PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Acts 26:25–32
“I am not insane, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied. “What I am saying is true and reasonable. The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.”
Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?”
Paul replied, “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”
The king rose, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them. After they left the room, they began saying to one another, “This man is not doing anything that deserves death or imprisonment.”
Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”
CONSIDER THIS
I marvel at Paul’s faith. His faith went far beyond mere belief. It went beyond conviction. Paul’s faith rose to the level of a knowing that went beyond certainty. Think of it this way. We don’t believe the sky is blue. We know it is blue. Paul didn’t believe the power of the gospel. He knew it. And because he knew it as an irrefutable verity, he felt an urgency to share it with everyone he possibly could. He understood the immediate and eternal consequences of life without Jesus. As a result, he wanted everyone in the room, from King Agrippa to the lowest servant in the chamber, to hear and believe the gospel.
Here’s the hard question I ask myself: Do I believe that people who do not know and follow Jesus Christ are eternally doomed? I mean, do I really believe it? Yes, I believe that. But if you looked at my actions, would you see evidence that I believed it? Would you see an unswerving passion and boldness to share this message with every person I possibly could? I fear not.
It reminds me of a story I first heard from my friend Bill Kierce almost thirty years ago. It’s the story of Charlie Peace, one of the most notorious criminals in England in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Leonard Ravenhill in his book Why Revival Tarries recounts the last moments of Charlie Peace’s life:
He was taken on the death-walk. Before him went the prison chaplain, routinely and sleepily reading some Bible verses. The criminal touched the preacher and asked what he was reading. “The Consolations of Religion,” was the reply.
Charlie Peace was shocked at the way he professionally read about hell. Could a man be so unmoved under the very shadow of the scaffold as to lead a fellow human there and yet, dry-eyed, read of a pit that has no bottom into which this fellow must fall? Could this preacher believe the words that there is an eternal fire that never consumes its victims, and yet slide over the phrase without a tremor? Is a man human at all who can say with no tears, “You will be eternally dying and yet never know the relief that death brings”?
All this was too much for Charlie Peace. “Sir,” he addressed the preacher, “if I believed what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need be, on hands and knees and think it worthwhile living, just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that!”
Do we really believe it? Let’s invite the Holy Spirit to search us on that question. The time may be short.
THE PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION
Lord Jesus, I am your witness. I long to be like you.
I receive your righteousness and release my sinfulness.
I receive your wholeness and release my brokenness.
I receive your fullness and release my emptiness.
I receive your peace and release my anxiety.
I receive your joy and release my despair.
I receive your healing and release my sickness.
I receive your love and release my selfishness.
Come, Holy Spirit, transform my heart, mind, soul, and strength so that my consecration becomes your demonstration; that our lives become your sanctuary. For the glory of God our Father, amen.
THE JOURNAL PROMPTS
So, do you believe it? When was the last time you shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with another person?
THE HYMN
Today we will sing “Rescue the Perishing” (hymn 457) from our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise. Get your copy here.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
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2 Responses
Faith Beyond Belief
If you learn reliance
On the living Jesus
And stay in alliance
With the reality
Of His daily presence
You’ll live in defiance
Of doubt, dread, and fear
Because you’ll know He’s here.
Too many Christians
Know a lot about
The life of Jesus
But they live without
Knowing His presence
Till love and faith sprout
Deep within their heart
And grow all out!
That’s why they can doubt,
Be burned out, act out,
And feel down and out.
My short short answers to the the journal prompts are: Yes, I definitely believe in hell for the unbelieving, and I have the opportunity to share the Gospel message with folks on a regular basis, since I’m involved in four weekly gatherings. But, I’m sure that I hold a minority view when it comes to sharing the doctrine of Eternal Conscious Torment. There are two reasons for my rejecting this more popular understanding. First of all, I can’t find anywhere in Scripture where mankind was created with an immortal soul, only God is immortal. (1 Timothy 6:16) I believe that the only way that mankind can become immortal would have been to have eaten from the Tree of life, back in the Garden of Eden, or now to receive it as a GIFT through faith and trust in Christ Jesus. Otherwise the Bible says that we will perish, our bodies and souls be destroyed in hell, or experience the second death (Revelation 20:13-15) I simply cannot reconcile that the God we have revealed in Scriptures would “gift” someone with immortality so that they would suffer eternally. Secondly, although I believe you can, be preaching ECT, scare the hell out someone, this does not create the proper incentive to become a committed Christ follower, that requires the attraction of Christ-like love being displayed. I’ve read that this particular view on hell is shared by many orthodox theologians, both past and present, including Martin Luther, himself. This particular view can be found by searching “conditional immortality.”