We're Still in the Starting Blocks

I'll admit it. Even though I did not vote for Trump, nor did I ever feel any confidence in his candidacy, I did breathe a sigh of relief when Pennsylvania turned red, and Fox News called the Presidential election in his favor.

I'm still not confident in his future administration, and I do not feel that Christianity has won a huge victory. I am, however, relieved that Hillary Clinton did not win the election. At least now, there's a chance (a small chance) that the next round of Supreme Court justices will be friendly toward religious liberty. There is a chance that the executive branch of government might back off churches and para-church organizations. It's possible, but not guaranteed.

All that said, many of my Christian friends are actively celebrating this election. Seeing the nation outright reject a pro-abortion, anti-religion, anti-Second Amendment candidate is reassuring. It tells us our nation may not be too far gone. However, seeing this victory as a win for Christianity might amount to counting the chickens before they're hatched.

It's easy to look at an election win and think that things are okay, or that they're even getting better. However, elections do not effect change in the hearts of people, and if we are to see America truly come alive, it'll take more than a Trump victory to make that happen.

In Isaiah 6, Isaiah notes that he saw the vision of the Lord, high and lifted up on His throne in the Temple, in the year that King Uzziah died. King Uzziah was a Godly king who restored a certain level of greatness to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Despite his sin that led to his untimely death, hs is regarded as a king who did right in the sight of God. Upon his death, his son Jotham became king. Jotham had been running the kingdom since Uzziah contracted leprosy as a punishment for unlawfully entering the Holy Place in the Temple. Jotham was also a good king, a Godly king, one who did right in the sight of God.

It would have been easy for Isaiah to think that, with Jotham's coronation, everything was going to be okay. However, it was at that time that Isaiah saw the vision of God in the Temple. Upon seeing this vision, Isaiah was reminded of his sin, his nation's sin, and was then told that his nation would rebel against God until the captivity came. Isaiah had work to do in order to reach those who would repent. He would be charged with speaking God's truth, and calling the nation to repent.

Despite the glimmer of hope that the 2016 election might have presented, we still live in a society where partial birth abortion is seen as a legitimate form of birth control to which a woman has a right. Sexual immorality is still being normalized. The family continues to break down. Younger Americans still want to trade in the opportunity of freedom for the "security" of socialism. And America continues to turn away from God, His church, and His Word.

Our work as Christians, pastors and missionaries did not come together and conclude with the 2016 election, it's just beginning. This is going to be a long race, and we are still in the starting blocks.

This election has presented us with an opportunity to spread God's word and spark a revival in this country. Let's not squander it.

Is it a sin to... ?

Anyone who has been in ministry any amount of time has been asked questions that begin with, "Is it a sin to...?" Such questions range from, "Is it a sin to drink a beer?" to "Is it a sin to watch R rated movies?" "Is it a sin to get a divorce?" "Is it a sin to listen to (country, pop, rap, rock, etc) music?"

While I understand the motivation behind these questions (I even asked some of them myself when I was younger,) the fact is that if these are the questions we are asking, we are approaching our Christian walk the wrong way. You see, just about anything can be made a sin in man's eyes (whatsoever is not of faith is sin) and almost anything can be justified in man's eyes (all things are lawful unto me, but not all things expedient.) While these questions may be asked with pure intentions, often they can spark endless and futile debate.

The question is not, "Is it a sin to...?" or "Am I allowed to...?" but rather, "What does God want me to do?"

Ephesians 2:10 says "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

We are God's workmanship, which means that God created us. Not only did He create us, but He hand-crafted us. That's what workmanship is, it is hand-crafting. Every year, Detroit creates millions of cars, but they are not hand-crafted. They are not workmanship. God created the heavens and the earth, but He spoke them into existence. The heavens and earth are not God's workmanship. However, Genesis 2 says God formed man from the dust of the earth. He hand-crafted man.

Not only did he hand-craft Adam, the first man, but he forms all people in the womb. (Isaiah and Jeremiah both speak to this, specifically Jeremiah 1:5).

God created us, He created all of us, and He created all of us with a purpose.

We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. What this means is that God created us with a purpose, and once we are in Christ Jesus (meaning, once we know Jesus as our Savior), we can know and follow that purpose for which God has created us, and He expects us to follow that purpose.

So, while moving to California and renting a two-room flat in L.A. might not be a sin per se, doing that if God wants you to go to New York is a sin. The prophet Jonah was called by God to go to Nineveh. Jonah opted to go to Tarshish. Jonah's decision, seeing that it was the opposite of what God wanted, was a sin. Not following God's will for your life is a sin.

So the question is, "What does God want me to do?" Good question. That's the one you should be asking, not whether it is a sin to consume high fructose corn syrup.

"How do I find out what God wants me to do?" Prayer, spend time studying your Bible, and take time daily to meditate on the Lord and His Word.

God bless you as you seek God's will in your life.

Booze Stooge

Part of my job as news director for KOXE is to go to the Law Enforcement Center every morning and check the police reports for any possible incident that might make a good news story. While there is an occasional robbery, or string of vehicle burglaries, most of the incident reports have to deal with DUI violations, possession of small amounts of marijuana, or disorderly conduct often caused by excessive drinking. To be quite honest, if not for the alcohol-related offenses in the stack of police reports, there probably wouldn't be much news at all come out of the Brown County Law Enforcement Center.

To be quite honest, consuming alcohol is quite popular in America. When Jacksonville, Texas, voted to allow alcohol to be sold in stores, sales tax revenues jumped. At the store my father manages, the increased sales revenues allowed him to hire an assistant manager, thus making it posssible for him to take a day off. While many people drink socially without much problem, many others have their lives destroyed by their actions while under the influence of alcohol. Given the problems and social stigma that often accompany the consumption of alcoholic beverages, my practice is to counsel people to avoid consuming alcoholic beverages.

The Bible is very clear in regard to recreational drinking. Isaiah 5:11 says, "Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, that continue until night, till wine inflame them." Isaiah 5:22 reiterates this by saying, "Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink."

People who engage in recreational drinking for the purpose of getting intoxicated are setting themselves up for disaster. Drunkeness is a sin, and it also creates situations that will not be easily resolved when the buzz wears off.

For that reason, and given the strength of alcoholic beverages today, I counsel people not to drink alcohol. (1) Despite it's popularity, recreational drinking does carry a social stigma. (2) Given the potential for recreational drinking to go too far, resulting in a drunken incident, I advise people to abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages. Why flirt with disaster? (3) Drinking alcoholic beverages does not help your relationship with Christ. You are not going to grow closer to the Lord by drinking.

Now, some will counter with the statement, "But the Bible doesn't forbid drinking." This is true, but if you are going through life trying to figure out what the Bible allows you to do, then you are approaching your relationship with God the wrong way. The question is not, "What can I do, and what can't I do?" but rather, "What should I be doing?" That's a topic for another day.

So, to sum up. Drinking is not expressly prohibited in scripture, but for a variety of reasons, I strongly advise against it.

Don't Give Up!

Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Let's face it... ministry can be downright discouraging these days. While there are churches that are growing and bursting at the seams, chances are you see empty pews when you stand behind the pulpit on Sunday morning.

Not only that, but it seems that no one is interested in hearing about God's salvation when you go out door-knocking. There have probably been days that you felt like the prophet Jeremiah, who preached his entire ministry without a convert.

Lack of "results" can have any preacher questioning his call, his methods, and questioning if he is where God wants him. Don't be discouraged.

For the past several weeks, a member of Grace Pointe and I have been knocking doors in Northwest Brownwood. The vast majority of these doors have gone unanswered, others tell us they are not interested, some don't want to hear our message and some have even refused to take our tracts. One rather famous exchange went like this:

GP Member: Sir, would you like to know about Heaven?
Resident: No. (slams door shut.)
GP Member: Wow. Times are hard when they don't want to hear about Heaven.
Leland: Actually, times aren't hard enough.

Quitting our mission of canvassing Brownwood was never an option, though we did discuss the fact that our job was to merely share the Word. That's when we had a break-through day last week.

We were invited inside twice, had four quality conversations about Christ, and even had two men pray. While their prayers stopped short of "asking Jesus into their hearts," we feel that they were made more aware of the reality of God, His coming judgment, and the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. Besides, the transaction of salvation is between them and the Lord, not between us and them.

One thing I have noticed is that those who are giving thought to eternity are highly interested in what God has to say through His word. Study after study and survey after survey tells us that people are abandoning organized religion in droves. While there may be a mass exodus of people from churches, I don't think it's the organization that they are leaving. They are not leaving church, per se, they are leaving empty religion.

To put it another way, they are not rejecting the idea of church, they are rejecting the churches of which they have been a part. Why? Most will share stories of empty traditional arguments, or hypocritical pastors and leaders, some even point out doctrinal error (what the pastor teaches doesn't match up with what their Bible says.) So, to these people, church isn't bad, they just haven't found a good church. You see, it's not the church they are abandoning. They are setting aside a church that has abandoned God.

The question has often been posed, "Has the church become irrelevant?" If the church has abandoned God's word, or the Gospel, it has. This empty establishment is being left behind in the dust, despite its efforts at marketing, contemporary worship, reducing preaching (ironically), and increasing its appeal to "seekers."

I submit that the vast majority of churches have abandoned God's word in favor of crafting a message and looking for validation in God's word. Many pastors have left expository preaching for topical preaching. Often, these topics and sermons are crafted entirely in the mind of the preacher before God's word is even consulted. An example might be using Proverbs 29:18 to promote building and expansion programs. I once heard a preacher preach on Christ's prayer in the Garden while the disciples slept. His main point was that we need to be better friends to each other than the disciples were to Christ. (The theme here had more to do with Christ preparing to go to the cross than with the sleeping disciples.)

The modern "seeker" isn't looking for a rock concert with a how-to sermon attached to the end of it. The "seeker" is seeking God's word and its counsel. The church and preacher that are able to exegete God's word and teach what it says will be the church that is successful in the coming years. The American people have had their fill of cattle excrement over the past couple of generations. Substance will now prevail.

So, don't seek to convey what you think or say, and don't try to teach what other great preachers have taught. Preach the word and teach what God has to say. It will bear results. I'm not promising that you'll have a Billy Graham style crusade, but you will see the Word work in the lives of those who listen, and you will see God move. After all is said and done, isn't that really what it is about?

GAP on the brain

Did you know that between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 that God created a perfect world which was totally wrecked by Satan when he fell from Heaven? It's there. I mean, you won't read about it in Genesis 1, but it happened. How do I know? Because so many ABA preachers have made it a point to advocate the theory known as the Gap Theory.

The theory works like this.

God is not the author of confusion, and we have to find a way to explain the dinosaur fossils that are buried deep within the earth's surface.

So, we have the recorded account of Lucifer (aka Satan, aka the devil) falling from Heaven in Isaiah 14. We have the earth being without form and void in Genesis 1:2. So what must have happened, is that God created a perfect world in Genesis 1:1. Then Satan fell from Heaven between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, meaning God had to reconstruct the world throughout the rest of Genesis 1.

Here are my thoughts on the gap theory.

#1. Why is the gap theory being preached as Gospel truth? Seriously, I have heard it preached as if it were as much a part of the Gospel as the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our sins according to the scriptures.

#2. How can the gap theory be true when Romans 5:12 says "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men for all have sinned?" It seems Romans 5:12 blames the death and destruction of this world on sin, not the fall of Lucifer from Heaven. Granted, it was Satan who led man to sin, but he was not the one who brought death. (Which refutes other teachings on Adam and Eve that I will share at a time that I am so inclined.).

#3. The destruction described in Isaiah 14:17 does not describe what Lucifer did to the world between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. Man had not been created, therefore there were no cities to destroy. Man could not have died, because sin had not entered the world (By Adam, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, remember?) No, Isaiah 14:17 are the words of the people who will see Satan face his final judgment in the end. They are describing what Satan did throughout human history and more notably the Great Tribulation, not what he did in the beginning.

#4. Don't hang the gap theory on the nail of Hebrew translation. Many great false doctrines and cults have been started as a result of "alternate" translations of the original language.

I could go on, but I will stop.

I do not make the gap a point of fellowship, but I grow tired of those who subscribe to the gap theory accepting it and pushing it as a Bible doctrine as solid and clear as salvation by grace through faith, wages of sin being death, the atonement of Jesus Christ on the cross, and love for each other being our supreme witness for the fact that we are children of God... and quit referring to Genesis 1 as "the reconstruction."