Salt and Light Blog

The tornado tragedies in Oklahoma have once again brought to light the brevity of life and the finality of death. There will be many questions as to why this happened and why did innocent children have to die. We will have some speculate on this being an act of God bringing judgment upon the sinfulness of Oklahoma and/or America. We best tread cautiously on the last point.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was asked His opinion of a tragedy in Galilee and Jesus took the high road and avoided the obvious political trap being set for Him. Instead He asked His questioners a question, as was often His habit:

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Yesterday in Sunday School we talked about the brevity and uncertainty of life; in other words life is short and we don’t know how it is going to turn out. At least we don’t know the specifics of how this life on earth will unfold. James advises us on that:

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.” (James 4:13-16)

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This year I finally bit the bullet and joined a fantasy baseball league. Those who know me know how big of a San Francisco Giants fan I am. I love baseball and I’ve heard all the horror stories of baseball fans getting involved in fantasy leagues to the point of ridiculousness. Some even go as far as lose contact with reality and start neglecting all other things for the sake of their “team.”

I can almost see how that can happen. My fantasy baseball team is not doing so well; in fact it’s the worse team in the league. Now the majority of my team is made up of San Francisco Giants players so one would naturally think that the actual Giants team is probably in last place too. While they are not playing up to their potential, especially their pitching staff, they are still 13-7 and one game out of first place in the National League West Division.

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Our pastor Bro Dennis is beginning a men’s study on leadership. Men, if you are a member of Midway Baptist Church or live in the Florida Panhandle, please consider this an invitation to join us on Monday evenings from 6:00 – 7:30 (Bible Study begins at 6:30).

I am so looking forward to this teaching.

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Last night I presented this question to my social media followers and blog email list:

“What does the Bible think about social issues? Is it inclusive and welcoming? Is it concerned with limiting its ability to attract young people and others, including many women, who agree with the Bible on some but not all issues?”

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I’ve decided to combine the last step in our spiritual growth with its ultimate destination. Brotherly kindness is heavenly linked to love, which agape love is our ultimate destination in our spiritual growth. When we learn to love like Jesus loves, then we have arrived as a Christian. Loving like Jesus does is humanly impossible. It takes amazing grace to have this type of love. It is not human love; it is spiritual love.

The Greek word we get brotherly love from is philadelphia, yes the word from where we get our Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love as it is known. This word literally means “love for the brethren.” The brethren are fellow believers; members of the Body of Christ. If we are going to grow into Christlikeness, we must love our brothers and sisters in Christ. it is not optional:

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Last time we met we talked about perseverance. We learned that it is important that we endure and never quit knowing that our Lord Jesus Christ endured on the cross. We finished stating that if we will persevere, then the holiness, the Christlikeness, the godliness we so desperately need and hopefully desire, will follow.

The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology defines godliness as “the manner of life that is centered on God, with special reference to devotion, piety, and reverence toward Him. It can be defined as the conjunction of an attitude of devotion to God and of the consequent right conduct.”

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My pastor uses a most excellent word for perseverance: stickability. It means sticking to the task no matter how great the challenges. It means never giving up on God because He is never giving up on us. It means giving all diligence to our spiritual growth.

“But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.” (2 Peter 1:5-9)

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We have many enemies in this world. Our greatest enemy, for those without Christ, is death. Death is the enemy of God. God created life; Satan created death, despair, and disease. Suffering is the antithesis to creation. As you read the creation story in Genesis 1 you see death, despair, and disease were not a part of the original plan. In fact when God finished, the Bible tells us:

“Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:31)

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My apologies for taking so long to get to our second characteristic in spiritual growth – knowledge. After virtue comes knowledge, the type of knowledge that we get from learning about God through His holy word. We are students of God.

“But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge…” (2 Peter 1:5)

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In his second epistle, the Apostle Peter gives us seven steps to spiritual growth.

“But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5-8)

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So how do we keep from backsliding, and once we find ourselves in such a state how do we get back? The answer is simple but the execution is not always easy. It dovetails with trying to figure out God’s will for our lives. I’ve written this before but it bears repeating: so many Christians struggle with trying to figure out God’s will for their lives. Well, do you do what you already know what God wants you to do? If you know what God wants you to do, then do what He wants you to do. Jesus said:

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15)

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We never just walk away. We are prone to wander. That’s why Jesus called us sheep. Without following the sound of our Shepherd, by not remaining with the flock, we wander off. We walk into all types of danger. That’s why Jesus told the Parable of the Lost Sheep in Matthew 18 of the rejoicing of one found, not one saved, but of one found that has returned. (see Luke 15 for one saved).

“Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” (Matthew 10-14)

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Random House Dictionary defines fearlessness as “without fear; bold or brave; intrepid.” Intrepid means to be “resolutely fearless; dauntless.” Let’s rest on this last definition. To be resolutely fearless means I am resolved not to fear. It doesn’t mean fear wont’ come, it means I am resolved not to fear. What’s the difference? The difference is I am not going to focus on my fears when such thoughts and emotions come. I am going to change my focus from my fear to my Father. It means having faith in a faithful Father:

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell. Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident. One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.” (Psalm 27:1-4)

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I want to write a little more on fear. Fear is a real emotion, but as the acronym teaches fear is false evidence appearing real. Yesterday I wrote we cannot be worried about what man will do to us. Our eyes must forever be on God:

“I called on the Lord in distress; the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:5-6)

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Moral courage seems to be in short supply these days, particularly in Washington, D.C. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is set to vote on increasing the debt limit as early as today. I’ve read any number of pragmatic opinion pieces on why the Republicans have no choice but to raise the limit.

Of course they have a choice. It isn’t a matter of choice, it’s a matter of courage.

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With the two percent increase in my Social Insecurity taxes, my annual take home pay is down around $1300 annually. That’s a big chunk of change for any family. That covers the annual maintenance we budget for both cars. Karen and I are going to have to be a little more cautious where we spend money. We love to go out and eat and just hang out and so perhaps that will have to be curtailed. Nevertheless, I can tell you where I won’t be cutting back. I won’t be cutting back on my tithing.

“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation.” (Malachi 3:8-9)

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This past weekend Karen and I went to visit our oldest daughter Tiffany and her beautiful family. Her husband Ben and their son Benjamin, our precious grandson, are always such a blessing with whom to spend time. Sunday we went to church and even had the chance to worship with a friend formerly from here now living in St. Petersburg. It is something I heard in church that I must share with you this morning.

Dr. Stephen Rummage, the senior pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, FL, is a fine man of God who preaches the Word unashamedly and unapologetically. He was preaching about our being adopted into the family of God and he told the story of a young lady who was speaking with her mother about her child’s dark hair. She could not figure out how their child got dark hair since she and her husband both had light hair. Her mother said, “Well dear, your father has dark hair.” The daughter replied, “Yeah but Mom, I’m adopted.” The mother shyly replied, “Yeah I know, I keep forgetting.”

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A while back I was clearing out some old paperwork from my desk and I ran across a coupon from Karen and my favorite restaurant on Pensacola Beach, Flounders Chowder House. They had sent me a birthday coupon for a free piece of their famous key lime pie, which is actually three different key lime pies stacked onto one. Oh yes, it is good. But obviously since I still had the coupon I failed to redeem it and missed out on my key lime pie.

Too many people who come to an understanding of their need for Jesus Christ fail to allow His substitutionary work on the cross to redeem them. What is in need of redemption? Paying the ransom for our souls that our sin has brought upon us. It is too steep a price for any of us to pay. So we are shackled to our sins, a prisoner to the cost of our sin debt, unredeemed by failing to receive Christ as Lord and Savior.

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It is Day 3 of the Year 2013 and some of you may have already broken your New Years Resolution; others may be regretting them by now. Some may be like me and have not made any or even narrowed it down to one. Others may be going strong in their resolution. Whatever may be your case, I want to share with you what God put on my heart this morning.

In fact He awakened me at 3 am.

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Technorati Tags: redeemed, redemption