PHOTOPHILIC

MINISTERIAL ESSAY

Freedom, I think, is the most sought after condition known to humanity.  The definition of freedom will change according to a person’s circumstance, and may range between “freedom from discomfort” to “freedom from tyranny”.  Wouldn’t it be nice to just be free to enjoy your life?  It is interesting to note that people, who seek expanded freedoms, usually wind up limiting someone else’s freedoms!

There is a freedom that hurts no one else and that cannot be affected by changing circumstances.  Jesus’ words are recorded in John 8:32, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”  He was referring to the tyranny of sin.  I understand that people disagree over what constitutes sin.  May I suggest that anything that would cause God to judge us should be considered a sin?  What truth could possibly free us from sin and condemnation from God, since all of us fail His standards?

Our own sins hurt us, our loved ones, and the consequences of others’ sins affect us as well.  Self-indulgences often become self-destruction.  Clearly, we are not free from sin if we are excusing sin by saying, “everyone is doing it.”  Romans 13:8 –10 explains that we should, “Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loves another has fulfilled the law.  For this, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, etc., and if there is any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  Love works no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”  Even when our responsibility is simplified to this basic level, we cannot keep it!  What truth can set us free from this?

The truth is also very simple.  It is simply true that God loves you.  He sent His Son, Jesus, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, to condemn sin in His flesh.  You need to own up to your sins, confessing them to God, and trust Him to erase and forgive your sins.  That is the moment you become truly free.  What Jesus did by dying on the Cross, was to make believers acceptable to God, free from the dominion of sin, and without guilt or condemnation.  To be forgiven is to be free!



MINISTERIAL ESSAY
Michael L. Gill



The Bible assumes the existence of God.  It does not seek to prove His reality.  The sciences are two dimensional in their investigations, recognizing physical and psychological reality.  Those limitations on hard research force scientists into speculative faith or unbelief in spiritual matters if they ignore the many ways God Himself reveals Himself!  

How has God revealed Himself?  Psalm 19 (excerpts) says that, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork.  Days utter speech and nights show knowledge throughout the world.”  “Handiwork” shows God “knitting” everything together.  It is interesting that the great physicist, Stephen Hawking, finds that our solar system and planet are precisely designed for support of life here.  There are thousands of “lucky coincidences” that had to occur simultaneously, or be useless to support life.  Michael Behe, molecular biologist, writes about the great complexity of a single cell in his book, “Darwin’s Black Box”.  Several “molecular engines” must be immediately present for a cell to live.  They could not have evolved and survived separately.  Science cannot prove or disprove the existence of God.  People must interpret what they find.  There is quite enough circumstantial evidence to “convict” God of the act of creation and subsequent support of creation.  At least consider looking into this line of reasoning.  On the Internet, visit http://www.arn.org/ (access research network).

I believe God has also revealed Himself in the Holy Bible.  A quick scan of the history of the Bible itself shows that it is truly unique.  The Dead Sea Scrolls emerged showing that no changes have occurred in the Old Testament over its thousands of years in existence.  Recent discoveries of the Gospel of John dated at 135 a.d. indicate that the New Testament is equally preserved.  Please read Josh McDowell’s book, “Evidence That Demands a Verdict” for a nearly exhaustive treatment of this claim to uniqueness.  The Bible has proven itself reliable archeologically, historically, psychologically, and especially prophetically, far above any other literature of antiquity.  

Everyone has opinions.  Not everyone has INFORMED opinions!  Perhaps the degrees obtained by many university professors only indicate that they have sufficiently agreed with their professors to get a passing grade?  If God exists, and the Bible reveals Him, it becomes you seek Him.  If you consider the available information and decide that God is not, the faith of others should not matter to you.  The choice is yours.



GOD IS GOOD

Have you ever been falsely accused?  As a teenager I enjoyed jogging at night along a rural road near my home.  As I jogged past a small metal fabrication shop one Halloween I noticed two police cars were there.  Someone shouted, “There he is!”  I was promptly held on suspicion of breaking and entering!  I was frightened and angered by the quick condemnation from total strangers!  My protests were useless.

James 1:12-18 suggests that people falsely accuse God when they are tempted to do evil.  God is suspected of being behind every trial, working to disappoint our hopes.  Even people who are Christians try to keep God at a “safe” distance because they experience increased conflict when they move closer to Him.  These kinds of ideas are false accusations against God.  Please do not ignore the facts!

IF GOD IS EVIL, then He is it’s source in His creation. We could explain all that is bad in human experience by saying it is because God is evil. We could not explain all that is truly good. Both good and evil must have a source since they were not available until God declared them. God would necessarily be PURE EVIL in order to invent so many diverse people and circumstances for the purpose of causing grief! If an evil God could create both good and evil, then His good would be created in order to cause greater harm, bitterly intensifying life’s pains when compared to moments of happiness. Therefore, good would become an agent of evil, and hence, not good at all! So an evil God could not be the source of true goodness.  The purpose of His mock goodness would be to torture us the more!  

Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.  The proof of His goodness is found in the gift of His Son, Jesus.  Romans 8:32, “He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all...” Romans 5:8, “God proves His love for us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  Evil is in the world because of people.  People need a Redeemer.  Jesus is that Redeemer.  We should agree with St. Peter’s statement in John 6:68, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”




GOD LOVES YOU
INTRODUCTION:

It seems to me that we know a little about God and then we assume a lot.  Our widely spaced bits of knowledge are connected by what seems to us to be reasonable lines of conjecture which we have drawn to help ourselves grasp what cannot be contained in our small minds.

We know that God created all things.  We make complex assumptions about how things came to be when we have yet to understand much about what those things are made of.  Consider the immensly complex movements of the galaxies speeding through space while the uncounted stars within those uncounted galaxies race about their own tracks while themselves are rotating.  Around those stars may be circling rotating debris or planets which are made of molecules that vibrate at various frequencies.  Their atoms consist of electrons that swing around their protons and neutrons which are themselves alive with smaller parts more strangely named quarks and zarks which we now discover hold deeper secrets yet!

Add to that astounding study that illusive animator we call "life". Into this the science of micro-biology peers, puzzled to find that the simplest cell is more dynamic and complex than New York City.  Such a cell has many different "factories" producing "packages" that are needed elsewhere in the cell.  These are transported along "highway systems" without pumps to drive or walls to contain the flow!  Such a cell has various controllers that manage operations with seeming intelligence.  Then look closely at the DNA in which we are learning what parts create what results.  But, HOW?  Indeed, what makes it live?  What is missing that causes it to die?  We have not found that thing we call "life".

How large is the "mind" that could conceive such things?   How terrible must be the power that could make such things from nothing and then control and sustain them?  What superlatives might we attempt to use that would do justice to these accomplishments?  Then, what words would be left to describe the ONE who accomplished these things?

God is awesome!  These attest to His power, wisdom, intelligence, creativeness, diversity, unity, and faithfulness.  We know a few things about God.  Then we connect those dots of knowledge with lines of our assumptions.  Would you rather KNOW, than assume?

It is not only unreasonable to deny that God is, it is also undeniable that God is reasonable."

God thinks.  God knows.  God reasons.  God wills.  God works.  GOD RULES!  Who is He?  What comparison or contrast might help us define God?  What could God want that He does not already have?  YOU! 

I reserve for later presentation, the facts concerning how our beliefs about the historical Jesus are true to the historical Jesus.  I simply state to you now that Jesus is who He claims to be, the Son Of God, equal with God, and that He Is God!  He joined humanity as a man.  From His own words, I want to tell you WHY He came.

John 3:17
John 10:10
John 12:47
John 18:37
Luke 19:10
Matthew 20:28

Now, I am inviting you to respond to Him.  What does God want that He does not already have?  He wants your first love.  He wants you to live forever in His love, in His house.  He wants you.

How can you become His?  Only your sins can keep you apart so confess and forsake them now.  Only your surrender can bring you together, so yield to Him now, making Him your only Master in every decision and direction.
 




Michael L. Gill,
The Book of Hebrews is best understood as a whole rather than by its parts.  Parts, amputated from the overall purpose of the book, create misunderstanding.  That theme is, “Don’t turn back from the best.”

Chapter 1 shows Jesus as better than God’s other messengers, because Jesus IS the message.  Jesus, the Son, is better than the angels who worship Him as Creator!
Chapter 2 shows Jesus as better because though He was so high, He humbled Himself to suffer death, delivering from bondage all who feared death, making reconciliation, becoming a merciful high priest and healing rescuer.
Chapter 3 shows Jesus as better than Moses, as the Son is better than a servant.
Chapter 4 shows Jesus as better than Joshua, providing a better rest, feeling our weaknesses.
Chapter 5 shows Jesus as better than Aaron who had to offer sacrifices for his own sins.  Jesus has a better compassion because, having no sin of His own, He sacrificed Himself for us.
Chapter 6 shows the better promise given to us than to Abraham, a better hope, anchor, and entrance into the holiest communion with God.
Chapter 7 shows the better priesthood of Jesus, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, able to save to the uttermost.
Chapter 8 shows the better covenant, written in people’s hearts rather than on stone, a covenant of mercy!
Chapter 9 shows Jesus’ better sacrifice, His own blood rather than that of animals.  He put away sin by sacrificing Himself.
Chapter 10 shows the better sanctification than offered in the Old Testament.  With perfect remission of sins we now have perfect access to intimacy with God Himself.  However, we are constantly warned throughout these same chapters to NOT DRAW BACK, BUT DRAW NEAR!

Chapter 11 sets up chapter 12’s concept that Jesus is better than our best heroes of the faith.  Some of those heroes refused deliverance from tortures and death in order to bring greater glory to God upon their resurrection!

What could inspire them so?  Hebrews 12:1-3 gives the answer.  What was that joy Jesus focused upon that enabled Him to not only endure the tortures of body and soul He suffered on the cross, but also enabled Him to despise the shame?  Read John 3:16 here!  He loves you and wants to have you with Himself forever.  He was willing to pay an unspeakable price for the joy of communion with you. 

Why can’t you cling to Him in trust when you must endure some grief, pain, injustice, or poverty?  Do not turn away from Him who loves you so, because you do not like His corrections!  Yield to Him.  Surrender to Him.  Live for Him who died for you!  




Michael L. Gill

MINISTERIAL ESSAY

Have you achieved, or are you pursuing, your dreams?  Think about what would fulfill your abilities and satisfy the value of your life.  Have you ever considered that “life” isn’t about you and yours at all?  People use and step on or over other people while reaching for their personal ambitions.  People who want to help people often also hurt people!  People who get pushed aside may become bitter or apathetic, so affected by their hurts that they measure others and opportunities by those experiences.  There are life changing events that seem completely random.  I recently read of a man whose sister was killed when a manhole cover blew through her car because a steam main exploded in a service tunnel.  Also, I have never met anyone who dreamed and hoped for an extended illness or dementia.  Perhaps we need another idea about life’s purpose and value. 

Read Psalm 73.  It describes the prosperity of those who ignore or disbelieve God.  Death does not bother them.  Among them there is pride, violence, corruption, luxury, oppression, boasting, and no fear of punishment from God.  So, what’s the value of living close to God?  Godly people often experience life’s hardest events without the distractions and detours allowed by unbelief!  The truth is different, however.

People who ignore God or mock His existence live with insecurity, always about to slide into destruction in a moment.  They never know when their own deeds will catch up with them, so they must run from their unforgiven past.  On the other hand, people who seek closeness with God discover the reality of His presence and support (verse 23), His guidance and acceptance (verse 24).  They become captured by a passion for a personal and intimate interaction with God as a person (verse 25).  They find strength and heart after theirs has failed (verse 26).  Then comes a believer’s most amazing and liberating discovery!  “God is my portion forever”. 

“Portion” often describes a property inheritance in scripture.  This word picture tells us that God Himself is and has all we need.  He is our home.  He is our land.  He is our net worth, our assets list.  He provides the farm that feeds us, tree that shades us, beauty that surrounds us.  He is our secure possession from which we can never be evicted and which can never be “repossessed”.  He is our fulfillment and satisfaction.










Michael L. Gill


Reconciliation

Why don’t Christians just leave everyone else alone and accept the validity of other religions?  All religions attempt to control people’s thinking and behavior through suppression or oppression.  Many Christians know what Jesus taught, but act like they never heard of Him.  My personal passion to tell people about Jesus comes from a particular portion of scripture, and from personal experience.

2nd Corinthians 5:1-21, condensed, tells us that when believers die they are immediately present with God, that all face the judgement seat of Christ, that Christ died to reconcile us to God, and that God made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.  Verses 14 and 15 captured my heart by stating, “The love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” 

Jesus Christ did not die and rise again to modify our behavior or to suppress our thinking or to bring an enlightened philosophy.  Jesus Christ died and rose again to reconcile us to God making us acceptable to Him, and to purchase for us a real eternal existence with God.  I am so grateful for the deeply satisfying peace, security, and forgiveness of God’s presence with me that I cannot ignore the need of others to experience the same.  People have made Christianity into a religion like any other, with behavioral expectations and procedures and formulae for increasing memberships.  The only focus that I can see is that Jesus came to seek and to save those who were lost from God’s compassion and love, and that He sent me to continue that mission. 

Because I have personally experienced Christ’s loving forgiveness and cleansing from my sins of pride, selfishness, broken promises, angry wrath, hypocrisy, and many more; I love Him.  Because I love Him, I want to honor Him and please Him with the only thing He really wants.  He wants reconciliation with His most precious creation, YOU.  If Jesus had to die to save you, then you were going to die if He didn’t.  Greater love has no man than to die for his friends.  Jesus loves you.  Come back to Him.

 
 


Prepare your heart.  Get your Bible.  Read every reference.

There are a number of scriptures that call us to “walk in the spirit” (Galatians 5:16 & 18), “worship in the spirit” (John 4:24), and indicating the difference between the human soul and spirit (Hebrews 4:12).  The indescribable singular God who reveals Himself as Father, Son, and Spirit is shadowed by our own mysterious tri-unity of body, soul, and spirit.  God formed man from the dust of the earth, breathed in the spirit of life, and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7).

Our physical body and senses interact with our physical world.  Personality’s intellect, emotion, and will reside in the soul.  What is left for the human spirit to do?  1st Corinthians 2:14 (read the whole chapter) tells us that human wisdom is wholly inadequate to understand the things of God.  His word is spiritually discerned.  Jesus, who was always spiritually alive, “perceived in His spirit” (Mark 2:8) and “sighed in His spirit” (Mark 8:12).  A careful study of scripture shows that our spirit was meant to be in constant connection with God, sensing continuously His approval or disapproval of all we experience or observe (conscience) as suggested in Galatians 5:16 - 25. Our spirit was meant to intuitively comprehend the things of God, and the will of God, that are beyond finding out (Ephesians 3:16-19). Our spirit was meant to worship God in true communion (John 4:23).  These concepts demand much more exploration than a 400-word essay allows!

We are born disconnected from God, dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1).  Disconnected from God, our conscience relies upon incomplete human philosophy, personal opinion and arbitrary society to determine right and wrong. Disconnected, our communion turns to inconsistent and imperfect human relationships (such as marriage) for fulfillment. Disconnected, our blind intuition becomes mere imagination, believing truth a lie, and lies the truth (Romans 1:18-32)! Disconnected from God, we are alone inside ourselves!

You don’t have to be alone. Jesus revealed the spiritual new birth in John 3:1-19.  It is purchased solely by Jesus paying for our sins with His life and begins when you submit yourself to Him and believe God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9-10).  You will have a brand new connection to God and begin to experience the promises of John 16:13 – 15 and guidance like that in Acts 16:6 – 10!

Jesus fulfills your deepest needs











Michael L. Gill

MINISTERIAL ESSAY

About 100 years ago, as a reaction to Higher Criticism, there arose in Protestantism a movement to defend historic Christianity known as Fundamentalism.  Its noble cause became a slave of textualism, which magnified the importance of single words and phrases in the Bible over context and cultural references.  Bible scholars and theologians became famous for their new interpretations and intellectual discourses.   Many rules of behavior and emotional supression were added to Christianity.  Fundamentalism was perceived to be stern, joyless, and rigidly compliant to its doctrines.  Following Jesus became an intellectual decision.

About 40 years ago an emotional revolt, often mistaken for a revival, began to move across America’s religious landscape.  Our legitimate liberty in Christ was, and still is, used as a license to immorality and carnal behavior.  Paraphrases of the Bible and popular Bible studies emphasized “What does the Bible mean to you?” over what the Bible actually says.  Following Jesus became an individualistic and opinionated experience.

We have been left with a fragmented Christianity in which people focus on their own manner of worship, their own music styles, and their own particular beliefs about almost anything you might name!  Older and younger generations have difficulty achieving a satisfying church experience together.  This new generation will seek unity at the expense of denominational distinctions.   However, the driving force for unity is cultural and not spiritual.  Standing on a conviction of truth can cause discomfort and disunity.  Following Jesus is in danger of becoming a valueless, homogenized and slogan-ized acceptance of all things “cool”. 

Philippians 3:7-14 gives us an example of what following Jesus should be.    “That I may know him (Jesus), and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, ...” is the cry of a human heart that has entered a holy paradox.  Having forsaken all things as worthless compared to Christ, he longs for yet more of Christ.  Jesus satisfies the thirsty heart, but that heart longs always for more of Him.   What will you forsake in your pursuit to know Jesus, his power, and his fellowship?  Forsake sin, certainly, and many good things also, while seeking to truly fellowship with Him.  Are you hungry to know Jesus?  Are you weary of unsatisfying religion and thirsty for Living Water?  Come to the Jesus of the Bible!









Ministerial Essay

Michael L. Gill,
“I have never seen Him.”

I recently asked a man if he believed Jesus Christ was real.  He answered that he had never seen Jesus Christ.  I understand that he did not mean that any person’s reality depended on being seen by him.  There are 6.5 billion people in the world today whom he has never met, yet they are real.  However, if Jesus Christ is real and is present with us right now, why can’t we see Him?

The answer is in understanding John 16:5-16.  Most Christians, and many teachers, tell us that Jesus is present with us because of His promise in Matthew 28:20 “...I am with you always...”  But, where is He?  I wish to collect for you a few phrases from Christ’s own words.  “When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you,...He will testify of me.”  “But now I go my way to Him that sent me... It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you...”  “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but ... He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine...” 

Jesus Christ has a physical body that was raised from the dead and later ascended to heaven to prepare a place for us.  He sent the Comforter (aka Spirit of Truth, aka Holy Spirit, aka Spirit of Christ, and by other names) to dwell within believers to guide and teach and comfort and to reveal Christ to us.  I know that what I am about to say goes against the scientific method, but it is important to understand.  With a Christian it is not seeing that causes belief, but belief that brings sight.  There is plenty of evidence upon which to base our faith, but seeing Jesus is not among them.  Jesus told Thomas, who doubted the resurrection, “Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed.  Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”  It is the Holy Spirit who is actually with us, revealing Christ to us, communicating with us and guiding us. 

The Bible tells us that every eye shall behold Him.  Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.  WE do not see Him now, but we certainly will.