could be called, God was Sovereign. He might create or not create according to His own good pleasure. He might create this way or that way; He might create one world or one million worlds, and who was there to resist His will? He might call into existence a million different creatures and place them on absolute equality, endowing them with the same faculties and placing them in the same environment; or, He might create a million creatures each differing from the others, and possessing nothing in common save their creaturehood, and who was there to challenge His right?

If He so pleased, He might call into existence a world so immense that its dimensions were utterly beyond finite computation; and were He so disposed, He might create an organism so small that nothing but the most powerful microscope could reveal its existence to human eyes. It was His Sovereign right to create, on the one hand, the exalted seraphim to burn around His throne, and on the other hand, the tiny insect which dies the same hour that it is born. If the mighty God chose to have one vast gradation in His universe, from loftiest seraph to creeping reptile, from revolving worlds to floating atoms, from macrocosm to microcosm, instead of making everything uniform, who was there to question His Sovereign pleasure?

Behold then the exercise of Divine Sovereignty long before man ever saw the light. With whom took God counsel in the creation and disposition of His creatures? See the birds as they fly through the air, the beasts as they roam the earth, the fishes as they swim in the sea, and then ask, Who was it that made them to differ? Was it not their Creator who Sovereignly assigned their various locations and adaptations to them!

Turn your eye to the heavens and observe the mysteries of Divine Sovereignty which there confront the thoughtful beholder: "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory" (1 Cor. 15:41). But why should they? Why should the sun be more glorious than all the other planets? Why should there be stars of the first magnitude and others of the tenth? Why such amazing inequalities? Why should some of the heavenly bodies be more favorably placed than others in their relation to the sun? And why should there be "shooting stars," falling stars, "wandering stars" (Jude 13), in a word, ruined stars? And the only possible answer is, "For Thy pleasure they are and were created" (Rev. 4:11).

Come now to our own planet. Why should two thirds of its surface be covered with water, and why should so much of its remaining third be unfit for human cultivation or habitation? Why should there be vast stretches of marshes, deserts and ice-fields? Why should one country be so inferior, topographically, from another? Why should one be fertile, and another almost barren? Why should one be rich in minerals and another own none? Why should the climate of one be congenial and healthy, and another uncongenial and unhealthy? Why should one abound in rivers and lakes, and another be almost devoid of them? Why should one be constantly troubled with earthquakes, and another be almost entirely free from then? Why? Because thus it pleased the Creator and Upholder of all things.

Look at the animal kingdom and note the wondrous variety. What comparison is possible between the lion and the lamb, the bear and the kid, the elephant and the mouse? Some, like the horse and the dog, are gifted with great intelligence; while others, like sheep and swine, are almost devoid of it. Why? Some are designed to be beasts of burden, while others enjoy a life of freedom. But why should the mule and the donkey be shackled to a life of drudgery while the lion and tiger are allowed to roam the jungle at their pleasure? Some are fit for food, others unfit; some are beautiful, others ugly; some are endowed with great strength, others are quite helpless; some are fleet of foot, others can scarcely crawl-contrast the hare and the tortoise; some are of use to man, others appear to be quite valueless; some live for centuries, others a few months at most; some are tame, others fierce. But why all these variations and differences? What is true of the animals is equally true of the birds and fishes.

But consider now the vegetable kingdom. Why should roses have thorns, and lilies grow without them? Why should one flower emit a fragrant aroma and another have none? Why should one tree bear fruit which is wholesome and another that which is poisonous? Why should one vegetable be capable of enduring frost and another wither under it? Why should one apple tree be loaded with fruit, and another tree of the same age and in the same orchard be almost barren? Why should one plant flower a dozen times in a year and another bear blossoms but once a century? Truly, "whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did He in Heaven, and in the earth, in the seas, and all deep places" (Psa. 135:6).

Consider the angelic hosts. Surely we shall find uniformity here. But no; there, as elsewhere, the same Sovereign pleasure of the Creator is displayed. Some are higher in rank than others; some are more powerful than others; some are nearer to God than others. Scripture reveals a definite and well-defined gradation in the angelic orders. From arch-angel, past seraphim and cherubim, we come to "principalities and powers" (Eph. 3:10), and from principalities and powers to "rulers" (Eph. 6:12), and then to the angels themselves, and even among them we read of "the elect angels" (1 Tim. 5:21). Again we ask, Why this inequality, this difference in rank and order? And all we can say is "Our God is in the heavens, He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased" (Psa. 115:3).

If then we see the Sovereignty of God displayed throughout all creation, why should it be thought a strange thing if we behold it operating in the midst of the human family? Why should it be thought strange if to one God is pleased to give five talents and to another only one? Why should it be thought strange if one is born with a robust constitution and another of the same parents is frail and sickly? Why should it be thought strange if Abel is cut off in his prime, while Cain is suffered to live on for many years? Why should it be thought strange that some should be born black and others white; some be born idiots and others with high intellectual endowments; some be born constitutionally lethargic and others full of energy; some be born with a temperament that is selfish, fiery, egotistical, others who are naturally self-sacrificing, submissive and meek? Why should it be thought strange if some are qualified by nature to lead and rule, while others are only fitted to follow and serve? Heredity and environment cannot account for all these variations and inequalities. No; it is God who maketh one to differ from another. Why should He? "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight" must be our reply.

Learn then this basic truth, that the Creator is absolute Sovereign, executing His own will, performing His own pleasure, and considering nought but His own glory. "The LORD hath made all things FOR HIMSELF" (Prov. 16:4). And had He not a perfect right to? Since God is God, who dare challenge His prerogative? To murmur against Him is rank rebellion. To question His ways is to impugn His wisdom. To criticize Him is sin of the deepest dye. Have we forgotten who He is? Behold, "All nations before Him as are nothing; and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God?" (Isa. 40:17, 18).

Creation: Believe It or Not

By John MacArthur

Now when you talk about origins you’re going to have to go back to Genesis. This is a book of origins. And let me put it again on the line where I put it last Lord’s day. Either you believe Genesis or you don’t. It’s that simple. Either you believe what Genesis says about all of those origins or you don’t. And that would include either you believe the creation account in Genesis 1 and 2 or you don’t. And if you don’t believe the Genesis account, then I just…I have to tell you, you have no hope of coming to the truth. You’re not going to discover it. Unconverted scientists aren’t going to discover it. You either believe Genesis or you don’t.

And what is really intolerable is to say you believe the Bible but not just the Genesis creation account. You believe Genesis, you believe about the origin of sin, you believe chapter 3 on maybe. Or maybe you’re not sure about that because you don’t really believe there was an actual Adam and an actual Eve. You’ve got a small problem because Jesus said, “As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive,” and there was a real Christ, so you can be sure there was a real Adam. But just in case you don’t believe in a real Adam, maybe you don’t sign on until chapter 6, maybe you just believe the Flood. Well, maybe you don’t believe that, maybe you believe when the Tower of Babel is described later on in chapter 11, or maybe you don’t believe that. Maybe you don’t check in until Abraham shows up in chapter 12. Pretty ridiculous, isn’t it? Who are you to be sitting in judgment on Scripture?

You know, I’m never going to get caught in the trap of trying to prove to you that Genesis is true by science. I’m just going to proclaim to you what Genesis says and let science bow its knee to that explanation. As you will see, it will do that. All you can know about how God created is what He said. That’s all you can know. And if you don’t believe what He said about creation, what kind of precedent have you established for the rest of the Bible?

And what about the end? Do you know how all of redemptive history ends? You know how the whole story of humanity ends? It ends according to 2 Peter when the Lord uncreates the universe, I like to use that word. The elements melt with fervent heat. There’s some kind of a…literally an implosion as the nuclear structure, the atomic structure of the universe literally is totally turned against its existence and takes it right back out of existence when He uncreates, when the elements melt as with a fervent heat in that kind of nuclear holocaust that ends human history.

And immediately after that it says in Revelation that He creates a…what? A new heaven and a new earth. Let me ask you this, do you believe He can do that? Or is that going to be another umpteen billion years of evolutionary process to get the new heaven and the new earth cranked up? Is it going to take billions of years to evolve the new heaven and the new earth, or do you really believe God might be able to do that just by fiat, just by making the statement and calling it into existence? If you believe that, then what’s your problem in Genesis?

If God can wipe the entire universe out in a split second, if He can dissolve the whole thing, if He can send it reeling in the time of the Tribulation and refurbish it during the time of the Kingdom and then totally uncreate it at the end of the thousand years, if He can do all of that then I don’t know why you have a problem with Him creating it all in six days. You see, the implications of rejecting the account of Genesis are profound.

And listen to me because what I’m going to say is very important. It is not necessary to reject the six-day creation. It is not necessary. We have yielded up territory to evolution without cause. Science knows nothing. Science proves nothing that contradicts a six-day creation…nothing. In fact, science as it keeps advancing makes its own claims to evolution ridiculous, more ridiculous all the time. (Online source)


 (HT: AM)

God of Wonders

By Justin Edwards

I have updated the God of Wonders page of airō and I invite you to check it out and share it with your friends and family.

The updates include a short clip by Paul Washer's A Call to Wonder, the God of Wonders video by Eternal Productions, and Louie Giglio's How Great Is Our God and Indescribable.

You can view the following trailer from God of Wonders to give you an idea of what to expect in these videos that reveal the almighty wonder of the Creator and the love He has for sinners.  And don't forget to visit God of Wonders to watch these amazing videos and use them as a resource to witness to your loved ones.

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God!

By Justin Edwards

3 minutes of awe and wonder of the magnificent handiwork of God.

Psalm 19:1-6

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
         And the firmament shows His handiwork.
 ² Day unto day utters speech,
         And night unto night reveals knowledge.
 ³ There is no speech nor language
         Where their voice is not heard.
 ⁴ Their line^[a] has gone out through all the earth,
         And their words to the end of the world. 

         

         In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,
 ⁵ Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
         And rejoices like a strong man to run its race.
 ⁶ Its rising is from one end of heaven,
         And its circuit to the other end;
         And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

    

What Holds the Universe Together?

By Chuck Missler

Hunting Down the God Particle

"They call it the God particle: a mysterious sub-atomic fragment that permeates the entire universe and explains how everything is the way it is. Nobody has ever seen the God particle; some say it doesn't exist but, in the ultimate leap of faith, physicists across the world are preparing to build one of the most ambitious and expensive science experiments the world has ever seen to try to find it." - David Adam, The Guardian, August 21, 2004


The Large Hadron Collider was started up again last weekend and is expected to reach full speed before the end of the month. This massive atom smasher hidden underground in the Alps along the border of France and Switzerland has a price tag of $10 billion and has the job of shooting atoms through its 16.8-mile circular tunnel at insanely high speeds. Thus far, the LHC has accelerated proton beams to an astounding energy level of 2.36 teraelectronvolts (TeV). The highest any previous atom smasher had reached was .98 TeV. In December the CERN scientists shut down the LHC in order to ready it for even more ambitious experiments.

The massive machine was brought back to life in the wee hours of Sunday morning, and CERN scientists now want the LHC to reach 7.0 TeV in order to create what they consider to be Big Bang conditions. For the next 18 months to two years the LHC should pound atoms against each other and analyze the results through powerful computers in order to catch a glimpse at the very stuff that makes up the universe.Physicists hope the collider will enable them to directly observe the Higgs boson, the theoretical glue that holds the entire universe together. The Higgs boson, often called the God particle, is perhaps the most elusive element in particle physics.


Back in 2008, world renowned physicist Steven Hawking told British TV, "I think it will be much more exciting if we don't find the Higgs. That will show something is wrong, and we need to think again. I have a bet of $100 that we won't find the Higgs." Otherphysicists , though - a significant number - are hopeful about the possibilities and are willing for Hawking to eventually lose his bet. The project involves more than 8,000 scientists from at least 85 countries.


Dark Matter

The Standard Model in particle physics, which is often compared to the Periodic Table of Elements used by chemists, consists of 16 particles that make up all matter in the universe. The problem is that the Standard Model is not complete. In the late 1960's a physicist by the name of Peter Higgs proposed the existence of a particle that would somehow interact with every other subatomic particle to give them all mass. Since then, scientists have been scrambling to find this particle.


The existence of dark matter was proposed in 1932 by astronomer Jan Oort, who measured the motions of nearby stars in our Milky Way relative to the galactic plane. He found that the mass of the plane must be more than the mass of the material that can be seen. A year later, Fritz Zwicky examined the dynamics of clusters of galaxies and found their movements similarly perplexing. Over the years, many spiral galaxies were observed and found to be swirling too fast to be held together by the gravitational pull of the visible stars. Since the speedy-moving stars have not been flung out through space, some scientists describe dark matter as "the glue that holds the universe together."


Astronomers cannot detect or measure dark matter directly because it emits no light or radiation - hence the name. Its existence is inferred from the gravitational effect it has on visible matter (such as stars and galaxies). There have been a number of conjectures regarding the nature of dark matter, but all of them have eluded any empirical validation.


Physicists hope CERN's Large Hadron Collider will shed even more light on dark matter, dark energy, the existence of extra dimensions, and the fundamental nature of matter, energy, space and time.


Without Excuse

Science, like religion, often requires us to take a leap of faith. Any honest scientist should admit that despite centuries of scientific discovery and technological advances, most of our universe remains a mystery. There are large numbers of areas that, despite careful investigation, we do not fully understand, from the "magic" of photosynthesis to the mysterious particles that make up the fabric of space-time.


Science continues to develop and change as scientists discover new evidence, and it is one of the great joys of being human to explore and discover the marvelous brilliance and detail God used in putting this world together. But even as scientists analyze the data from the LHC and hope to catch a glimpse of the Higgs boson, we're certain that the name "God particle" is more accurate than some physicists would choose to admit. Whether or not dark matter is busy keeping distant stars from shooting further into space, we know that Jesus Christ holds each of us, and we trust him to hold the atoms in our bodies together with as much care as he takes in sustaining the entire universe. Even if Science changes, we know He does not.

"Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." - Hebrews 11:3

"For by him [Jesus] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." - Col 1:16-17

The Word was God, the Word is God

By Justin Edwards

The Gospel of John is the greatest love story ever told. It is where we find not only agape love, but where God also reveals His nature, His timelessness, His divinity, and His authorship of creation - all of which are through and by His Son, Jesus Christ. The very essence of the God-head is found in John 1:1-18, and this is the topic of this post. It is incredible what can be learned in the first 3 verses alone, so let's take a look at what God has to tell us.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.


It is clear in this verse alone that Jesus is the Word, and the Word is God. The following verses help understand this more clearly:

Revelation 19:13 – He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is the Word of God

John 17:5 – And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Philippians 2:6 – Who, being in very nature (or in the form of) God,

John 1:2 He was with God in the beginning

Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

John 1:3 Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.


This verse is one that can lead you on all kinds of rabbit trails. Here’s a few to consider:

1 Corinthians 8:6 – yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

The above speaks volumes. There is one God, the Father, who made all things. Our lives are lived for Him. There is also one Lord, Jesus Christ, who all things were made through and it is He who we live through.


Now let’s look at a few more verses that show who the Lord is:

Matthew 7:21 – Not everyone who says to me (Jesus), ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,

Psalm 110:1 – The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’

1 Corinthians 15:25 – For He (Jesus) must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.

Hebrews 1:3 – The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Romans 10:9-10 – That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Deuteronomy 6:5 – Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Revelation 1:8 – ‘I (Jesus) am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’

Revelation 21:6 – He said to me: ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I (Jesus) will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.’

There are countless verses that show that Jesus is God, He is the Lord God, and the above clearly illustrate this fact. But Jesus and the Father are also distinct from each other. This post does not have the space to completely illustrate that Jesus and the Father are one, yet separate, but the following do compliment the previously given passages illustrating this point (the first of which is one of my favorite passages of Scripture):

Colossians 1:15-20 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Hebrews 1:2 – but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.

John 1:18 – No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only (or Only Begotten), who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.

Hebrews 1:5 – For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father”?

Psalm 2:7 – I will proclaim the decree of the Lord, “He said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.’”

So in summary, Jesus is the Word, and the Word was God. All things we were made by Him, for Him, and through Him. There is one God, there is one Lord, the Lord our God is one, and Jesus is Lord. Jesus was with God in the beginning, and God declared His enemies His footstool. The Lord God is the Alpha and the Omega, Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, and Jesus is the Lord God. Jesus is the exact representation of God, all of God’s fullness dwells in Him, He is the head of the church, He is the Beginning, and He is the firstborn among the dead. He is the heir of all things, and the universe was made through Him and by Him.


I cannot wrap my brain around this, but God’s Word is true nevertheless. That fact we humans cannot understand something does not make it not true. We will never figure God out this side of heaven.

Job 36:26 – “How great is God – beyond our understanding.” But a day is coming when we will know as we are known.

1 Corinthians 13:12, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

I cannot wait for that day.


Maranatha!