So baby murderer Kermit Gosnell has given up his right to appeal his sentence “in exchange for avoiding a possible death sentence,” CNN.com reports on its “Justice” web page. You may be thinking, some justice that this murderer gets life after taking so many innocent ones. I know exactly how you feel.
However, I want to go back to what I wrote yesterday:
Yesterday Kermit Gosnell was found guilty on three of the four charges of baby murder. Much rejoicing was seen on social media and some not so Christlike comments followed on. While I understand the desire for vengeance, no one fights this urge greater than me, we must remember that we have a God of justice even when injustice seems to rule the land. Solomon reminds us:
Last week was a tough week for me. Dealing with the issues of life was trying enough, but knowing what our present government has become in light of the Benghazi hearings it is enough to think of our nation as hopeless. If I were to look horizontally, that is all around me, for signs of hope I would have good reason to think of things as hopeless. But while I am living in this world, I am not of it because I am a child of the one true King as the Matthew West song proclaims.
The early church in Thessalonica felt this same despair in worrying of whether or not they had missed Jesus’ second coming. The Apostle Paul assure this church they had not and that no matter what they were facing, or whatever we are facing, the church is to stand fast in the truth of the gospel. That seems easier said then done when we are hard pressed on all sides but Paul gives us the key ingredients to rock solid faith:
Abraham’s faith was accounted to him for righteousness. It manifested itself in hope. Hope in what? His hope, driven by his faith, allowed Abraham to believe God when He promised that Abraham’s seed would become a great nation. This promise came to Abraham at the ripe age of 75 and his faith in God’s promise caused him to take his family and leave Haran. The Apostle Paul reminded the Roman’s of Abraham’s great hope in God:
What is hope, other than something needed in large portions today? Hope is defined in my Thomson Chain-Reference Bible as “a confident expectation in things beyond this world.” We could use mega doses of such hope in today’s world. So many I know look at the state of our union and believe the situation to be hopeless. Perhaps it is and although I love my country, I’m not banking on my nation and its survival. My hope is not horizontal; it is vertical.
I am counting on what the Psalmist was looking towards and fashioned his life thusly:
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.
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.
You’ve no doubt heard of the Pennsylvania Army Reserve officer who gave a briefing on religious extremism and put evangelical Christianity at the top of the list followed by Catholicism. Just for the record, this was the sole act of one misguided reserve officer and not the point of view of the United States Army, at least not officially.
A colleague of mine sent me the link to the article and said, “The Army has just labeled you as an extremist.” My reply to him was, “Yes, if only we were as extreme for Christ as some believe us to be. This country would not be in the mess it is in today.”
Is there anything more frustrating for a Christian than someone you have witnessed to who believes in Christ but will not confess Him because of how it may be received by others? That frustration is not a rare emotion; in fact a couple of days before Christ was crucified, He experienced that same frustration:
Last night I presented this question to my social media followers and blog email list:
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.”
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.
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:
If we were to be perfectly honest, I would guess that 75% of Christians struggle the most with self-control – especially men. Whether it be lusts of the flesh, our tongues, covetousness, whatever the issue, we struggle with self-control. For many of us, we try to get to a level of temperance without first building our faith, integrity, and Biblical wisdom. And it’s not a destination either; we have to maintain those if we are to achieve and sustain self-control.
At times I like to pat myself on the pat if I have “a good week” of walking the straight and narrow, but I really shouldn’t:
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.
In his second epistle, the Apostle Peter gives us seven steps to spiritual growth.
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:
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).
Yesterday my pastor, Dr. Dennis Brunet, preached from one of my favorite passages in the Bible. This passage saw me through a very difficult time in my life. When I first came across it, it so soothed my hurting heart that the only piece of paper I could find in my room was an envelope. I wrote this passage on the envelope and carried it with me every where I went. It became very worn from unfolding and folding it dozens of times. It literally brought me the peace of God:
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:
