None More Important Than This Day........

What could be the best and most effective way to start off an article about Easter? We could name the usual suspects such as Passover, Good Friday, The Passion of the Christ and so on and so forth. Since this blog is coming from my heart and my mind, I thought we would do it my way: By starting off with the creation story from Scripture. Genesis 1:1 simply states, “In the beginning, God…….” stop right there. This is what I need to establish up front before anything else: God always was, God always is and God always will be. He is eternally existent throughout all time and space. Simply put: He has no beginning and no end. This truth presents an impossibility to those who don’t know the LORD personally. The finite human mind cannot perceive of something being eternally existent. We tend to think linear: As in a straight line which connects point A to point B. To us, it’s just not possible for the line between A and B to extend beyond A in a negative direction – it has to start somewhere. This is not so with God – He always was. He not only extends beyond point A – He also dismisses any chance of a point B. In linear nutshell terms, God would be an eternal, never ending line in either direction. Allow me to blow your mind even more here: God is not only the straight line – He is also existent throughout all of the other lines that intersect our linear line of God. In other words: Think ‘spherical’ for a moment. Imagine a very calm body of water. Now drop a huge rock right in the center of the water and watch what happens: You’ll notice all of the waves emanating outward from the point of impact like radio waves. This is how God eternally encompasses His creation. Only difference is: God doesn’t emanate like radio waves – He’s everywhere already – He is omnipresent.

I make mention of all this for good reason: For as much as we may try to, no one can ever fully understand Almighty God. For those of you who share my faith and are saved Christians, you know full well already that at the precise moment when you said ‘yes’ to Christ and became a saved believer , God the Holy Spirit came to live and dwell within you – and sealed you for all eternity (Ephesians 1:13-14). Heaven became your eternal home at that moment. This same Holy Spirit who seals you until the day of redemption also guides you into the truth at all times. Whether or not we are being receptive to Him when the truth is being told is another matter altogether. I can write a full blog just on discernment alone. The Holy Spirit not only guides us into the truth, but also prompts us to do things in our daily lives and all for the kingdom of God. He also pokes us and convicts us when we’re doing something wrong. I certainly cannot speak for all Christian men when I say this but – remember the last time you found yourself flipping through the channels late at night maybe after the wife had fallen asleep – only to stop on that one program that had a screen full of bikinis? (No doubt, it was either Telemundo or Univision……) The longer you may have stayed mesmerized on that channel, the more the Holy Spirit began to convict you and say to you, “Um sir…..you may want to either turn this off or turn on Sports Center rather quickly”. If this happens, then this is probably a sure sign that the Spirit does live within you. If there is zero conviction and you shrug it off as simply “being a man”, then you may want to get before God and make sure you’re really a believer.

So what does all this have to do with Easter? Good question – sit back, relax and prepare yourself for my tangent of an answer. Only a perfect and Holy God could have made a way for us to get back in favor with Him. For those of you who may read this today and you do not know the Lord personally (in other words: if you’re not a Christian), please allow me to tell you a brief story. This story is true and the characters are real. How do I know this? The main character of the story lives within me in the Person of the Holy Spirit and confirms it to me every single day. Here it goes: God created the heavens and the earth roughly 6,000 years ago. Shortly after creating the first two people in history, they sinned against God by disobeying a direct command: Do not eat from the tree in the midst of the garden or else you will die. Before this downfall, Adam and Eve had perfect fellowship with God. They walked with Him, they talked with Him – He was their God and they were His people. There was nothing hindering the relationship between them. After they sinned, God cut them off from His personal fellowship with Him. After proclaiming curses on the man, the woman and the serpent (the devil who tempted them to sin in the first place), He also made a promise: He would someday make a way for them (humanity) to return to the same fellowship that they once had. He would require a blood sacrifice – but not just any sacrifice. It (or He) had to be a perfect sacrifice. It had to come from a perfect sacrificial Lamb. So throughout the generations, God manifest Himself to His prophets and kings. He laid down a series of 613 laws throughout the ages. All of these laws and festivals and sacrifices merely pointed to one thing: The coming of Yeshua – the Messiah – the One who would deliver the people from their sin. So about 4,000 years after the fall in the garden of Eden, God knew the appointed time had come. He sent Himself in the form of man. He sent God the Son, Jesus Christ. The sacrifice had to be a perfect one; therefore Jesus Christ lived a life that was sin-free. He was fully God yet, fully man. He had to be fully God in order to be perfect – and He had to be fully man in order to shed blood for the propitiation (or satisfaction) for sins. About 30 years into His life, Jesus’ ministry of redemption officially began. He began to tell people that the only way to God was through Himself. He chose His disciples who would eventually be the foundation of Christianity as we know it today. Three years into His ministry, the leaders of the day began to hate Him because of the way He was seemingly turning the Word of God on its ear. What they didn’t know was that He was fulfilling it right before their eyes. Just like the Scriptures had said, He was taken and crucified. He died a horrible death. He took on the sins of the world at that moment on the cross. The moment He gave up the ghost and died, the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom. This veil housed the Ark of the Covenant behind it. The ark was blocked from public view as no one was allowed to come near it or else they could die. Once per year on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), the high priest would go in there with blood sacrifices to ‘make atonement’ for the peoples’ sins – until the next year. What Christ did on the cross completely wiped out the sacrificial system. He has now become our eternal high priest. But here’s the most important part of the whole story: He didn’t stay dead – three days later after they placed His body in a cave-tomb, He rose again! Jesus has now given mankind the opportunity to get back to God and have that fellowship with Him that Adam and Eve once had. Christ literally became the bridge that connects God with man. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what Easter is all about. It is resurrection Sunday! Without the atoning life, death, burial and glorious resurrection of our Lord, we would all still be dead in our sins and on our way to hell.

So the question is: Which category of man do you fall under: Saved or unsaved? There are only two kinds of people in the world: Those who are going to heaven (Christians) and those who are going to hell (unsaved). If you do not know the Lord like we do, there is still time and hope for you. All you need to do is repent and believe. Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ did all these things to save you from what we all deserve: Eternal damnation in hell. If you take one thing from all this today, let it be this: God loves you and wants you to know Him personally. He also wants to welcome you home into heaven someday. Please come home to Him – He waits with open arms ready to do nothing but love on you. Happy resurrection day. 

For of Such is the Kingdom of Heaven

For of such is the Kingdom of Heaven

Tucked between some teachings concerning divorce, celibacy and how difficult it is for a rich man to enter heaven lies an obscure section of Scripture found in Matthew 19:14. The verse goes like this: But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” (KJV). I have to admit that I didn’t fully understand this verse when I first read it many years ago. Even after re-reading the Bible for a second and even third time through, the meaning of the verse didn’t quite stick for me. I had a basic understanding of it passed down to me through some well-versed folks who came into my life through the years. The general meaning always given to me was this: In order for us to enter heaven, we must first possess the innocence of a child. That interpretation seems to appease the masses – who then move on to bigger and more important topics such as “it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle……” and so on and so forth – found in the very next section of Scripture. No doubt, many more conversations and Bible studies can be created from the story of the rich young ruler than can be gleaned from Jesus’ line to His disciples concerning the children. What I would like to do in this short devotional today is simple: Give you a different perspective of what it means to possess the “innocence” of a child.

First of all, I must ask the question: Is any child completely innocent? For any parent reading this today, you know immediately that the answer to that is a resounding “no”. Without opening a side-bar can of worms here concerning an “age of accountability” or anything of the like, let me state the obvious: Everyone is born in sin and iniquity. This is one of the foundational truths of our faith – and the main reason why we all need a Savior. Without sin, there would be no need for us to be saved from anything. The question of whether or not children are counted as righteous until they are old enough to understand the gospel remains a mystery to me – I wont touch that one other than to acknowledge the fact that we’re all born in sin. Can of worms officially closed – moving on.

We all know that any child left to his or her own self has the capacity to get into all sorts of mischief – some more than others (insert me here when I was a kid). Let’s face it: Any adult left to his or her own self has this same capacity as well. The difference between the adult and the child in these matters – the adult knows better (or at least, should know better). So what exactly did Jesus mean by His statement, “for of such is the kingdom of Heaven”? Let me break it down this way: Have you ever watched children playing on a playground? Years ago when my oldest daughter was about 5, we would go somewhere where other kids were playing. We had never even met these other children or their parents before and yet – my daughter went right over to them and began to play as if she had known them for her whole life. Didn’t matter what color they were, what language they spoke, if they had turbans on their heads, if they had a cleft palate, if they had down’s syndrome – none of this mattered. Now I can’t make this claim about all children as some are more shy than others but – most kids take to other kids without any prejudice or preconceived fear when it comes to play time. Why is this? Is it because these kids haven’t lived long enough to experience rejection or hatred? Perhaps they are too young to realize that there are many crooked people in this world who want nothing more than to cheat them out of something? Bottom line: The longer we live in this sin-sick world, the more we realize how badly we need Jesus Christ to deliver us from sin. Kids aren’t fully aware of the perils of life yet – which in turn, gives them every reason to love and trust folks whom they’ve never even met.

As I have grown in grace these last few years, the LORD has allowed me to experience the innocence of children. I work side by side with kids on a weekly basis now at church. God has revealed to me exactly what it means to possess the innocence of a child. I see it every time they say “hello” to me or give me one of their trademark “flying” hugs. They don’t know about my sinful past – and frankly, they don’t really care. They just want to be loved on for that short time that we have them. This is what it means to have the innocence of a child – one who holds no grudge or prejudice. They reach out to me with trust and confidence. 

I need to close with this: God commands perfection in order for anyone to cross over from this life and on into heaven for all eternity. We must be found innocent and without blemish before we can sit and feast at His table someday. In and of ourselves, this cannot be achieved. But by faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone – we are now counted as righteous and worthy to enter into His presence. The LORD no longer looks at our past sins – but instead, runs to us with more than just a flying hug. He runs to us with the promise of unending love and eternal life in Heaven with Him. May Jesus Christ be praised!      

Diversity: Why too much of it can be harmful

A few years ago, I had the privilege (and I use the word lightly here) of working for the Walt Disney Company. It was a short-lived career due to the fact that the wages earned there are simply not enough to sustain any viable human being for more than a few days. This is a quagmire that still baffles me to this day: How a multi-billion dollar, world-wide entity such as Disney can pay its cast members so far below the minimum standards after what they pull in on a yearly basis. Can you say, “Wal-Mart”? As usual, I need to digress back into the main point here so as not to go too far off the track. I make mention of my short-lived Disney career for good reason: The topic of diversity. Every Disney employee (whoops, I mean ‘cast member’) goes through what is known as ‘Disney University’ on their first day of work. Simply stated, it is an 8 hour orientation of how everything flows at the big D. You get to do all sorts of fun things like stand up in front of a room full of 200 strangers and tell them who you are and where you’re from and why you want to work here so bad. I have no problem dealing with large crowds when it comes to certain things (music, entertaining, teaching, etc). This however, bugged me – and somehow I still managed to make them laugh with my answer. (When asked why I desired to work for Disney I simply replied, “Who wouldn’t want to work for a rodent? They’re just too cute, man”).

All that aside, one of the things they put us through that morning was a slightly-veiled form of diversity training. Whether anyone believes it or not, everyone has an agenda – even if they say they don’t. A video began to play up on a big screen – the scene opened up with these two women who were Disney cast members working behind the same counter (some kind of gift shop, I suppose). One was an older woman, the other was a young, twenty-something girl. They portrayed the older woman as an annoying Christian who was trying to share her faith with the younger girl (who seemed to be getting frustrated). The older woman pestered the younger girl many times about ‘getting saved before it was too late’. The point of the video was pretty clear: Working here, you will come across many different people of many different faiths and beliefs – basically, keep your faith to yourself while on the job. Why they chose to use my faith as a prime example spoke volumes to me at the time – why not use Islam as an example in your badly-produced videos instead? Perhaps Disney was afraid of the possible violent repercussions of such a thing from that so-called religion of peace? This annoyed me at first according to everything I hold to as a born again Christian. I later realized that even though I am called to share the truth of the gospel whenever I can, perhaps there are chosen times and places ordained by the Lord to do so. Even though this diversity training bugged me at first, I can sort of understand where Disney is coming from in doing this. Diversity in the work place is to be expected.

As a Christian, I am called to not only be a loving person towards all people; but also a patient person regardless of what they hold to. It doesn’t mean that I need to check my God-instilled truths at the door every morning before work – the truth needs to be defended at all times and at any cost – it simply means that we need to learn how to listen to the Holy Spirit’s prompting when necessary. Should this same diversified mindset be carried into the church? Absolutely not. The Bible is crystal clear about matters of ‘being in one accord’ when it comes to the core issues of our faith. A house divided against itself cannot and will not stand. We can agree to disagree on the non-essential matters of the faith (timing of the rapture, predestination, election, whether or not Christ wore LL Bean or Timberland sandals, etc). But the things that are etched in stone in the Scriptures, (virgin birth, Deity of Christ, the resurrection, His ultimate return, salvation through Christ alone, etc) – those things we simply cannot waiver on. There can be no diversity within the church walls when it comes to the essential matters of our faith.

I really hate to bring this up but I have to and for good reason: There is a certain car that is in our church parking lot every Sunday – I see it almost all the time. They have a bumper sticker on the back of their car that simply says, “Diversity”. I wouldn’t have a problem with this if it weren’t for the other obvious, glaring issue here: Each letter of the word ‘diversity’ is in the shape or symbol of a different faith…..with the “T” being the cross of the Christian faith. You have no idea how much this irks me as a believer in Christ. In my flesh, I want to just get out of my car and rip this thing off so bad. But in my Spirit, I know that the person who put that sticker there is a creation of God, too…..just like me. So I need to love them regardless of their misunderstanding. Let me close by saying this: As the body of Christ, we cannot tolerate different beliefs of the core issues of our faith within the church walls. Just like in the Old Testament, all sin must be purged from the camp in order for the Lord God Almighty to bless us abundantly. I’m not saying that we need to implement capital punishment and stone everyone who does this – we abide under the new covenant of grace now (and thank God for that). But we do need to take a stand in Christ whenever someone tries to bring some ‘new teaching’ into our midst. I need to repeat this: We cannot allow diversity in the body of Christ when it comes to the essential, core issues of our faith. By the way, in case you were wondering: I did manage to share my faith with a few cast members while I was there at Disney – and they loved the fact that I was bold enough to do so at the time – even though they didn’t agree with me. But here’s the key: I didn’t pester them. I suppose working for the rodent wasn’t all that bad after all.

-Primo Apuzzo