Jeff Smith's Blog

There is some truth to George Michael’s song “Faith” its small but true. You got to have it. When Jesus was ministering with the disciples there were times when the disciples lacked faith.  When Peter stepped out of the boat and began to sink Jesus commented on his faith because he showed little at that time (matt 14:22-36). In Luke 8 Jesus is asleep on a boat with the disciples and a storm is threatening to capsize the boat. The disciples wake Jesus up, he makes the sea calm and looks at his disciples and asks “Where is your faith?” It seems that the men who are with Jesus the most seem to have the biggest problem with believing. They even ask him to increase their faith because what he is teaching them is so hard to do (Luke 17).

God has gifted each of us with spiritual gifts that are to be used for his glory. I discovered what mine were about 8 years ago while taking a spiritual gifts test. I was working as an accountant at the time and leading an out of college/newly married ministry at our church. The results of the gift test would change the rest of my life. Faith was my number one gift, followed by pastoring/shepherding, then teaching. Needless to say I was shocked but after further thinking about the results they made sense. I had never really questioned God and for some reason always thought things would work out in the end. I enjoyed people and teaching so all the gifts seem to fit. Here was the rub, if I wanted them to get better they would have to be challenged. If I wanted them to get stronger I had to use them, my first use was leaving my accounting career and starting in seminary. Wondering how bills would be paid God provided me a full-time job, doing guess what…youth ministry. This gave me the chance to practice my gifts full-time! Over the past years stories like this have continued in my life. As I look back I see how faithful God has been to me, my wife, and our boys. He has never left us.  There have been times when I have struggled greatly in my spiritual life but he always sees me through. There have been huge trials in my ministry and he has been more than faithful in seeing me not only through them but coming out better on the other side. Now I am in a season where my faith is being tested again, this time more than ever.

There are days when I feel exactly like Peter sinking. I am paralyzed by fear and the only thing I can do is cry out and he pulls me up. There are times when I have a hard lesson to learn and I ask him to increase my faith as a result and he does. I want more faith but to get more God has to give it and I have to use what I already have. When we ask God to transform us to be more like Christ he is going to do it. Don’t pray for rain and not carry an umbrella. We need to be ready and willing when God moves. While we may seem like we are in control but we are deceiving ourselves into a false reality and sometimes God has to wake us up to the reality. He is in control. His will is far better than mine. He knows what is best. He loves me and only has my best interest in mind. I must rest in the reality that the sovereign God of the universe loves me more than I can imagine and is doing what is best for me, despite my feelings and worries. I must look to him as my source of comfort, love, happiness, joy and fulfillment. When times are hard and my faith is uncertain I feel like Peter sinking but Jesus is always there to rescue me. In faith I rest completely in God.

I will get back to writing on doctrine one day becuase it is vital that we know what we beleive and can articulate it to others. Right now I will be updating this from a personal level. God is working on me in many ways and its worth me letting people know..

Doctrine, no it has nothing to do with the medical practice, but it does save lives.  When someone understands the doctrine of  the Bible, they are burdened for those who are broken in the world. Doctrine is simply what you believe. It is the core values that you have to hold to for salvation in Christ alone (by the way that is a big doctrinal statement right there).  It’s easy to say “yes, I need to know doctrine” but do we really know it. Here is what the bible says about doctrine and its importance:

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. (Romans 16:17-all verses quoted below will be from English Standard Version. I will use different versions each post)

 ¹²equip the saints for the work of ministry, for  building up the body of Christ, ¹³until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. (Ephesians 4:12-14)

 ³As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine.. (1 Timothy 1:3 )

 ⁶ If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. ⁷Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; ⁸for while  bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. ⁹The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. ¹⁰For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. (1 Timothy 4:6-10)

 ³If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching  that accords with godliness, (1 Timothy 6:3)

 ¹But as for you, teach what accords with sound  doctrine. (Titus 2:1)

 ¹Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God (Hebrews 6:1)

Hopefully from these verses you can see the importance of doctrine. The last verse listed from Hebrews is especially important. It does not mean to abandon or forget the basic knowledge of what Christ did, rather it means this is the starting point. Hebrews was written to a Jewish audience and the verb used “go on to maturity”  is passive, meaning someone else has done the work,  Jesus. It is a warning toward Jewish readers that there is no value in practicing the OT basics, this was only a foundation pointing towards Christ. The Jewish readers would know that this meant that Christ fulfilled all the law of the old testament and we are to build on him as the foundation and continue to grow by God’s grace. But it goes back to doctrine, what do you believe? For us in the 21 century, there are many doctrines that are out there and all but one set of doctrines are false. So to know why you believe something, you have to know what it is.  The best doctrine starts with a proper view of the Trinitarian God, because that is where the Bible starts. That is where we will pick up next week.

This question struck me last night when my 3 year old asked me a question. We were reading in his kids bible about how Jesus will separate the wicked from the righteous  (and yes his bible used those words). I wanted to burn through the story becuase I was tired and was looking forward to both kids being asleep before 7:30.  God then wrecked my sinful intentions and impressed on me the seriousness of Mason’s question. What is righteous? What is wicked? Why does Jesus have to separate them? Where do they go? Yeah…that’s normal 3 year old talk. But as his Daddy I needed to answer him because I am the spiritual leader of my family.  So I started with where any good biblical theology needs and must start, with God. Over the next few weeks I will write about basic biblical theology. I will start with whats most important, God. Thanks to my 3 year old and God moving in his heart.

Recently I had that preverbal knock at my front door on Saturday morning.  Most dread this but I love it. This is not the first time that Jehovah’s Witnesses have knocked on my door, frankly I am surprised they still come around. The last couple who came by left with me walking with them down the street as they went to their car. I was more concerned with their salvation then they were of mine. Anyway, this Saturday morning brought them again.  Jehovah’s witnesses have a twisted view of Christianity, that came from a bible study started by Charles Taze Russell in the late 1800′s, we will get into that in a later post.

These gentleman on Saturday started off our conversation by asking me why we celebrate Christmas and this was where there presentation got off tract, because I went straight into the Gospel and gave them the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus as Lord. We discussed their theology and mine both using our bibles. After 15 or 20 minutes of conversation they departed with me still giving them the gospel and telling them about Jesus. When I came back inside it struck me that no one on our street was talking to these men and I was the only one who answered the door. After thinking about all they said it dawned on me that I wasn’t using apologetics (defending the faith) but simple theology.

When the IRS trains an agent to detect a counterfeit bill they don’t study counterfeits, they study the real deal. They pour over the original bill, studying every detail so that we the come into contact with a counterfeit they quickly identify it by lacking what is in the genuine and true bill. The same goes with sharing your faith. Theology is something that all Christians, wether you like it or not, you are supposed to know. We are to understand our faith and be able to articulate it when given the chance (1 Pet 3:15) with gentleness and love. We are to grow in our faith (1 cor 3:11) and be able to give testimony to what God has done in our life and who he is. This can be a tough task but we have been given the Holy Spirit to help us in this (John 14:26).  The bible is given to us so that we can know God and make him known. This is the first place we come and receive our teaching on theology, but there are other sources that can make it easier. First start with the bible and always compare what you read with it,after that use other books to help you along.

Here is a list of books that are a must read for all Christians-they are super easy to read and very informative.

“Doctrine” by Mark Driscoll & Gerry Bershers

“Christian Beliefs” by Wayne Grudem

For Parents (and anyone else who is ever planning on having kids)

“Big Truths for Young Hearts” by Bruce Ware

If you were to see yourself through other people’s eyes, what would those closest around you say about you? What is the legacy that your leaving behind? Your legacy will be how people will remember you, and here is the important part. It will either be a Christ centered legacy or a wasted legacy. A Christ centered legacy is one that focuses solely on Jesus. Paul’s legacy is this as are the rest of the disciples. Here is what Paul states his legacy to be in 1 Corinthians 2:1,2 “When I came to you brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Paul says he labors for the church in Col 1:28-29, and in Gal 2:20 just to name a few. All of Paul’s letters are filled with the Glory of Christ and the power of the cross.  This is a Christ centered legacy, one that points back to the glory of God revealed in Christ and the cross. The opposite of this is a wasted legacy. A wasted legacy is one that is filled with wordly wisdom and useless experiences. These types of legacies are seen everyday in words of wisdom and lifestyles that people lead that don’t center on Christ. A wasted legacy will wither away and in a few generations no one will know what you did. Some of those closest to you might remember stories or sayings but they are all just fond memories, only lasting in that persons mind. A Christ centered legacy is one that will bring people into the Kingdom long after you are forgotten. Think about your legacy and what those around you will say. Can they say that you were filled with Christ so much that you couldn’t go a day without talking about him to someone or will they simply say you were a hard worker and fun to be around…..

Recently I taught on the topic of authority to a group of High School Students. In getting prepared for the time of teaching God really put me through the paces to make sure that I was prepared to back up what I was going to teach.  In the week before I taught I had to choose if I would submit to authority that was over me or chose to skirt around it.

In my time of preparation I looked back at our first parents, Adam and Eve. Man they had it good. Nothing to worry about except what names to come up with for the animals and there was no wrong name so whatever they wanted to call the animal they did.  (I mean why was a bird named “bird” and not “fly”?) Even in all this freedom God gave them one rule and only one rule. How simple is that?! And yet they still screwed it up royally. Fast forward to today where in the postmodern mindset every authority is under question. There is no definite right or wrong in our society, its whatever is good for each individual person.  The authorities in our culture are always under attack. How many times have you watched Fox News or CNN and heard nothing but positives about our government? A lot of times we as Christians can forget who spoke the earth into being.  Its true, when you hear of a political policy that you absolutely don’t agree with what’s your response? Is it critical? Or do you pray for the authorities over you that God has placed there (Romans 13:1-7, Hebrews 13:17)? The point is that since the garden we have a rebellious heart. We are constantly looking to usurp the authority around us if we feel that it will 1. elevate me as a person or 2.cause upheaval and we try to get our own way, both are sin. Pride and selfishness.  Adam and Eve in the garden rebelled against God and since that time we have continued to rebel in our hearts against God (Col 1:21), but praise be to Christ for his work on the Cross. Because of Christ submission to authorities and not desiring to be higher than God but serve him (Phil 2:5-11) he has allowed those who live for His glory to have freedom under God’s authority. Its seems like an oxymoron statement but its true. True freedom is found only under God’s authority.  In our hearts we must trust that God is working all things out for those who love him (Romans 8:28-30). The cross brings us true freedom in loving and serving our Lord and Savior. The life of the believer is one of repentance and submission. Repenting of sins and submission to the King.

I chose submission and God was and will be glorified.

Worship and Idolatry fill our culture.  Mostly Idolatry and little worship.  Idolatry has dug its claws deep into our culture.  What is idolatry?  its worshipping something or someone other than the creator God.  That’s simple and clear for the believer but a believer can be an idol worshipper also. The best and clearest definition for idol worship was given by Pastor Mark Driscoll at a church conference I went to in the spring of 2009 in Raleigh,  Advance 09.   He stated Idolatry is “a good thing, made into a god thing, now is a bad thing”.  Most people think that idolatry has to do with a little wooden statues that people bow down to and pray too.  That in turn the little wooden statue will bless them with health, wealth, power and the list goes on and on.  Idolatry is a condition of the heart.  Because of our fallen sin nature, we will naturally move towards idols.  Adam and Eve’s decision to put their own will over Gods will showed their idol, themselves.  They disobeyed the one and only rule that God gave them.  This heart they passed on to us.  A heart that will constantly seek out a functional savior who will fill the void that sin has left.  Only we cannot fill the void no matter how hard we try.  Only Christ perfect substitutionary atonement on our behalf can fill this void.  But this is only the beginning. Our hearts are sinfully inclined to replace the truth of God for a lie. To worship something or someone that is created rather than the creator.  To put someone or something in a place where only God should be.  It can be jobs, power, money, friends, popularity, sports, relationships, marriage, kids, homes, status, even ministry.  THis is how you can tell if you are an idol worshipper, its Christ plus ________. You fill in the blank. Christ plus health or Christ plus money. Just enter in whatever you covet and whammo you have your idol.   In our culture we are constantly pushed to have the newest, shiniest, most glamorous things.  There is a strict warning in scripture about this, where your treasure is there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21).  Even Christ knew the power of idolatry because he talks about it in his first sermon!  John closes the first of his three letters with “dear children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 JOhn 5:21) .  Paul starts off Romans with specific areas where people have put idols as their inspiration of worship and what God does as a response, he gives them over to the idol.

God is jealous.  Not sinfully jealous, but holy jealous.  He is jealous for you and for me.  (Exodus 20:3-4) Christ came so that we might see how jealous he really is.  Christ became what he created and died in its place the worst, most painful death imaginable so that you and I could have our worship directed towards our Heavenly Father and be acceptable. Without Christ we have no way, no hope, nothing to fill that void that is in our sinful hearts.  This is why we worship.  Because of Christ we have been given hope, life, purpose, fulfillment only in Christ.  There is nothing that compares to Christ. This is the true test. Is Christ enough for you? If you are like me, constantly being bombarded with temptations to worship idols other than Christ alone, repent. The mark of the believer is the lifestyle of repentance. Its comes only from worshipping at the foot of the cross, coming face to face with what our savior did on our behalf and repented of putting things in his place.  God drug me through the mud and showed me and continues to show me my idols.  Repent, repent, repent. What are your idols? Jesus and ___________? Pray that God will reveal them to you and pray for the power through the Spirit to turn from them and look to Christ alone.

I took a spiritual gift test after I got out of college and discovered that God had gifted me with some things I had no idea about, one of which is faith.  This was new to me but made sense. I had never really “worried” about anything and when I did worry about something it would pass pretty quickly.  During that period of my life I enjoyed exercising that gift. I enjoyed seeing God work and trusting that He would work all things out….Then I entered parenthood.

While the first few years have been wonderful, I can see where God is stretching me already. Our 3 year old is fast becoming a full fledged little boy. At his last doctors visit he is in the upper percentile of height, weight, and developmentally years beyond where he should be (Size is from me, brains are from his Mom).  At hearing this report I was delighted to know that my first born was tracking well in terms of his physical development, but as His Dad I am concerned with his spiritual development (Deuteronomy 6). This is my faith being stretched.

I have learned over the past few months that I have to have complete trust in God when it comes to my children’s spiritual development.  Candice and I read Mason’s bible to him, sing songs with him, and play songs in the car (His favorite songs are Chris Tomlin “Exalted” and Hillsong “Mighty to Save”).  We do all that we can, by God’s grace, to show him and teach him about God and salvation in Christ, but at the end of the day we have to trust God.  This hit me this past week when Mason and I had to run to the grocery store to get some milk.  I have been starting to teach him doctrines about God, only teaching one a month, and this month it has been sovereignty.  I started on Monday night after we got done reading his bible by telling him about Genesis and how God created everything. The simple definition that I gave him was, “God is sovereign, and that means that God is in control of everything”.  I kept talking to him about it all week and when we were in the grocery store God showed me it was sinking in.  We were walking down an isle that has our favorite snack on it, pistachio nuts, and I asked Mason, “what does God is sovereign mean?”, Mason was sitting in the big part of the basket and looked at me as if to say, “hang on, let me think about that”. He looked over at the pistachio’s and said “God is in control over the nuts”.  I laughed an then he went on to say that GOd was in control over the Milk, the bread and the cottage cheese; all of which were in our cart.  God seemed to be telling me in that moment, keep teaching him, but ultimately trust me. I will take what you teach him and apply it to his little heart. You trust me and teach him, I will do the hard work.

I find myself wrestling with God on this when I pray for my boys, I pray that God will save them at an early age and that they will grow up knowing and loving Christ.  I pray that He will bring about His Kingdom in their own hearts and they will serve him all of their lives.  I can’t make them do this, I can only teach them and model it. That is my struggle, trusting that God will take what Candice and I have taught and will teach Mason and Braden; and apply it to their heart.  In this struggle though there is peace, I must relent on my doubts and fully trust God, when I do the peace of Christ overcomes me as a parent and I am able to hold both my boys with open hands to the Father and tell him, “I have done all I can, you must do the rest”. My deepest struggle  and deepest joy is trusting God in my boys spiritual growth, knowing that he has the best in store for them. Trusting  in His will for them is my peace, God grants this peace when I release them to Him.  My role as a father is to point then to Christ and teach them all I can. At the end of each day when I pray over them as they sleep, give them completely over to God for him to grow and change them. Its harder than I ever thought it would be, but God’s hands are far more capable of accomplishing His task than I will ever be.

This weekend God called home 2 local High School Seniors.  Their deaths were a result of  a car wreck that they were involved in as they came back to the school from lunch.  The following is an email I sent out to all the parents in our ministry.

Parents- with what has happened involving the death of Justin Simmons and now Jacob Nance, your students will have some serious questions that they must have answered.  They will think either to themselves or out loud, “Why would God allow this to happen? I thought God was good and if he loves us why would he do this? And what do I think will happen to me when I die?” These are some of the questions that will go through their minds over the next few days when they talk and hear about the passing away of these two seniors from High Point Christian Academy.

God has given your children to you to raise and shepherd. He has entrusted them to you because you are the perfect person for the job of molding your children and teaching them about God. Now is a pivotal moment that you can help them better understand what and why God has done this.

Why would God allow this to happen?

God is sovereign. He controls all things that go on in the universe. He gives order to everything. Nothing has ever happened, is happening, or will ever happen that God has not allowed to take place. He is the creator and sustainer of this world. He knows all things and everything is subject to Him. From the beginning of time God has been working His will in His creation, His good and perfect will. Since the beginning of time God has desired that all man should know Him and worship Him.  This started with Adam and Eve. When they sinned in the garden they gave us and the rest of humanity after them and including them death. Pain, sickness, hurt, and death are all a result of Sin. But God is working all things according to His will, even in sinful human beings, to bring about His Glory. God allowed this to happen because it will bring him Glory. Both of these young men were Christians. God had numbered their days before they were even born and He knew how and when they would be called to their home. God will use this to bring others to Him, He will use this to proclaim that although these boys were in sin, just like the rest of us, they were saved, justified, redeemed and made perfect by the blood of Christ. This brings God glory, when there is nothing to boast in but in Himself.

IF God is good and he loves us, why would he do this?

God is good and he is love. His character does not change. No matter what takes place here on earth, His character is still perfect and Holy. Because he is love he has made a way for the world to know Him, and that way is through Jesus Christ. God’s goodness and love was made into flesh in Christ. Christ came to suffer and die our penalty of death, a substitutionary death on our behalf to present us perfect to the Father.  By Christ substitutionary death on the cross, we can now have the righteousness of Christ. This is what makes God good and love. He loves us so much that he made a way. Without Christ we are hopeless, helpless and utterly lost. There is nothing that we can do to merit God’s favor. Nothing. Presenting our works to God is presenting the King of the Universe and all his splendor, filthy, dirty rags. We would never dare do that. But in Christ we are a new creation, we are not seen as enemies of God but now as sons of God, we can call him Father. And during a time like this when life has been taken at a young age we have to trust that our Father is in control. We have to hold fast that He will never change and that He is good and He loves us beyond anything we can comprehend. God is working his plan to draw people to himself; He is using Jacob’s and Justin’s life to bring people to a saving knowledge and faith in His perfect and Holy Son Jesus Christ.

What will happen to me when I die?

Jesus makes us a promise in scripture, that all who believe in him will not die but have everlasting life. The only way to heaven in to trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, to admit that you need a savior, you are lost, hopeless and helpless without Jesus.  It is acknowledging that you are a sinner and need Jesus, then asking him not to just come into your life but to Rule and Reign in your life.  In these times a lot of people will think I don’t want to go to Hell so I will just accept Jesus. This is fire insurance and not salvation.  Salvation is repentance from your former way of life, when we followed Satan and our own wills, and submitting your will and life to God for his complete and total control. This is a great time to make sure that your student has made this decision. Simply ask them if they were to die, would they go to heaven? If they answer yes, ask Why? The answer is only found in Jesus, and completely surrendering to Him.  If your student is not sure, pray with them right then and there and beg God to begin to move by His Spirit in the life of your student.

In all of this God is showing us that as parents we have one job to do with our children. To entrust them completely to Him and do everything we can to bring them up in the ways of the Lord. Imparting all of our knowledge into them so that one day God will call them into salvation in Jesus Christ.  The God of all creation has given you a fearfully and wonderfully made child, you must do all you can to help that Child become a Child of the Most High God.

My prayer for all of you is this. May God pour out his Spirit on you and your family so that you all may be called children of God. Don’t waste another day of your life living for your will, but live your life to bring Glory to God. May we do all we can as a church and families to proclaim the Good news of Jesus Christ to a lost, helpless and hopeless world.