When I was in college at Oral Roberts University, I majored in history. To some, that may seem like a strange choice, I mean, how boring, right? The truth is that at the time, I chose history because if I had to study anything, the most interesting and easy thing for me to learn was history. After all, if you got much beyond “2 + 2 = 4,” it was a sad story as I have always been a fuzzy, not a techie. It was not until years later, though, when I began to realize that history is incredibly more than a bunch of pointless facts and dates. The truth is that we have no hope of understanding the geopolitical, economic or even social situation of our world in the year 2010 without a decent grasp of history. If Hitler had understood European history, for example, he would have remembered Napolean’s terrible retreat across Russia in the wintertime. The Russians’ defense against Napolean in the 1800’s and later against Hitler in the 1900’s was what is referred to as their "scorched earth policy." Having apparently learned nothing from Napolean’s defeat, Hitler’s men repeated it, many dying in the snow in their summer uniforms. Hitler’s problem? He didn’t pay attention to history!
Similarly, we wonder if, due to the economic woes, we’re going to be jobless. We worry about whether or not we and our children will be safe. We wonder if we’ll have enough money to do what we need to do. Much of this could be avoided -- winter wools could be made available for us in the winter, if you will -- by studying the history of God. Consider the following:
God promised David that the Messiah would be one of his descendants, and He was!
Isaiah predicted that the Messiah would live in the Galilee, and He did!
The psalmist said the Messiah would teach using parables -- and He did!
David said the Messiah would be hated without reason -- and He was!
Zechariah said the Messiah would enter the City of Jerusalem as a king and yet at the same time appear to be gentle, riding a donkey, and He did!
The very fact that Jesus’ miracles included the healing of people who had lost their sight (as opposed to people with other maladies) was a proof in itself that when God promises, He delivers. Isaiah described the ministry of the Messiah as one in which the eyes of the blind would be opened. About 700 years later, Jesus healed a man born blind (see John 9). Even the evil leaders dared not deny this miracle when the man’s own parents confirmed it! Then look what the formerly blind man said when confronted: “Since the world began, it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.” The Old Testament includes some healings, for example, from leprosy, barrenness, and an individual with a withered hand. Both Elijah and Elisha even raised children from the dead. However, I cannot find any passage in the Old Testament where blind people were healed. That specific kind of healing was reserved for a later day, one which Hebrews 11:40 described generally as “something better for us.” And it happened!
Balaam, a reluctant prophet, predicted a star coming out of Israel. Not only did the star show up at Jesus’ birth as predicted, but it was seen by witnesses (the wise men) many miles to the east of tiny Israel!
Jesus' folks had to flee their homeland and go to Egypt, but God promised Hosea the Messiah would be called out of Egypt, and He was!
The sayings of Nostradamus and other so-called “seers” were so vague they are often claimed to have predicted many different events in just about every century since! For example, in Quatrain 4, he predicts “a king who will have little peace and a short life.” I could find any number of examples of such kings from world history. I mean couldn't he have been a little more specific? Conversely, God’s promises were quite explicit. If HIS promises hadn't been kept, it would have been a dead giveaway. For example, Micah could have simply predicted that the Messiah would be born in, say, the southern part of Israel. Instead, Micah stated specifically that Messiah would be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah. Did you know there were two Bethlehems? One was in northern Israel and the other in the south, just a few miles from Jerusalem. So in fact, this promise was incredibly precise. It didn’t just say “Bethlehem.” It said: “Bethlehem Ephrathah." It stipulated which Bethlehem -- and of course that’s exactly where Jesus was born -- exactly like Micah said!
David said the Messiah would be betrayed and sold by one believed to be his friend; and Zechariah told us in advance the exact price of the betrayal (30 pieces of silver). It happened just as they said!
And the above represent only a few of the over 100 specific prophecies which were fulfilled precisely. So what’s the bottom line? When God promises you something, you can take it to the bank! You can rest in it because you KNOW it’s true. It’s not hope so, maybe so, I think so, if God’s in the mood. No, it will happen!
How do you judge someone’s character? By their history. For example, how do you know your best friend can be trusted? By what they have done or perhaps not done in the past. In the same way, God has revealed HIS character to us by HIS history.
Often when we are told of the numerous predictions of the Messiah, we see it as a “ho-hum” proposition. “Oh well, that happened centuries ago. That’s old news and has nothing to do with me today.” I submit, however, that it has a great deal to do with your life right now in 2010 -- for if God kept His promises in the past, He’ll keep His promises to you now. The promises to us now are just as true and just as real!
So don't be discouraged. Trust in Him, knowing that “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Rest in that promise, knowing you can take this stuff to the bank!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
My Father - Oral Roberts
I suppose each of you know by now that my father, Oral Roberts, has graduated to Heaven. Of course there are many things I could say about my dad. Here are three of them:
1. All through his life, Dad made a decision to focus -- and his focus was on the needs of people. When he was asked to pray for a person with a need, he wasn't thinking about the meeting he had been in that morning, nor the sermon he planned to preach that evening. He wasn't looking over that person's shoulder to see who else might be in the room. He wasn't on Twitter, he didn't stop to answer his cell phone, he wasn't texting and he certainly wasn't thinking about what my mother might have needed him to pick up at the grocery store! He made a decision to focus on one thing and one thing only -- the need of the person for whom he was praying. Yes, perhaps some of that was a talent, but I believe most of it was a decision he made -- a decision to focus.
Our twenty-first century society could learn a lesson from my dad. In my view, multi-tasking is highly overrated. Have you ever walked into a restaurant and viewed two people (usually women, I am sorry to say) who are sitting across from each other at a table and both of them are on their cell phones talking to someone else? What about channel surfing on our televisions? Need I say that texting while driving is multi-tasking run amok?
The scripture talks about setting our minds on things above (Colossians 3:2). This tells me (among other things) that if we really desire to do so, we can choose to set our minds on one subject at a time -- similar to tuning a radio onto a certain station or choosing one channel on our televisions. Until we learn to focus on the needs of people, our value to God and to His Kingdom is limited.
2. Dad was asked in a recent interview what appeared to be a rather rare question for an evangelist: "Mr. Roberts, do you fear anything?" The question concerned me. I wondered how in the world Dad was going to respond to that! But he did not hesitate. He responded: "Oh, yes. I fear that I won't obey God."
Many people absolutely hated my father. Some made fun of him relentlessly. He used to say that when he died, no one would have to preach his funeral because the media had been preaching it for years! Conversely, others idolized him and made him sound like a god. They hung on his every word -- as if he had a more direct pipeline to God than could they. Of course now that Dad's no longer with us on the earth, people seem to forget all of their criticisms -- or at least they don't repeat them to my face! But honestly, the most dangerous comments -- in my view -- are those which tend to idolize him. He would have been the first to shun such words. The truth is that he was just a man who did his dead-level best to obey God. Did he obey God perfectly, every single time throughout his entire life? I doubt it. And yet, I can honestly say as one pretty familiar with his good points and his bad points, that he did everything he knew to do to obey God. No one who really knew him could honestly deny that he had feet of clay -- just like the rest of us. However, despite his faults, I can honestly say that obedience to God as he understood what God's voice was saying was the absolute hallmark of his life.
Dad always told me to be eclectic -- to take the good I see in others or maybe in a sermon I heard, throw out the bad and take action with regard to the good points -- or the truths therein. While it is serious error to make my father sound like a perfect human being, it is also a terrible mistake to throw out what he accomplished for the bodies and souls of the men and women of his generation. I would say the best thing each of us can do --particularly now that he is no longer available to us on the earth, is to become students of his example, one part of which was his incredible desire and success in obeying the voice of God. Each of us needs to ask ourselves whether we are in fact obeying God. Are we -- for the most part -- carrying out the vision He has put in our own lives? Are we doing what He told us to do? Is that our passion?
3. In the 1960's, college students in many American universities were burning down administration buildings all over the country. There was a tremendous amount of unrest on college campuses. It was during that time that Dad began building God a university. The Lord had spoken to my father many years before, stating that some day he was to build a university, however, the time for actually carrying it out did not come until the 1960's. Specifically, the Lord said to Dad: "Build Me a University. Build it on My authority, and on the Holy Spirit. Raise up your students to hear My voice, to go where My light is dim, where My voice is heard small, and My healing power is not known, even to the uttermost bounds of the earth. Their work will exceed yours, and in this I am well pleased." At any rate, with the help of the Lord and wonderful folks whom Dad referred to as his "partners," he did build God a university.
In 1969, I was privileged to attend Oral Roberts University where I obtained an undergraduate degree in History, then later, a law degree from the O.W. Coburn School of Law. While a student at Oral Roberts University I heard over and over that we were to go into every person's world. Dad used to talk about the fact that there were many different "worlds." For example, the legal world. While I did not totally grasp the concept as a student, I now realize that as a lawyer, I have an entree into the legal world. My clients listen to my advice because I have a law degree on my wall. I can call a lawyer who is a stranger to me and that lawyer will receive my telephone call -- because I am a fellow lawyer. The legal world is one which in many respects has its own language.
What Dad understood -- which many godly folks have not understood in the past -- is that without an education, we have no entree into many of the worlds which exist. Without an education, we have no way to possibly go "into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15). Certain worlds will not receive us. We have no entree. I praise God for Oral Roberts University. ORU's fight song, written by a beloved man of God, Vep Ellis, still rings in my soul: "May her torch still burn at the Lord's return, and count for eternity." I am grateful to the Lord for what the alumni of Oral Roberts University have accomplished previously, what they ARE accomplishing and what they will CONTINUE to accomplish to change the hearts of oh, so many.
Many non-Christians have said to me: Oh, I'm so sorry that you lost your father. My response: "I really appreciate your kindness. The truth is, however that I haven't lost him. I know exactly where he is. He's in Heaven and I will see him again one day soon!"
Do you know your way to Heaven? Please don't fall for the lies you hear on the news, in the movies and even from some preachers these days. The truth is that everyone is not going to Heaven for "there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) Saved from what? Saved from Hell. While I will not describe in gruesome detail exactly what Hell is, suffice it to say, you don't want to go there. The Bible says that all you have to do to escape Hell is to believe in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God. Call upon His name, listen to His voice, and He WILL give you the gift of eternal life so that you can go to Heaven some day. I hope and pray that if you have not already done so, that you will call on the name of Jesus to save you today. If you make this decision, I hope you will contact me at : robertajpottslaw@att.net. God bless you.
1. All through his life, Dad made a decision to focus -- and his focus was on the needs of people. When he was asked to pray for a person with a need, he wasn't thinking about the meeting he had been in that morning, nor the sermon he planned to preach that evening. He wasn't looking over that person's shoulder to see who else might be in the room. He wasn't on Twitter, he didn't stop to answer his cell phone, he wasn't texting and he certainly wasn't thinking about what my mother might have needed him to pick up at the grocery store! He made a decision to focus on one thing and one thing only -- the need of the person for whom he was praying. Yes, perhaps some of that was a talent, but I believe most of it was a decision he made -- a decision to focus.
Our twenty-first century society could learn a lesson from my dad. In my view, multi-tasking is highly overrated. Have you ever walked into a restaurant and viewed two people (usually women, I am sorry to say) who are sitting across from each other at a table and both of them are on their cell phones talking to someone else? What about channel surfing on our televisions? Need I say that texting while driving is multi-tasking run amok?
The scripture talks about setting our minds on things above (Colossians 3:2). This tells me (among other things) that if we really desire to do so, we can choose to set our minds on one subject at a time -- similar to tuning a radio onto a certain station or choosing one channel on our televisions. Until we learn to focus on the needs of people, our value to God and to His Kingdom is limited.
2. Dad was asked in a recent interview what appeared to be a rather rare question for an evangelist: "Mr. Roberts, do you fear anything?" The question concerned me. I wondered how in the world Dad was going to respond to that! But he did not hesitate. He responded: "Oh, yes. I fear that I won't obey God."
Many people absolutely hated my father. Some made fun of him relentlessly. He used to say that when he died, no one would have to preach his funeral because the media had been preaching it for years! Conversely, others idolized him and made him sound like a god. They hung on his every word -- as if he had a more direct pipeline to God than could they. Of course now that Dad's no longer with us on the earth, people seem to forget all of their criticisms -- or at least they don't repeat them to my face! But honestly, the most dangerous comments -- in my view -- are those which tend to idolize him. He would have been the first to shun such words. The truth is that he was just a man who did his dead-level best to obey God. Did he obey God perfectly, every single time throughout his entire life? I doubt it. And yet, I can honestly say as one pretty familiar with his good points and his bad points, that he did everything he knew to do to obey God. No one who really knew him could honestly deny that he had feet of clay -- just like the rest of us. However, despite his faults, I can honestly say that obedience to God as he understood what God's voice was saying was the absolute hallmark of his life.
Dad always told me to be eclectic -- to take the good I see in others or maybe in a sermon I heard, throw out the bad and take action with regard to the good points -- or the truths therein. While it is serious error to make my father sound like a perfect human being, it is also a terrible mistake to throw out what he accomplished for the bodies and souls of the men and women of his generation. I would say the best thing each of us can do --particularly now that he is no longer available to us on the earth, is to become students of his example, one part of which was his incredible desire and success in obeying the voice of God. Each of us needs to ask ourselves whether we are in fact obeying God. Are we -- for the most part -- carrying out the vision He has put in our own lives? Are we doing what He told us to do? Is that our passion?
3. In the 1960's, college students in many American universities were burning down administration buildings all over the country. There was a tremendous amount of unrest on college campuses. It was during that time that Dad began building God a university. The Lord had spoken to my father many years before, stating that some day he was to build a university, however, the time for actually carrying it out did not come until the 1960's. Specifically, the Lord said to Dad: "Build Me a University. Build it on My authority, and on the Holy Spirit. Raise up your students to hear My voice, to go where My light is dim, where My voice is heard small, and My healing power is not known, even to the uttermost bounds of the earth. Their work will exceed yours, and in this I am well pleased." At any rate, with the help of the Lord and wonderful folks whom Dad referred to as his "partners," he did build God a university.
In 1969, I was privileged to attend Oral Roberts University where I obtained an undergraduate degree in History, then later, a law degree from the O.W. Coburn School of Law. While a student at Oral Roberts University I heard over and over that we were to go into every person's world. Dad used to talk about the fact that there were many different "worlds." For example, the legal world. While I did not totally grasp the concept as a student, I now realize that as a lawyer, I have an entree into the legal world. My clients listen to my advice because I have a law degree on my wall. I can call a lawyer who is a stranger to me and that lawyer will receive my telephone call -- because I am a fellow lawyer. The legal world is one which in many respects has its own language.
What Dad understood -- which many godly folks have not understood in the past -- is that without an education, we have no entree into many of the worlds which exist. Without an education, we have no way to possibly go "into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15). Certain worlds will not receive us. We have no entree. I praise God for Oral Roberts University. ORU's fight song, written by a beloved man of God, Vep Ellis, still rings in my soul: "May her torch still burn at the Lord's return, and count for eternity." I am grateful to the Lord for what the alumni of Oral Roberts University have accomplished previously, what they ARE accomplishing and what they will CONTINUE to accomplish to change the hearts of oh, so many.
Many non-Christians have said to me: Oh, I'm so sorry that you lost your father. My response: "I really appreciate your kindness. The truth is, however that I haven't lost him. I know exactly where he is. He's in Heaven and I will see him again one day soon!"
Do you know your way to Heaven? Please don't fall for the lies you hear on the news, in the movies and even from some preachers these days. The truth is that everyone is not going to Heaven for "there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) Saved from what? Saved from Hell. While I will not describe in gruesome detail exactly what Hell is, suffice it to say, you don't want to go there. The Bible says that all you have to do to escape Hell is to believe in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God. Call upon His name, listen to His voice, and He WILL give you the gift of eternal life so that you can go to Heaven some day. I hope and pray that if you have not already done so, that you will call on the name of Jesus to save you today. If you make this decision, I hope you will contact me at : robertajpottslaw@att.net. God bless you.
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