Devotional

Torn

Vince Lotito — Mon, 28 May 2007 16:45:55 GMT

I am just so torn this morning… Yesterday, was Pentecost and I really felt such an awesome move of God’s Spirit as He ministered to me through the service. And I know that God’s Spirit touched others in the same way; however, I also sense that most missed the anointing… One of the sermon points the Holy Spirit spoke was directed at the mindset of consumerism that many of us possess today. Consumerism is so prevalent in our society that it has become a part the church culture… where many of us come to a Sunday morning service as if we are running some errand, where we look at the “utility” of the service, as expressed in terms of approval (or disapproval). Approval of the worship service, approval of the preaching, approval of the amount of time spent --- and invariably we loose sight of the Lord.

I was just so full of His Spirit that I wanted to remain in His presence… as my friend Charlie said; “I wanted to fall over and worship him.” I was not in the same place as the rest of folks, in their own way, they came over as the service ended, and wanted to congratulate us as for the “great job we did” (they approve), or wanted to talk about other nonsense and other business (onto the next errand)… I was useless, I couldn’t shift gears.. it was fellowship time, a time for the luncheon, a time for coffee, a time for cake… a time for chatting. But I had my meat, doing the Fathers work, I had my fellowship, in the presence of the Savior and I had my worship in the power of the Holy Spirit. The one direction that I was being led in, was to talk to this young couple who had been visiting the church, I sensed that I had to speak to them, and that they were longing… and I wanted to speak with them; however, the business of the moment was so disruptive, that it never manifested itself. It actually took me several hours to wind down yesterday.

And since my prayers have been prayers of mourning – I am thinking, yeah the Lord wants us to be in unity and of one accord… and sensed that people are, and they were, but not about the Father’s business. I am grieving because we are just busy with things, and I see that we are not about the Father’s business… if we’d just spend half as much time and energy on the Father’s business. I pray that we would be about the Father’s business. What is it going to take for us to press in? What is it going to take for us to forsake all else and to pray it through and seek Him and not stop until he blesses us? And then we wonder why we don’t see a mighty move of God’s Spirit… Lord Help Us!

What is Free Will?

Vince Lotito — Fri, 11 May 2007 16:41:32 GMT

My friend Joan got me into a discussion regarding free will (as the answer to the problem of evil). In that discussion, I raised the question what is free will? What is free will in light of God’s foreknowledge and the fact that God has foreordained things…

Not to long ago I was watching a rerun of Law & Order on TNT, and the Executive D.A. Jack McCoy was negotiating a deal with a suspect in the typical Law & Order fashion, when he said don’t tell me that you believe that you can see the future… then that means you believe in predestination? Interesting thought… how could one know the future if it were not already determined before hand.

So does God’s foreknowledge eliminate human free will? Do the immutability of God and the omniscience of God put an end to human freedom? If our actions were not known in advance by God, then when He found them out, God would have a change in His knowledge… but that’s not possible because, God is omniscient and immutable.

If our actions are known by God in advance, then they will come to pass exactly as God knows them. So, if God knows that tomorrow I will do something then tomorrow I will do what God already knows, exactly as God knows it. So with God, my future behavior is absolutely certain. So does that mean that my future is absolutely determined or even coerced by God?

In our discussion, Joan said, that we are not puppets… the idea of God as a puppeteer. God pulling the strings as the feet and the arms of the puppets jerk and dance. No we are not puppets. Puppets have no will. They have no soul, no heart. Their bodies are filled with sawdust.

Conversely, God is not a spectator… that is, God is not sitting on the sidelines observing the action (so to speak). Where, he makes careful notes about the action, and as the ultimate spectator, He second guesses what’s happening next. The idea of a God as spectator renders God powerless to affect the outcome of the future -- that He is the God who reigns but never rules… He would be a God without authority, He wouldn’t be sovereign.

God foreordains all things and that all future events are under His sovereignty. The future is absolutely certain to God. He knows what will take place, and He foreordains what will take place. Does this mean that God coerces? No. It simply means that God wills that something take place. God may even will future events through the free choices of men. God can will the means as well as the ends of future events. God can even will good through the wicked choices of men.

For instance the crucifixion, the greatest event in history and at the same time it is the most diabolical. Think about it, Christ was hated by the Pharisees, they pressed for his death… Judas betrayed him. Pilate succumbed to mob. Did God coerce Judas? No, Judas betrayed Jesus because Judas wanted to betray him. Did God coerce the Pharisees or Pilate or the mob? No. But the cross was not an accident; the Bible says that is wasn’t. So then what? The outcome of God’s eternal place for redemption rested with Pilate, who could have released Christ and had Barabbas executed instead—relegating God to a spectator who merely hoped for the best and had no control over the events that surrounded the cross.

God did more than hope for the cross. God willed the cross. God sent His Son for that very purpose. Before Jesus was brought to Pilate, He pleaded with the Father for a different verdict. He begged that the cup might pass. And long before Pilate could do anything it was so, therefore, Jesus was delivered by the determinate forecounsel of God.

So then, what is free will? If God wills everything that is to come to pass, and God makes it come to pass, how can He do so without violating our free will?

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The Problem of Atheism…

Vince Lotito — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 13:18:00 GMT

In the past couple of months I’ve met a self professed atheist, who in his world view struggles with the concept of a Christian God. He claims that the existence of evil contradicts the notion of the Christian God. He argues that (1) if the Christian God is all-powerful and all-loving, and (2) if he is all-powerful, then he is able to end all evil, and (3) if he is all-loving then he wants to end all evil, but (4) evil still exists, then (5) the Christian God does not exist.

Many refer to this as the problem with evil. When I look at this I refer to this as “the problem of atheism.” You see the argument is flawed. As Christians we affirm that God is all-powerful and has the ability the overcome evil. We also affirm that God is all-loving. However, by what reason can we expect that since God is all-loving that He would want to destroy or end all evil? What is the definition of love? Is it one that says love wants to end all evil? Or by what definition of love do we know that an all-loving God would have already destroyed evil? You see the premise is a non-Biblical definition of love. Nowhere in Scripture do we see a definition of love that love that requires God to destroy evil, or to have already destroyed evil. Scripture teaches that God is loving, it also teaches that there is evil in this world, and that this evil is ultimately under God’s complete and sovereign control. Therefore, Scripture itself denies that there is any contradiction between the love of God and the existence of evil.

For the argument to stand, one must establish the premise that “The love of God contradicts the existence of evil,” or something to that effect. But Scripture itself does not affirm this premise, and when an atheist tries to argue for this premise with definitions of love (and evil for that matter) found in his own non-biblical worldview, then all he’s done is shown that the biblical worldview is different from the non-biblical worldview. Obviously, we already know this…

So then what has become of the problem of evil?

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Professing Thieves

Vince Lotito — Mon, 05 Jul 2004 18:30:00 GMT

Yesterday my loving wife handed me the offering envelope with only half of our tithe in it. With a puzzled looked I questioned what’s up? She said “don’t ask me now we’ll talk about it later”. I looked at her sternly and said no, we’ll talk about it now. She insisted on talking about it later, and after a few iterations of “now” and “later” she acquiesced and proceeded to assure me that we are still tithing, however, she has earmarked the other half for the Jamaica missions’ trip.

I had a couple of mixed emotions, and obviously, what my wife was proposing on the surface seemed innocent and good intentioned, after all and in her words “it’s for God and His work”. So I smiled and asked her are you a professional thief? Are you admitting that you’re stealing in the open? Now she gave me the puzzled looked and I smiled and said, “...our tithe is our tithe, write another check for the other half, and don’t worry about the mission trip.. if we need to pay for it then we will..” Sherri smiled wrote a check for the remainder of the tithe and handed it to me.

How many of us professing Christians are admitted thieves? I asked my wife that question and am not sure that she really understood what it was that I was asking, and we have not had the opportunity to revisit this conversation but in time we will. Obviously I was referring to the Malachi chapter 3, when I asked my wife the rhetorical question…

⁸ "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. ⁹ You are under a curse-the whole nation of you-because you are robbing me. ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. ¹¹ I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. ¹²

How many of us are falling short on our tithes and offerings? In effect robbing God? I suspect that many of us, as evidenced by the amount we receive in offering at Son Rise. Do the math. God calls for the whole tithe not half, not two thirds, not three quarters but the whole tithe. Week after week we raise our hands to worship God and sing and give Him praises, we proclaim the good news, we cling to the grace and mercy of God and claim to surrender it all. And as soon as we are called to reach into our pockets or make time in our schedules our tune changes. Do we surrender all? As Christians we don’t speak lies, but rather we sing them. It amazing that we don’t think twice about our life styles, eating out, taking in movies, living the American lifestyle, but have a crisis of faith when it comes to tithing on our gross incomes. Lord help us!

Changes..

Vince Lotito — Wed, 04 Feb 2004 16:53:00 GMT

I can't believe that it's been a week since I last blogged. So much has happened, and I wanted to post many things here, but time just didn't afford it. I much admit, that bloggin can be intimidating because I struggle with the “what” of these posts, after all, who wants to read about Vince washing his dog! So with that I thought that I would share some devotional thoughts that the Lord has put on my heart..

We live in a world that is temporal, that is our existence on this earth lasts only for a time. Yes we are only passing through. We can never step into the same river twice, because it is constantly changing as are we... I think that you would agree that I am not the same person I was 10 years ago. I've been regenerated, I am older, I am fatter, I am not the same person I was 10 years ago. In fact I am not the same person I was a year ago, I am not the same person I was a month ago, I am not the same person I was a week ago, I am not the same person I was a yesterday, I am not even the same person that I was when I started writing this note. The truth is that everything of this world and of the universe is changing.

However, God does not change. This is one of the most reassuring aspects of the truth, that the Lord God Almighty is immutable! God says I AM, and is, from everlasting to everlasting. One of my favorite Bible verses is Malachi 3:6 which reads

For I am the LORD, I do not change;
Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob

What an assurance this is, that God does not change. I am awed that God does not change in his essence, God does not change in his attributes, God does not change in his plans, God does not change in his promises, God does not change in his wrath, God does not change in whom he has choosen... God does not change. Time will fail us, our bodies will fail us, our friends and loved ones will fail us, our ministers will fail us, but God will not! God is perfect. One of the most awesome scenes in the old testament is pictured on Mt. Sinai...

Exodus 3
¹³Then Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the People of Israel and I tell them, "The God of your fathers sent me to you'; and they ask me, "What is his name?' What do I tell them?"
¹⁴God said to Moses, "I-AM-WHO-I-AM. Tell the People of Israel, "I-AM sent me to you.'"

The Lord said I AM!... what a blessed assurance and carried over into the New Testament

John 8
⁴⁸ Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?"
⁴⁹Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.⁵⁰And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.⁵¹Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death."
⁵²Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, "If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.'⁵³Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?"
⁵⁴Jesus answered, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your^[13] God.⁵⁵Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, "I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word.⁵⁶Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."
⁵⁷Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"
⁵⁸Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."

Jesus Christ is the great I AM. He is the same... There is but only one place where change cannot take hold, there is only one name on which mutability can never be written, there is but one heart which never can be altered, that heart is God's--that name is Love

May the Lord Bless you with these words...