by Wade Crews | Sep 25, 2017
Last week we saw and heard the leader of the free world use language that should not come from a professional lectern. There are certainly wiser and more civil ways to express a viewpoint than to lower yourself to that kind of verbal behavior. Ironically, the “lowering” was in response to professional athletes not standing during the playing of the National Anthem. The President even called for a boycott of the NFL.
I understand the issues are big. One might say “huge.” I also understand there are very strong opinions on all sides of the discussions. I find it perplexing that men (most of them millionaires), who play for the NATIONAL Football League won’t stand during the NATIONAL Anthem (which honors the flag of the nation which made them millionaires). I do NOT however deny their right to protest in any way they see fit.
You see, I have served in the military (U.S. Navy), so I hurt with every other veteran who hurts while watching the Anthem protests. I had to stand in a movie theater (on base) every time I went to the movies, because the National Anthem was played before every showing. I had to stop at dusk every time “colors” was played and render a salute in the direction of the flag every time it was retired for the day. I also “served” and retired from a 25-year career in the Federal Government from an agency that both protected society and helped ensure the rights of citizens to protest and peaceably assemble among others. I am a defender of the constitution and as an American I live under its authority and liberties.
Interestingly, both in the Navy, as well as the government, and now as a pastor, (and quite frankly, everywhere I have ever worked), there was a Code of Conduct. I was and am not allowed to behave in a way that would embarrass or create a negative reflection upon my employer. Whether I watch another NFL game or not is my private decision, but my public behavior is open for inspection by all. Unfortunately, it does not look like there is a Code of Conduct in either the NFL or Elected Office.
Here are a few Codes of Conduct Christians should live by. I try but fail more often than I would like to admit.
- And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.
- Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
- Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
- Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
I purposely left out the verse references so it would encourage you to read the “Code of Conduct manual,” because when you find it for yourself you are more likely to retain it. ….oh, and finally
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Go forth and sin no more…
by Caleb Gordon | Sep 13, 2017
Recently, a friend sent me a sermon and asked what I thought of it. It was from a demonization that has had a lot of upheaval in the past decade. Nevertheless, I watched about 10 minutes of this message. That’s all I could stomach.
In 10 minutes this “pastor” told adults in the congregation that children have a better grasp of morality than they do. He said the morality of 60 years ago has vastly changed from the morality of today, and hurt feelings is a bigger sin than sexual sin. He also eluded to the idea that only certain sections of the Bible is truly inspired and the rest is just the interpretation of men.
This pastor talked about how important polls were. He gave polls more credence than the Scripture itself.
And to top this all off, he went through the percentages of their church, and out of 17,000 active members in their church 742 of them lived in a homosexual lifestyle of some sort. There was no data for how many were living in heterosexual sin outside the marriage relationship.
I finally had to turn off this broadcast. My heart was so full of anger and sadness all at the same time that I could not handle it. My whole attitude changed because of this.
This “church” spits in the face of the commands of God. It made a mockery of the Scriptures, and the thing that hurt the most is that tens of thousands of people are blindly following this church’s teaching with no thought for truth. As a result, they very well could be headed straight to the pit of hell.
Here is why this is happening.
Parents: You are not leading your families well. More particularly, MEN, you’ve neglected your responsibility so, therefore, you’ve allowed wolves to creep in and take captive your families. We need our men to move back into the role of spiritual leadership. Yes, I’m talking to you and me both! We’ve got to stop! Stop focusing on so many other things. Your kids are right in front of you. Here is the best place for me to start.
LEAD THEM. Be the servant that will give up your life for them.
PRAY WITH THEM. Take time each day to pray over them. They need it.
TALK MORE. Phones are going to be the death of us! I know. I’m guilty. Just ask my kids. They want to talk more, and there will come a time when they won’t want to talk. What’s wrong with me?
GET IN THE WORD MORE. My tribe needs me to be in God’s Word more! They need to see me in it. I need to lead by example.
BE MORE INVOLVED IN YOUR CHURCH. What is happening at your church is going to matter in years to come. Good or bad. And if you’re involved, you can help make sure it’s good stuff that is happening at your church. Be PRESENT.
My prayer is that my heart changes. I need Jesus more than I need anything else. I really need to be focused on things that are eternal.
I am my biggest problem! You are your biggest problem! We need to stop focusing on me and start focusing on Jesus and what HE WANTS!
God help me!
by Jimmy Kinnaird | Aug 16, 2017
Pastor, do you want to see more people surrender their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ? Then stop preaching about the Gospel. Preaching about the Gospel does not save. Jesus did not call you to preach about the Gospel. He called you to preach the Gospel and to preach it every week. There is a difference. It’s a difference that makes it important enough for you to continue reading.
Here is a scenario to throw some light on this important issue: We go to church to worship. We sing, we pray, we give and we hear a message. The message may start off with a Scripture, or the Scripture is read during the message. So far, so good. The message continues; it may be a finely-tuned expository sermon from the Psalms or out of Paul’s letters. It could be a topical sermon on marriage, or decision making, using various Scriptures and biblical principles. That’s all good. The format is not really the issue. The issue is the Gospel.
The 23rd Psalm, for example, may be preached verse by verse and even word by word in expository fashion. The hearers will come to understand the historical/grammatical background of David’s Psalm. They may learn how God cares for His people as a good shepherd cares for the sheep. They may learn more of David’s personal relationship with God. They may learn of the many ways God looks after His children. They may learn a lot of things, but will they hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached in this message?
The question I ask of you pastor is this: Are you really preaching the Gospel or are you just preaching about the Gospel? Go back and look at your sermons over the last few months. Where in the sermon did you present the sinfulness of the human condition, the holiness of God, the love of God in sending His only Son Jesus Christ, the obtaining of eternal life for believers through the bloody cross of Christ and the empty tomb and the application of that through repentance and faith in a living Lord? Where in your preaching was this specifically done? Pastor I love you, but making reference to the Gospel is not preaching the Gospel. You are doing a disservice to your church and to the Kingdom of God, and it must stop. It must stop for your own soul’s sake. It must stop for the sake of your reward.
I know you love Jesus. I know you believe every word of the Holy Bible. I know you are saved by the blood of Christ and the regenerating power of the Spirit. I know you believe that there is no other name under heaven whereby men and women, boys and girls are saved. I don’t doubt this a moment. But something has happened. The Gospel of Christ has gotten lost in all of our verbiage.
I was a lead pastor for 18 years. I’ve worked in various denominational positions for 13-plus years. I’ve preached a lot of sermons, and I’ve sat and listened to many more. The trend I am noticing is pastors referring to the Gospel many times, but actually preach it just a few. Pastor, when you give an invitation to accept Christ at the close of your message, we who are sitting on the other side of the pew need you to have preached the Gospel first. I find it personally frustrating to hear a very fine message on some topic, with no Gospel presented, then for the pastor to ask a person to accept a salvation they have yet to hear. Either put the Gospel in your message or make the invitation a time to respond to what was already in the content of that message.
Here is the remedy I propose for our failure to keep our preaching Christ-centered. It’s rather simple, but useless if not practiced. Pastor, I suggest when you write your sermon, you go back and look at it with the lens of the major points of the Gospel: Who God is, God’s purpose, who man is, man’s problem, God’s solution and man’s choice. There should be an intersection somewhere in the message for a point of the Gospel. You can start at any point and then work your way around. But the question you can ask as you prepare your sermon draft is this: Where in this message is the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ going to be delivered?
The Apostle Paul wrote: “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Tim. 4:1–5, ESV).
There are many ways you can do the work of an evangelist, but you are the only one who can put the Gospel in your Sunday message. I implore you to examine yourself and your teaching. Do the work of an evangelist. Preach the good news of Jesus, preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
by Angela Sanders | Aug 7, 2017
“God really moved!”
“God did something amazing here!”
“God really showed up!”
It’s that season again.
Picture after picture after picture of people engaged in corporate worship through song, hands raised, eyes closed, appears on my feed, and caption after caption after caption suggests I may have missed out on something really special.
Again.
You see, I don’t often experience the kind of emotion I see in pictures like these when participating in corporate song services.
I have, but I generally don’t.
My heart does settle at the truth of some lyrics we sing, but it also jumps at the questionable theology in others. I am encouraged by the sound of voices near me because they reassure me I’m not the only one who believes, but I’m also distressed by the ability of some of my brothers and sisters in Christ to sing with abandon, then treat others so poorly. My eyes do well with tears from time to time, but that’s usually a response to personal circumstance rather than an acute awareness of God’s presence in the moment.
I’m not saying what others experience isn’t real. I wouldn’t dare. It just hasn’t been my experience, not often.
Still, I know God is near.
He stirs the clouds and makes the birds outside my window sing. He brings Bible verses to mind when I’m not sure what to say or do. He opens my eyes to the pain of those who oppose me and gives me genuine compassion for them. He ministers to my children’s hearts in ways I never could and gives my husband the resolve and ability to love me well. When anxiety sucks the very air from my body, He helps me breathe.
And that’s just today.
Be careful, friends. Some corporate worship experiences are more impactful than others, to be sure, but God doesn’t “show up.”
“In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). He never ever leaves.
by Angela Sanders | Jul 25, 2017
“But we can’t afford it!”
“Viola, if we’re going to follow Jesus, we need to follow Him all the way, and that means giving a tenth of what we make back to God.”
“But how are we going to keep ice in the ice box?”
“The Lord will provide. You’ll see. We just have to be faithful.”
Six-year-old Nadine, the oldest of her siblings, hid in the hallway doing her best not to be heard by her parents. She knew she shouldn’t be listening, but couldn’t help it. Something had changed in her little family, and she needed to understand.
The year was 1930. Nadine’s daddy, the center of her little universe, had been to a revival meeting and decided to follow Jesus Christ. After his example and in response to his unbridled enthusiasm and joy, Nadine’s mother had done the same. Now the two were working out the particulars of this new life they’d chosen.
Unsure what to think about it all at first, Nadine had been watching and listening. Her daddy, Bonnie Bill Collins, had always been a gentle and energetic man, but now he seemed lit up from the inside. Determined that his little family would know and believe the simple message of grace that had melted his heart and made it better, he’d been devouring his Bible and passing the contents along.
Always a parent-pleaser, Nadine wanted to believe, but needed proof that Jesus was real before she put her hope in Him. Hiding in the hallway, eavesdropping on her parents, she hatched a plan. Nadine would put this Jesus to the test, and if He passed, she would give Him her heart.
For the next many months, Nadine watched. From her daddy’s lap, she watched him give, and from her bedroom window, she watched the iceman come.
He never missed. Not once.
Quietly convinced, Nadine gave her little heart to Jesus.
After her example, Nadine’s children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren would one day do the same, and Jesus would light them all up from the inside.
This, the story of my maternal grandmother, is both an inspiring and cautionary tale.
On one hand, the choices you make impact others. On the other hand, the choices you make impact others.
And you never know who’s watching.
by Caleb Gordon | Jul 18, 2017
I’m not a fan of Rob Bell. Whatsoever. The reason I’m not a fan of what he does because he goes out of his way to make biblical Christianity look stupid, out of date and stuff that ‘normal people’ should avoid.
If you notice in the video below they are making fun of people who hold fast to Sola Scriptura (The Christian theological doctrine which holds that the Christian Scriptures are the sole infallible rule of faith and practice).
They mock the Bible itself in a very covert way, but they are mocking the Holy Scriptures in an attempt to be funny and witty. This is wrong, and I’ll go a step further to call this wicked.
He makes parents who take Deuteronomy 6 seriously about guarding their children’s minds against unbiblical things and setting them on a path that glorifies God look so outdated and archaic. He is literally attempting to shame parents who are giving their children the tools to live out a Biblical worldview. This is very, very concerning.
But this is how the devil does his work. He knows that selling you an outright lie is difficult, but if he sprinkles in humor and the mindset that you’re educated and sophisticated and enlightened, then people will buy into that lie.
On his website, Rob tells us about his new book that explains the Bible in a way that so many have missed. He tells us “Some people see the Bible as an outdated book of primitive, barbaric fairy tales that we have moved beyond. And so they ignore it, missing all of the progressive and enlightened…”
That sounds really good, doesn’t it? But many of us might miss what he’s saying here. These two words stuck out – progressive and enlightened. You see Progressivism is the support for or advocacy of social reform, AKA liberalism in disguise. It sounds good, but it will do its dead-level best to destroy the underpinnings of the Scriptures.
These are buzz words that have such deeper meanings. They are anti-Bible and anti-Christ. The reform they seek is not going after the Glory of God, like Martin Luther looked for, but rather, they want to destroy the very Book that God says brings life and freedom. The devil knows if he can distract and confuse then he’s got you.
“Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).
The devil knows that if he can keep people away from the Bible, or make it look like it’s something silly, then he’s got them. Sadly, so many are falling for this.
The last thing I want you to see is how they make the ‘Preacher’ look as though he’s uneducated and just plain stupid. He can’t answer any of the questions Rob gives him in an intelligent way. He stumbles and just sounds like a backwoods idiot, trying to look like he’s “cool.”
God through the Prophets and the Apostles literally wrote out Scripture as there were led by the Spirit. This includes the Old Testament and the New Testament. The scriptures are “God-breathed.” Scripture is the FINAL authority of our lives. If you can’t align yourself up with that, it is you who are in sin, and it is you that need to rethink your position.
This man is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and he is deceiving so many people. AVOID HIM!
You can see the video ‘interview’ here: https://www.facebook.com/trippnottyler/videos/1435445993158855/