People.

While the population of Earth can be broken down into many different groups, sections and subsections pertaining to race, religion, wealth brackets, belief systems, and genders, we're going to inspect four groups of people in regards to their relationship with the Creator of the Universe. Essentially, and many subsections and variations arise from these four main sections, you will fall into one of four categories. The first is complete separation from God. This takes upon many faces, but all hold the same outcome. Secondly, you believe that a prayer saved you at Vacation Bible School, and due to grace and freedom in Christ you find yourself living whatever life style you would like to. Thirdly, and this can be all of us at one time or another, you find yourself living within goodness and righteousness, but for all the wrong reasons. Whether it be legalism, to be seen by men, or for selfish gain, the God whom dwells in unapproachable light has nothing to do with your righteousness. Lastly, and greatest of all, are those whom accept the grace of our forgiving Savior, and worship him because of it through grace driven effort.

To the skeptic, who stands apart from the risen Christ, the charge is simple. Seek him. One day you will. In fact, one day you will worship him and bow at the very sound of his name. For your sake, with love as my charge, I pray it is sooner than later.

See: Philippians 2:9-10

Should you truly have never heard it before, the gospel is this:

We, in our flesh have fallen and are sinful.

See: Romans 3:23

See: Ephesians 2:1-3

See: Your (admit it) depraved thoughts and heart.

Our sin separates us from the perfect Lord, and the price for our failings is the eternal manifestation of the separation we exhibit here on earth in hell.

See: Romans 6:23

Because of his great love for us, even while we sinned and turned away from him, he sent his son to be the reconciliation and to bridge the gap between our depravity and his perfection by dying on the cross to be the sacrifice for our sins.

See: John 3:16

"but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8 ESV)

While you sin, and while you have sinned, he still loves you and died for you. You have never fallen too far from the grace of Christ.

See: Ephesians 2:4-10

You are blemished, you are fallen, and should your life end, you know you would stand unjustified in front of the Lord. Please, I beg of you to see the cross and find in it your salvation. He wishes not for you to attempt to clean yourself up before coming to him, he simply wants you to come. Should you find yourself with any question, please shoot me a message on Facebook, or respond below in the comments section. The cross stands sufficient.

Secondly, and this burdens me much, I believe that we will find those everywhere whom truly believe their eternal security does not lie in the balance. Possibly you were saved as a five year old, as I was, and think that a prayer after running down the isle saved you. Yet, should you pursue the scriptures, we'll find that a prayer NEVER saved a soul. The genuine, veritable belief in the thoughts and words and faith spoken in the prayer do. Paul addresses this when he asks the Romans:

"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" (Romans 6:1-2 ESV)

While works do not participate in the salvation of one's soul, they are the outpouring of true salvation.

See: John 14:15

See: 1 John 5:3

Test yourself here, and seek the scriptures in these regards. Are you truly justified in the face of the Savior? Did a prayer long, long ago TRULY hold the power to save you, without yielding any fruit in your life? Pray. Seek. Ask. Repent. Bluntly, your seeking my prove that you never obtained the salvation of the Christ in the first place, which is an extremely perilous situation to sit within.

See: Matthew 7:21-23

Thirdly, you may understand the inner-workings of grace and are knowledgeable of the Word of God. Maybe you know that Ephesians 2:8-9, "for it is by grace that you have been saved..." is quickly followed by Ephesians 2:10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus FOR GOOD WORKS." Maybe you are fully aware that Titus 3:5 is shortly followed by Titus 3:9. You know and have read that "faith without works is dead." (James 2:17) and that the love of God is to keep his commandments. (1 John 5:3) Yet. Potentially, and probably you miss the second half of 1 John 5:3, which states: "And his commandments are not burdensome."

There is no worship without love, and if you have somehow fallen into the trap of acting within righteousness simply because you know you "have to", I fear you will find your offerings rejected.

See: Cain and Able

See: Hosea 6:6

See: Amos 5:21-25

Think of the difference between the child whom cleans his room out of frustration and obligation juxtaposed to the child who cleans his room because he knows it will please his mother. While both children's rooms will be cleaned, who's mother will be happier while watching their child?

Do you work for God in order to please man? This is no service whatsoever.

"For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ." (Galatians 1:10 ESV)

See: John 12:43

There stands a middle ground between legalism and license named love.

The ground upon which we all, myself included should strive to stand is one upon which we examine the grace and love of Christ, and instead of misusing, and abusing the grace and freedom we have been given, we allow it to impulse us to love him more and act out that love through grace driven effort. In this we work, not because we have to, but because the cross births in us a desire to. Do you work out your salvation because you have gone to church, and been told it is what you are to do? Seek him, find him good, and worship him because of it through action.

"Little children, let us not love in word or in talk but in deed and in truth." (1 John 3:18 ESV)

Where do you stand?

Should you be a skeptic: I plead with you to seek the Christ. I have no gain whatsoever your pursuit of the Lord, but should you be wrong in your standings and belief of the Savior, the repercussions are catastrophic. Jesus is the answer, the cross is the bridge, and the answer is found in the Word. Feel free to ask any questions on anything left vague or insufficiently explained.

Should you be a believer. First and foremost; are you truly a believer? How do you know? Are you counting on your church attendance to fill the void between your depravity and Christ's divinity? Why do you act? Is it out of love, or to be seen by man? Is your "love" really love? Seek his word, ask questions in the comment box or Facebook if need be, be square away the validity of the salvation on which your soul rests. Nothing could be of greater importance.

May the word move in you, and through you.

To Him be the glory,

-Matt Allen

Running.

Here we go.

Before jumping to the Word I want to briefly touch on some quick housekeeping issues of which several of you have brought to my attention: "Matt, you challenge me as a skeptic, yet approaching the scriptures from an infallible perspective does little for me finding them contradictory and invalid." Fair. Extremely fair. As a large advocate for the pursuit of knowledge I would charge you two action steps. Check out "A Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel who came to the truth of Christ after years of atheism. He has an entire chapter devoted to the validity of scripture on a historical level outside of the church and the faith. More than that however, because love surpasses knowledge, I would encourage you simply to approach the gospel with an action based conviction. Meaning that if Christ spoke, and he did: "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.", then test those words. Judge the authoritativeness of the Word simply by testing what it says and assessing the outcome. Meaning that for me, simply, this blog is an outlet to bring forth his Word, and the truths found therein. I may or may not ever write of the validity of the Bible, for I am a passionate believer that Christ reveals HIMSELF through his Word, leaving me with no job except to proclaim it. I hope this comes across clear, for it was not a brief as I had hoped.

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It's inside of grace that I find my home.

"But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13b-14)

We'll start here. Typically I think I would choose to close with this statement, but today I think we will begin with the end and work our way backwards.

Biblically, we are to pursue Christ in holiness.

See: 2nd Corinthians 5:14-15

See: Ephesians 2:1-10

See: 1 Timothy 6:11-12

See: Colossians 3:1-18

See: 1 Peter 1:14-16

Yet, as products of the fall, we will often fail.

See: 1 John 1:8

See: Romans 7:18-20

See: Any Biblical character, excluding Jesus. Or any church staff member. Or... anyone.

The truth of the fall is that Christ came to restore, reconcile and empower. Moreover, we do nothing but prove that we don't understand the gospel, grace, or the cross when we, having fallen, run from the all-knowing God in an attempt to clean ourselves up before pursuing his goodness. The cross stands sufficient.

Currently my favorite biblical example of Christ's full circle restoration is found in the story of the disciple Peter. In John 13:38 Christ looks at Peter, who had just professed his devotion, and says: "Will you lay your life down for me? Truly, truly, I say to you the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times." We see this prophesy brought to life in John 18:15-27, when Peter is approached by three different people in regards to his connection with the imprisoned Christ, and three times he denied the Messiah.

Very quickly, and carefully I would like to state that while I hold a firm belief that any, and all sin will damn us to eternal separation from God, I do believe that on a humanistic level, the blatant denial of the physical manifestation of God incarnate is a greater err than I believe is possible. I say this simply because the point of sin is only the separation between God and man, and I don't find any other sin that produces this direct effect than the statement of: "I don't know the Christ."

You have never fallen or run too far from the grace and love and pursuit of Christ.

See: John 3:16

See: Romans 8:37-39

See: James 4:7-8

John 21:15-17 shows the reconciliation of the risen Christ and Peter as three times, which happens to be the same amount of times that Peter denied his Savior, Christ accepts Peter's love.

"Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?"

He said to him, "Yes Lord; you know that I love you."

He said to him, "Feed my lambs." (John 21:15b)

Lastly, and much of the book of Acts is an example of this, but after the fall of Peter, after the restoration of Peter, came the empowerment of Peter. In the book of Acts we find Peter say things, do things, and be a part of a movement that is rarely seen in church history. Literally the man, being so full of the Holy Spirit, mimics the signs of Christ healing the lame.

See: Acts 3:6

See: Acts 2:14-47

Here we close. Should you be a skeptic, possibly it is because you simply think that the things you have done define you. With the places you've been, and the things you have seen, a God, should there be one, could never love you. I want to encourage you with the fact that the God of the universe came to abolish that. It is within grace that we find our home, and this world and it's pleasures will never fill you to the extent of the one who made, created, and loves you in your failure.

Should you be a believer, accept your insufficiencies, repent and stand upon the grace which first saved you. We are not to wallow and allow our sins and struggles to define us; for at the cross the great exchange was made in which Christ traded his righteousness for our sin. Run the race and strain towards the goal ahead in holiness and truth.

May the Word move in you, and through you.

To Him be the glory,

Matt Allen

Things.

Before we get into this I must state that I pray this is not simply a blog for believers. While I do hope that believers will read and be encouraged by the living and abiding word of God, I also pray that as a skeptic, you read these words and test me on them as an intellectual. The things of eternity hold too much merit for any individual to remain uninformed. Even the choice to believe in nothing is to believe in something, and should the something you believe in truly be nothing, than upon further examination I think you’ll find yourself guiltier of intellectual apathy and cowardliness than anything else.

Also, I want to warn you from the onset of this post that it may be a bit lengthy, and somewhat dense if I’m not too careful, but by the end of the read I pray we’ll find ourselves, myself included, enlightened by the glory of the Word.

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“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21 ESV)

“If then you have been raised with Christ seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:1-2 ESV)

If we are completely and wholly honest with ourselves, I believe we’ll find that we fight these verses with every single bit of our flesh. We WANT things of the earth, and things of the flesh. Whether it be items that simply detract our eyes from his glory, things of this world that the God of the universe has distinctly sanctified us from, things that are good inside of boundaries of which we cross, or lastly good things that the Lord of creation wants to bless us with that we seek before seeking him.

“Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into this world, and we can bring nothing out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and found themselves pierced with many pangs.” (1 Timothy 6:6-10 ESV)

In a society of things, we find our eyes allured by pretty things. Even more so, it becomes all the more difficult not to pursue nice things when our society tells us that our identity is defined by them. Yet, in my pursuit of what that world has to offer me, I have found nothing but disappointment. You may oppose me in this point, but I would argue that you simply haven’t felt true joy in light of the risen Son. Yes. The things of this world have enticed me, and have been pleasing. Yet: “The world is passing away along with it’s desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:17 ESV) Outside of the God-man on the tree, and risen, this world will never fulfill us.

“Put to death therefore whatever is earthy in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” (Colossians 3:5)

Simply put, we desire things of which the Lord has simply stated that we are not to partake in. Sexual immorality. Lust. Passion. The world glistens and shines, and in it we think we find our joy. Yet if we examine the scriptures closer I believe we’ll find the point behind the tree in the Garden of Eden was simply an example of the Lord’s voice resonating: “Pure and total submission to me leads to pure joy.” I am happiest and most fulfilled when I sit in the center of his good and perfect will, and I charge all of us to pursue his will enough to test those words.

Speaking of the garden I think that it is important to state that at the fall, creation fractured. What was once meant to lead us to worship shifted and leads us to sin. The fall took God’s perfect creation and distorted its’ focus. In the garden sex, food, and wine led Adam and Eve to inspect the goodness of the gift and worship God because of it. Post-fall instead of leading us to worship, sex leads to lust, food leads to gluttony, and wine to drunkenness. We must stay within the boundaries marked by the fall.

“Truly, truly I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” (John 6:26 ESV)

I am convinced that many times we inspect the blessings of the Lord, and immediately start to worship the blessing. This becomes muddled in our mind, because we truly seek something that is good and praiseworthy, and clearly from the Lord. Yet anywhere, anytime, that an object of creation is worshiped over the creator, idolatry occurs. We see this perfectly displayed in the life of Abram in Genesis 15. The Lord says to Abram: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward will be very great.”

Abram’s first response? “Oh Lord God, what will you give me…” The things he has given us were not meant to be worshiped, but simply to lead back to the worship of the Father.

“…Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.” (Exodus 16:18 ESV)

“But seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33 ESV)

We want things. I must say that I find no fault in having nice things that the Lord was provident enough to bless us with. Yet, at the end of my days I do not want to have to look back upon my life and say: “I couldn’t give to others as much as I would have liked because I was too busy pursuing the things of the world.” I don’t want to have to say: “I sought the pleasures of the world, which stole my attention from the heart of God instead of seeking his goodness and finding him sufficient.” Or: “I pursued good things that the Lord desired to bless me with, and worshiped them instead of worshiping the sovereign Giver.”

May we, in all things, seek him first, and find ourselves complete. Should you be a skeptic, than test these words. Be true to yourself. Does this world TRULY fill you? Seek him, and find out. Should you be a believer, then may you pursue him in holiness and grace, and never allow his gifts to supercede him himself. Study the word, and in it find truth.

He is good. He is good. He is good.

May the Word move in you, and through you.

To Him be the glory,

-Matt Alen

The Living and Abiding Word of God

Knowledge.

Growing up in the church, I am vehemently convinced we don't hold it. And should we grasp it, dare I say, it is most assuredly more times than not out of selfish legalism and a desire to look better than the guy sitting next to us in the pew.

Sure. We know the lyrics to our favorite songs, and the statistics inning by inning of the Ranger game from last night. We know who does what, who says what, and who is dating who according to Facebook. We know where the cheapest gas is, and we seek in all things to remain a knowledgeable, cognizant citizens of the world.

Yet.

Do we KNOW the Word?

"..you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the LIVING and ABIDING word of God." (1st Peter 1:23 ESV)

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly..." (Colossians 3:16 ESV)

We are advocates of education and academia. We pursue knowledge pertaining to self-improvement and a better home life. We want to learn the things of the world, while we ignore his book which gets some attention Sunday mornings, should we choose to bless him. How ignorant. How foolish. I can often fall into this category seeking the knowledge of the world and the things he has created before seeking the Creator himself.

"Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge..." (Isaiah 5:13 ESV)

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..." (Hosea 4:6 ESV)

"...and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:19 ESV)

Should you be a skeptic, then my charge is to give the Word a chance. Most likely you've sought the things of the world for your answers, and found them lacking. You've bought things, and gone places, and sought the creation while the Creator stands with open hands. His Word holds your answers, and I dare you to have the intellectual integrity to test me. The book of John, in my humble opinion, is a fantastic place to start.

Should you be a believer, then know his word, and preach it through action. We see through his word that the lack of knowledge destroys nations, and that love surpasses knowledge. Knowledge was never meant to simply be held, but to be acted upon. Read, know, memorize and breathe the word of God in such a way that it's implications drive you to nothing less than a grace driven effort.

May the Word move in you, and through you.

To Him be the glory,

-Matt Allen