September 11, 2001. If you are more than 23 or 24 years old you probably remember exactly where you were
when our country was attacked. We watched, shocked, as the Towers fell. We honored, in various ways across the nation, those first responders. We were in awe and humbled when we heard about the heroes on Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. At that time there was a great outporing of love and caring. many prayers were prayed. Right here in Sullivan, a special prayer meeting was called by the Ministerial Association and the church was filled almost to capacity. The Sunday after the attack churches across the land reported their largest attendances in years. But there was another emotion brewing at that time ... Hatred. We may have seen an increase in patriotism and an outpouring of support for our military and first responders but we also saw a rise in animosity towards those who don't look like us or hold the same views as us. It became acceptable to hate and, sadly, this hatred has spilled over into all areas of our culture. When I was younger the saying was," I may not agree with your but I will defend, to the death, your right to believe it." Now it seems the saying goes, "I do not agree with your and I will kill you." And, also sadly, I'm afraid this hatred has crept into the church. It is acceptable, almost encouraged, to hate those who may not agree with us, those who do not hold our political views, or those who dress differently. Those who have names that are different than what we are used to and even those who do not hold to the same moral values as we do are looked down upon, even hated, in many of our churches! We do not want to share the gospel of a loving Savior who looked upon the lowest in society He lived in and reached out to them. The woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery, and Zaccheaus the tax collector were all hated by society but sought out by Jesus. Too many of us have bought the devil's lie that we should hate instead of love. Please do not misunderstand me: I am not saying that should compromise the truth of the Scripture to accommodate what others believe or how they want to live their lives. However, there is no room in Christianity for hatred. we should hate the sin in our own lives but we should not ever hate people. So, how should we treat our enemies? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say unto you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven." (Mt. 5:43-45a) While the world is telling us to hate those who wrong us, Jesus calls us to love them. We are even told to love those that do the unthinkable to us. Jesus' command feels impossible in light of the terrible tragedies in our lives. It's easier to hate those that are different from us or that have wronged us. However, followers of Jesus are called to look at the world through the eyes of eternity. In the end, our differences aren't what matters. Other humans aren't our enemies. In Ephesians, the apostle Paul writes: "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places: (Eph. 6:12). What matters most is that Jesus loves each person enough that He was willing to die for them. "But to your who are listening, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back." (Lk 6:26-30) Jesus loved those who hated Him -- even you and I. When we were "still sinners", and essentially a Jesus-hater, "Christ died for us". Those who are unbelievers, even those who hate Christians, need to know that they are truly loved by Jesus and by us because, "He first loved us" (1J. 4:19)
0 Comments
Aww, spring is in the air! And that means Spring Break is just around the corner and with that, for many, ROAD TRIP! Yes, many will take advantage of this week to get out of the cold of Indiana and travel to a warmer climate like Florida or Texas or some other sun-drenched paradise. But spring break lasts for only a week then it is back to the grind and, who-knows-what-kind-of-weather Indiana. But we have the possibility to take an even more amazing journey -- one that will last a lifetime and bring more joy and greater memories than any “one-week” excursion would ever bring. “The Journey from Fear to Security” -- In Acts 16, Paul and Silas are in the city of Philippi, where they are preaching and leading many to faith in Jesus Christ. As a result, some of the local businessmen were not happy and had Paul and Silas thrown in prison. God provides a miracle and Paul and Silas and all of the prisoners are able to escape and get away. Great fear comes upon the jailer, because he is responsible for the prisoners. He is afraid he will lose his life. In fact, he is at the point of taking his own life when Paul tells him that they are all there. As a result, the jailer and his entire family come to faith in Jesus Christ. Many, like the jailer, are paralyzed by fear: fear of the unknown, fear of death, fear of eternity. This fear has caused people to do some pretty outrageous things like freezing themselves upon death in the hope that in a later time they be unfrozen, cured and live a regular life. Some, in their fear, have denied the existence of God or the truth of the Scripture that leads to eternal life, hoping against hope that the Scriptural teaching on salvation and eternal life is not true. But, like the Philippian Jailer, belief in Jesus conquerors that fear. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved…” (Acts 16:31 NKJV) The fear of death can be replaced by the calmness of security. Jesus said, “Whoever believes in Him [Jesus] should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16b NKJV) We can go on that amazing journey from fear to security! “The Journey from Lostness to Salvation” -- Zacchaeus. If you have spent any time in Sunday School, you know the story of Zacchaeus. You probably even know the song: “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he”. Well, you know. Zacchaeus was not only a little man, he was an extremely wealthy man. He was a tax collector, hated among his fellow Jews, but done correctly (illegally) could make one very wealthy. In all of his wealth Zacchaeus discovered something: all the money and all the stuff in the world could not fill the emptiness he felt in his life. Too many have found that the security they put in money and possessions is never enough and the fear is that they will never be filled. Enter Zacchaeus, the man who had everything he wanted, except peace. Zacchaeus knew that his money was not going to get him to heaven. He had heard of Jesus, like many of us. But unlike too many of us, he beat a path to find Jesus. He couldn’t see Jesus from the sidewalk but he didn’t let that obstacle keep him from getting to Jesus; he climbed a tree. Jesus sees him, goes to his house for supper, and declares that salvation has come to his house. Not because of his money or his possessions but because “whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Rom. 10:13 NKJV) The journey from lostness to salvation for Zacchaeus led to a complete change in lifestyle and a life that was so much happier with so much less. “The Journey from Confusion to Faith” “I’m not what I ought to be, I’m not what I’m going to be. But, thank God, I’m not what I was!” This could pretty much said of the man called, many times, the Gadarene Demoniac. How unfair it is to him! But his journey is one from “Confusion to Joy.” We meet the Gadarene in Mark chapter 5. He is a man that society has given up on. He has serious, very serious mental and emotional problem. He is a danger to himself and society so he is placed in a place where he cannot hurt anyone -- a grave yard. It is this man, a man that everyone has given up on, that Jesus makes a special point of seeing, telling us that no one is beyond the healing, saving hand of the Lord. The Gadarene is not only mentally and emotionally unstable, he is also confused. When Jesus meets him his response is, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” (Mark 5 NKJV) This man is confused, society has abandoned him, what does Jesus have to do with him? Nobody cares about him, they would just as soon he died as anything else. Yet, here is Jesus, reaching out to him. Who do you and I need to reach out to? Jesus heals him. All of the demons that ravaged him are cast out and the man reclaims his right mind. In his joy he begs to follow Jesus, but Jesus tells him to go home and tell his friends what has happened to him. To many who are confused: confused by too many voices telling them too many different things. To many who have sought different ways to find peace and joy and are just left confused, Jesus is the answer. “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:6a NKJV). Many may take a well-deserved, much needed trip during Spring Break but it will not take away the fear or fill the lostness, or clear up the confusion we have in our lives. I encourage to take a truly amazing journey -- the journey of life in Jesus. It will be an eternal journey!
Hurricanes in the south, fires in the west, an earthquake in Mexico has brought a lot of questions like, "Is this the end of the world?" or "Is God punishing America?"
As I look at this situation, first of all, no matter why this is happening, our prayers and our support needs to be given to those who have been affected. But, as I look at this, I don't see this as punishment. I'm really tired of seeing all the people who are saying that the hurricanes in the south were God's punishment of homosexuals! If God were punishing the homosexuals, He would also be punishing adulterers and those who practice pre-, post-, or extramarital sex, which are just as much sin. God, though, has every right to punish us. A hurricane everyday would not even be unfair. As a nation, we have turned our backs on holiness and embraced sinfulness. We have taken the preciousness of life and made it a choice. Our nation has killed over 50 million people since Roe v Wade. Teachers, first responders, and military personnel do not make a liveable wage, why?. Because we do not have enough taxpayers. Roads are not taken care of, school buildings are in disrepair, why? Because we don't have enough taxpayers. So, if this is punishment, we certainly deserve it. Personally, I think that the fact that we can't do any of these things is our punishment. But I don't look at the natural disasters as punishment, I see the enormous power of God. This powerful God, this One who has the power to take everything I hold dear, all my possessions, my house, my family, MY LIFE, away from me in a heartbeat. I have no power against this God. I cannot stand against Him or stop Him. So I want to do everything I can to make this God happy. I want to Him to say, when my life does end, "Hey, you, yeah you. Come on in, you're ok. You made me happy." So I'm investigating , to find out what I need to do. Here's what I find out: this God left heaven and came to earth; He took the form of a man, His name is Jesus; He lived among us. and because this God is so holy, the one thing that has to happen for me to make Him happy is to be able to come into His presence and I can't do that if I have sin in my life. The problem is, I can't do anything to get rid of it; there has to be a sacrifice, a perfect, unblemished sacrifice. So God came from heaven to earth as Jesus. He lived a perfect life, no sin, ever, and because of that He was an acceptable sacrifice for me. All this took place, but how do I make Him happy? How do I hear, "Hey, you, yeah you. Come on in?" Jesus said God loves us so much that He came to earth (God the Son, Jesus) and that if we believe in Him, He would be happy. Ok, well, that easy enough; I believe in a god, because I hear about a whole bunch of them; you know, Buddha, Mohammed, and all the rest. But then Jesus said something else. Now, remember, I'm looking to make this amazing, awesomely powerful God, the One who can take away everything in a heartbeat, happy. So whatever He says is good enough for me and I'm going to believe Him. So Jesus said that He is the only way to make God happy. The only way I can get to be with God is through believing in Jesus. No one else. All the other gods don't mean anything; in fact they don't even exist! If I put my trust in anything else other than Jesus, I have no hope. To make God happy I have to believe that He died on the cross for my sin and that He rose from the dead. By His sacrificial death He made it possible for my sin to be forgiven; nothing separates me from God the Father any more and by His resurrection from the dead he made it possible for me to live forever with this , awesomely powerful God! So it's not punishment, but a demonstration of His power. A demonstration that we all should seriously investigate. Thank you, Jesus, for the love that brought You from heaven to earth for me. Thank you, Father, for loving me so much that You were willing for Your Son, Your only Son, to take my place on a cruel cross, to die in my place. Thank You that I will hear, "Hey you, yeah you. Come on in. You have made me happy!" So I'm sure you have seen it, I mean, a lot of people are doing it -- posting Scriptures on Face Book. And, not only that, they are also "challenging" others to do it also. The thing is, most of the people doing this are women, posting cutesy flower, rainbows, etc. Now, to me, this was fine but then it happened -- I got challenged! There it was -- plain as day -- my sweet wife, challenging me to post a Scripture each day and challenge two others to also do it. I couldn't believe it. Now I was faced with a dilemma, not a dilemma about Scripture, I love the Scriptures and I am not ashamed of my relationship with God, but there was a problem here -- I'm a man. In 35 years of being a pastor I have learned a few things, for instance, men don't sing, men don't post Scriptures on FB. My thought was, "I don't want to be the only guy posting these Scriptures." so I ignored the request. This was kind of an awkward situation because my wife kept asking me when I was going to post my Scripture and I would suddenly get an acute hearing loss. Then, as I would look at FB and the posts that I was receiving and it kind of began to bother me. Now, because I am a pastor, a Southern Baptist pastor no less, and because I tend to lean, or pretty much align, with a conservative view point. Because of this I get a lot of "right-wing" type of postings. I'm not saying I don't read them and I do agree with some of what I read (you'd be an idiot to believe all of it) but I don't believe the answer to our problems depend on who we elect to office. We have already seen that little, if anything, has changed since a Republican majority was elected. The answer is Jesus. Plain and simple.Those who walk without Jesus walk in darkness. Their plans and agendas are made in darkness. They cannot see what is in front of them and are being led, not by the Light, but by the Prince of Darkness. It is foolish for us to think that those who walk and think in darkness can lead us into anything but more darkness. So, we need to have more Scripture posted on FB. We need to share His Word -- it is a LAMP unto our feet and a LIGHT unto our path! So I am posting my daily Scripture for 7 days and I will take whatever consternation men may heap on me. We had to have our dog, Curly, put to sleep this past Wednesday. We had had her for 16 or 17 years and we had grown quite fond of her. Even though it was my daughter who asked to bring her home she was really my dog. Curly was a real timid dog and when someone would come into the house she would run and jump on my lap on couch. In fact, she spent a lot of time laying beside me on the couch. In the summer when I would take her outside she would wander around the yard while I liked to just look at the stars. We both enjoyed those evenings. But she could also be very frustrating. I think, the last five years the only time I got a full nights sleep was when I would be away from home. She liked to wake me up 2 hours after I went to bed, no matter what time it was, to go outside and many evenings she would decide she wanted to stay up until 4 or 5 in the morning. After I came home from the vet on Wednesday I posted a picture of Curly on Facebook, as a tribute to here. I checked FB on Thursday, the post was buried so deep in the other posts that I knew no one would ever see it again. Somehow that didn't seem fair to me, I mean Curly brought us such joy and companionship and, as animals do, unconditional love (well, as long as I would get up and take her out and feed her also) that I thought she deserved more than that. I know, she was just a dog but she was our dog. She brought us a lot of joy. Thank you Lord. I think the hardest thing I have ever done was take my daughter to college. She goes to Union University in Jackson, TN, which is 51/2 hours away. I'll never forget taking her and moving her in her dorm in August of 2009. Move in day was Saturday and after a long day of carrying way too much stuff up to her second floor room there was a worship service for all the new freshmen and their families that evening. At the end of the service the President said, "We're going to have a time of prayer for all the freshman. Would all the family members please move to the outside of the room and all the freshmen move to the center of the auditorium." After a time of prayer he then said, "Say goodbye to your children now, we will take good care of them!" To say the least, it was very unexpected, at least it was for me. But we made it through the remainder of the weekend without seeing her and things moved along alright. But the hardest thing has been saying goodbye. It seems like that all we do is say good bye. She comes home for a few days or we go there for a couple of days but we always, too soon, say goodbye. I know my daughter is where she is supposed to be and I have seen her grow up in so many ways but I hate the goodbyes! It makes me all the more grateful knowing that there will soon be a time when we will never say goodbye. I think that if I didn't have that hope the separation now would be too much -- It just wouldn't be worth it. But there will be a time when we will never say goodbye! I am so thankful for that hope!!
The title of the article caught my eye, "Pastor delivers anti-gay rant, suggest building electric fence around 'queers and homosexuals'" I knew what was coming, it was everything I expected it to be. Do not get me wrong I am not in favor of legalizing "gay" marriage and I am not going to tell you that I think that each person should be allowed to make their choices and live their own lives. First of all, marriage was ordained or invented, if you will, by God and He ordained it to be between a man and a woman -- "A man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife". Therefore, though I am fully aware that governments use the term, "marriage", in a legal way, I do not believe gay marriage exist. I know it does in the legal sense but it does not exist in the eyes of God. I will not endorse gay marriage nor the homosexual lifestyle. But I do not consider myself to be homophobic; I believe adultery is wrong also. I believe any type of sexual activity outside of marriage is wrong. But I do not, more than anything, want to be lumped in with the preacher in North Carolina. (I call him "preacher" I would not bring dishonor to the name and call him "pastor")
I have committed many sins in my life -- today! Some of the things that I do over and over again must make my Heavenly Father want to "puke" (the preacher's term). But, you know, I come to Him and, sincerely, confess and repent and you know what? He forgives me! Why? Because He loves me. I don't know why. What I want people, and in this article I am writing about homosexuality, to understand is that even if someone has or is engaging in this behavior ( it is called sin) there is One who loves them and will forgive and restore them. Just like He does me, everyday! My Father, whom I openly(I hope) profess to love and serve, loves me and has commanded me to love others. Therefore, I refuse to hate those who do not live like I would like them to. But I also refuse to compromise Truth to go along with the crowd ( or actually what I believe is the media induced belief because what we have seen in state after state is that voters do not approve of gay marriage). So what am I trying to say? Well, I would like to be known as someone who preaches the Biblical truth, not as I believe it but as God intended it and as someone who loves all people regardless of who they are and what they have done or are doing so that others may see Jesus in me. |
Archives
September 2019
Categories |