Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV
 
This past Sunday while I was preaching, I skipped over one of my subpoints that was actually really important.  As we were talking about false teachers and about our motivations for giving offerings in church, I talked about bad motivations for giving offerings to the Lord.  One of those bad motivations is that we might receive financial gain or good favor from God in exchange for our offerings. What I failed to mention is what our motivation should be.  Giving offerings to the Lord is an act of Worship! 
 
During a church service there is typically a time where the offering plates or baskets are passed from pew to pew. Some people don’t like passing plates. They typically think it is pushy or that it makes the church look like it is money hungry. I have heard people say that passing the plates distracts or takes away from worship.  But that is lack of an understanding about giving. Giving offerings to the Lord at church is worship! It is part of the worship service not a distraction from the worship service. 
 
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Hebrews 11:3 ESV
 
Everything we have is the Lord’s. This is His world. He has made it all by His word. Therefore, He owns it all!  As Abraham Kuyper said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign overall, does not cry, Mine!” This means that the things we have are God’s and that the only reason we have them is because God has given them to us. So, when you give offerings in church to God, you are giving back what He has given you. Remember what the Apostle Paul told the Athenians: “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything”
(Acts 17:24-25 ESV). God doesn’t NEED your money because everything already belongs to Him, and He is not served by human hands as though he needed anything. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give to the Lord. 
 
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.  And all who believed were together and had all things in common.  And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.  And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.  Acts 2:42-47 ESV (Emphasis added)
 
The church was born in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost and from the very beginning Christians were giving back to God.  Acts 2 shows that the Church was giving as an act of worship as they were responding to the Gospel.  Christ had given His life so that their sin could be paid for, so they could have peace with God and everlasting life. In response they began to give back to the Lord, by giving their offerings to serve others. They wanted to show the Love of Christ in the Gospel and to give because they had been given much.  Today should be no different. We give not to receive salvation but because we have received Salvation. This is how we can be the “cheerful givers” that God loves (2 Corinthians 9:7).
 
So next time you’re in a church service and the offering plates are passed, remember that giving is a part of worship. It’s not about getting something but about giving back to the God who gave you everything you have, who sent His Son to die on a cross to pay your sin debt. 
 
 

​Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. Psalm 115:3 ESV
 
The day that I believed that the Lord was calling me to ministry was a day set up by the providence of God as well as a day I realized God’s providence in my whole life! Let me explain. I was at church camp the summer before I started high school. Sometime during the middle of the day there was a bible study time that was not taught by the main camp preacher. The guy who was speaking that day was talking about our “testimonies” of how we became Christians. He started to talk about how he had always believed himself to have a boring testimony. He was born to believing parents who brought him to church, he was saved at a young age, he didn’t have to hit rock bottom to come to Christ. This caught my attention because he was pretty much describing my testimony as well.  Then he said that his testimony wasn’t boring, it was a great story of God’s grace and mercy.  He didn’t have to endure a rock bottom to come to Christ! He said he later realized that his upbringing by Christian parents and his lifelong discipleship in the church was God preparing him for ministry. When he said this, I knew the Lord was speaking right at me. God in His providence placed me at that camp, that day, with that speaker, so that I would realize that God in His providence had been shaping me my whole life to prepare me to serve Him and His church. John Piper defines providence as God’s purposeful sovereignty. God’s sovereignty means He can do whatever He wants whenever He wants, providence points to how God uses His sovereignty with divine purpose and design. 
 
Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” … And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. Acts 9:3-4,20-22 ESV
 
Paul (Saul in the above verse) was on his way to persecute Christians when the Lord Jesus Christ intercepted him on the road to Damascus. By God’s providence a man who was wreaking havoc on the church became one of the Lord’s Apostles. A man who once put Christians in chains became someone who by the power of the Holy Spirit led people out of the bondage of sin. But like my testimony above, God’s providence can be seen in Paul’s whole life. Paul was a Pharisee and a son of a Pharisee (Acts 23:6, Philippians 3:5), this means he was well educated in the Scriptures and zealous in his pursuit of Judaism (Galatians 1:13-14). If the gospel of Jesus Christ were a puzzle, Paul was a guy who had all the pieces set before him, he even had sections half-way put together, and on the road to Damascus he finally could see what picture the puzzle was making. In a similar way by God’s providence someone was put before you to share the gospel with you! By God’s providence your unique life experience has been preparing you for the work of every Christian, to glorify God by making disciples!
 
And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
Acts 8:27-28 ESV
 
In Acts 8, Philip walks up on this Ethiopian reading from the prophet Isaiah. What a lucky coincidence for Philip! Except it’s not luck and it’s no coincidence but the providence of God. This is a divine appointment. In verse twenty-six an angel of the Lord tells Philip to go that direction but doesn’t say why. Philip doesn’t need the why. The why was given by the Lord Jesus Christ in the Great Commission to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). The Great Commission is for us today as well. We are to “Go” and while we are going “make disciples.” Knowing who to share the gospel with is easy because we know that “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23ESV). ALL! ALL is who we share the gospel with because ALL people need the gospel! Just as God placed people in your life to share the gospel with you, He will place you in others’ lives so that they will hear the gospel from you! You might never walk up on someone who is reading a messianic prophecy from the book of Isaiah but that doesn’t mean you’ll never walk up on someone that the Lord in His providence is drawing to Himself. So go and make disciples! Take courage! Be Bold! The Lord is with us!
 
There is a lot more to be said about God’s providence. A couple years ago I bought a new book from John Piper entitled Providence. Piper is one of my favorite authors, so I knew I had to get this book. When the book came in, I was shocked. I was shocked because it is huge with over 700 pages! I thought I had a good understanding of God’s providence, but I can assure you I do not know enough to write 700 pages! The book has remained intimidating on my shelf, but I have decided to start reading it. I should be finished reading it in a couple…months! Check back later this year for a review! 

​Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20 ESV
 
My favorite color is blue, always has been. When I was kid growing up in the 90’s I always wanted to be the blue Power Ranger. When I was at the doctor’s office, I always chose a blue lollipop. At the dentist I always took the blue toothbrush. When reading a book, I always reach for my blue highlighter first. There is a blue pad of sticky notes on my desk right now. I really do like the color blue, but I will never vote for blue. 
 
I’ve always tried to be independent when it comes to elections. My loyalty is to the Lord not to a political party.  In the past, for different offices, I’ve voted for both Republicans and Democrats, but I can say today I will NEVER vote for a Democrat again. That’s not to say that I’ll always vote for Republicans, although in our mostly binary election system, that for now will probably be the case more times than not. I don’t care if a candidate is running for County Clerk or President of the United States if there is a “D” next to their name I will NOT vote for them. I will not vote for anyone who identifies themselves with the political party who champions the murder of babies and the mutilation of the image of God.  
 
I want to be clear this is not me endorsing the Republican Party or any of its candidates. This is not an attempt to get you to vote for President Trump in November. To be transparent I didn’t vote for President Trump in the Primary last month and I’m still praying and considering whether I’ll vote for him or write-in a candidate, but what I can guarantee is I won’t be voting for President Biden. 
 
The Democratic Party hates God, hates humanity, and hates Christians. If you didn’t know that you are simply not paying attention. Most recently the Democratic Party has shown this by actions taken by President Biden on Easter weekend. On Good Friday President Biden signed a declaration making Easter Sunday the “Transgender Day of Visibility.” Easter Sunday is the most important holiday for Christians, the celebration of resurrection of the Son of God. To declare Easter Sunday to be the “Transgender Day of Visibility” is nothing short of blasphemy. As you would expect this caused quite a bit of backlash from Christians across the country. On Easter Sunday the President doubled down and posted across social media a message to “trans Americans” by twisting Scripture. In it he said, “You are made in the image of God, and you’re worthy of respect and dignity.” That’s true! They are made in the image of God, and they are worthy of respect and dignity, but respect and dignity demands that we do not affirm their delusions. Respect and dignity demands that we care for them by pointing them to truth. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27 emphasis added). God decides our gender not us. God makes no mistakes. There is no such thing as a transgendered person because you cannot change your gender. There is no such thing as a non-binary person because God only makes male and female. This very declaration by President Biden, the leader of the democratic party, is a hundred percent in line with the Democratic Party’s platform. It proves that the Democratic party hates God, humanity, and Christians. Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary said, “The White House action was an affront to Christianity and to morality, to be sure.” 

​“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 139:13-16 ESV
 
There is also the issue of abortion. As Christians we believe that life begins at conception. As Southern Baptists, our doctrinal statement the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 says “We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death.” Some try to say that the Christian argument against abortion is new but that could not be further from the truth. The Didache, an early piece of Christian literature dating somewhere between 70AD to 100AD, states, “You shall not murder a child by abortion, nor kill a child at birth.” The Democratic Party platform states “We believe unequivocally, like the majority of Americans, that every woman should be able to access high-quality reproductive health care services, including safe and legal abortion.” The platform also calls for the repealing of the Hyde Amendment which would allow your tax dollars to be spent on the murder of babies. 
 
Andrew T. Walker, an associate professor of Christian ethics at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said this yesterday in his article for WORLD Opinions, “If the modern Democratic Party has not crossed your moral line at this point, well, you have no moral line for it to cross. The events of this past weekend should prove just how incompatible the Democratic Party is with anything resembling Biblical Christianity.”
 
Christian, the Democratic Party is sick and the fact that a large group of people in this country still support the Democratic Party is proof that our country is lost and in need of a savior.  That savior is NOT Donald Trump. That savior is NOT a politician at all. The savior this country needs is not a President but a King, the King of Kings! These sad realities about our country will not be changed at the ballot box. These things will only be changed by a move of God. Do you want to be part of God’s working in this country? Then start sharing the gospel today! 

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 1 Peter 2:24 ESV
 
When I was a kid, I was very confused on why it was called Good Friday. God the Son was murdered in the most awful way possible. So why is it called good? Although I understand now what makes Good Friday “good,” I’m sure there are some still confused. It almost doesn’t feel right to call it Good Friday. I don’t think it is a bad thing to feel this way, in fact I think it is exactly how we should feel.  Good Friday should be a day filled with joyful grief. 
 
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 ESV
 
Good Friday is good because God the Son died as a sacrifice for our sin so that whoever believes in him will gain eternal life. “…without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22b ESV). Without Christ’s sacrifice we have no hope. If Christ is not nailed to the cross, if his blood was not poured out, our sins would not be forgiven. We would be left to pay sin’s eternal price. Thanks be to the Eternal Son of God who paid that price for us on the cross! “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV). Not only did God the Son take our sin but He also gives us His own righteousness. Jesus didn’t just wipe our sin debt to zero, he also added to our account His infinite righteousness. Considering this, we can see how just how GOOD, Good Friday is! There is overwhelming joy for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ! 
 
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Matthew 26:26-28 ESV
 
Like I said above Good Friday should be a day filled with joyful grief. There is joy in knowing that we have peace with God, however, the price that had to be paid was great. Before Christ was betrayed, Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper. Good Friday and the Lord’s Supper should bring us joyful grief. The grief is in understanding that Christ suffered in such an awful way because of OUR sin. “But he was pierced for OUR transgressions; he was crushed for OUR iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5 ESV emphasis added). The sinless Holy Holy Holy Eternal Son of God, the one who created all things and holds all things together, was viciously mocked, beaten, and murdered because of OUR sin. His flesh being broken, and blood poured out, is the price that had to be paid to reverse the curse of OUR sin. We are so undeserving of His sacrifice. This makes me feel like the Psalmist who said “what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:4 ESV). The grief is in remembering what my depravity cost Christ, the joy is in His great love for me that He would die for me! “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV). 
 
Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” Revelation 5:11-13 ESV
 
What ultimately makes Good Friday good is that God gets the glory! Good Friday was not an accident. Jesus’ death was not a mistake or miscalculation. Jesus’ death was an act of God’s sovereign providence. “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief” (Isaiah 53:10a ESV).  This was God’s plan from the beginning! The Lamb who was slain is the object of heaven’s worship! God is glorified in the redemption of man through the sacrifice of the Son of God. 
 
And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
Matthew 27:51a ESV
 
The curtain in the temple represents the separation between God and man because of sin. On Good Friday when Christ died that curtain was torn, showing that through Christ, the Mediator between God and man, we have access to God. Today take time to confess your sins to the Lord and repent. Thank Him for dying for your sins, paying the price you could not. Then take time to join with the angels in heaven and sing “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!” Grieve your sin with joy, knowing that Christ has paid the price! With joy remember Sunday is coming!
 

Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. John 13:5 ESV
 
The day before Christ would go to the cross and die, He did something far beneath Him. When Jesus and His twelve disciples gathered in the upper room to celebrate the Passover meal, it was just them present. There was no servant there to wash their feet. None of the disciples volunteered to take that role and were satisfied to just have stinky, dirty feet. This was not just a servant’s job; it was usually reserved for the lowest servant. No one wanted this job. However, Jesus gets up to do this job. 
 
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones of dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1:15-17 ESV
 
Jesus is the Eternal Son of God. He is the creator of heaven and earth. He establishes thrones and dominions. He holds all things together. Yet He gets up, kneels, and does the work of a servant. In Luke’s gospel he tells us that during the Passover supper the disciples get in an argument over which one was the greatest. No wonder not even one of them thinks they should do the job of washing feet. 
 
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” John 13:6-9 ESV
 
Was Peter confused? Absolutely! Jesus’ response to Peter that “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me” shows us that Jesus washing their feet had a greater meaning. By Jesus doing the job of a servant and washing the disciple’s feet He was humbling himself. The next day Jesus will humble Himself even more so. The Son of God will be mocked, spat upon, beaten, and killed. With His own blood He will wash not feet but souls. 
 
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:3-11 ESV
 
As Christians we are called to humility. The Eternal Son of God took on flesh. He humbled Himself as to become human. The Creator of the Universe came down to our level for what reason? To be beaten, mocked, and brutally killed and by doing be a sacrifice for our sin. God served man. As Christians we are to see Christ’s humble act of servanthood as an example to how we are to live our lives.  The best way we can be humble and serve others is by sacrificing our time, energy, money, and effort to share the gospel with the world around us. 
 
As we enter the Easter weekend pray now and prepare now to share the gospel this weekend! To share the gospel, it will take time it may inconvenience your plans even. But count others more important than yourself. Count other’s eternal souls as more important than your plans. Count the glory of God through the spreading of the gospel more important than yourself! 

​Rod Dreher is an American journalist, a member of the Easter Orthodox Church, and a three-time New York Times Bestselling author. His book Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents stands as a prophetic warning for believers in the West to prepare for Soft Totalitarianism that is already taking shape here in the United States. There are two parts to this book, the first explains what soft totalitarianism is and shows how it is already gaining ground in the United States. The second part is showing us how to survive in in a totalitarian state and how to overcome it by looking at the testimony of Christians who lived through communism’s totalitarianism in the Soviet Union. 
 
We can see this Soft Totalitarianism all around us in the culture. As I finished reading this book, the American Media was in a storm over the popular independent American journalist Tucker Carlson going to Russia to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin. The American thought police or “media” was trying to discredit Carlson by calling him a “rightwing conspiracy theorist” and a “Kremlin propagandist” before the interview was ever aired. The European Union even began to discuss leveraging sanctions against Carlson for daring to do what journalists have always done. A couple weeks before, MSNBC refused to show President Donald Trump’s speech following his victory in the Iowa Caucus. MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow said “…there’s a reason we and other news organizations have stopped giving an unfiltered live platform to former President Trump. It is not out of spite, it is not a decision that we relish…it is not an easy decision. But there is a cost to us as a news organization of knowingly broadcasting untrue things.” Instead of allowing its audience to listen and make their own decision on the truthfulness of President Trump’s speech, they will tell you what is and isn’t true. They will edit out what they deem to be lies. What we know and see as cancel culture, is just the totalitarianism of the post-Christian American liberals and woke capitalism. 
 
The goal of the Western soft totalitarianism is to be “devoted to liberating the individual to seek his own pleasures and to managing emergent anxieties” (p.11). It is to get rid of anything that blocks the individual from seeking out anything he thinks will bring him pleasure and happiness. This is a “soft” totalitarianism because unlike the totalitarianism of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, it does not use torture, public execution, and imprisonment as its tool to bring the dissidents to heel. In soft totalitarianism “dissenters from the woke party line find their businesses, careers, and reputations destroyed. They are pushed out of the public square, stigmatized, canceled, and demonized as racists, sexists, homophobes, and the like” (p.9). Any of this sound familiar? 
 
A few months ago, US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson was bashed by the media because he and his son use an app called “Covenant Eyes” which sends an alert if one of them looks at porn. A father protecting himself and his son from the filth of porn was considered “creepy” by the mainstream media.  Dreher says “In therapeutic culture, which has everywhere triumphed, the great sin is to stand in the way of the freedom of others to find happiness as they wish” (p.13). In order to get the society to buy into this and in order to get rid of those who might stand in the way of this ideology, the totalitarians must lie and lie a bunch. Dreher says,
 
“In our time, we do not have an all-powerful state forcing this on us. This dictatorship is far more subtle. Under soft totalitarianism, the media, academia, corporate America, and other institutions are practicing Newspeak and compelling the rest of us to engage in doublethink every day. Men have periods. The woman standing in front of you is to be called ‘he.’ Diversity and inclusion means excluding those who object to ideological uniformity. Equity means treating persons unequally, regardless of their skills and achievements, to achieve an ideologically correct result.” (p.15)
 
 
Although we as Christians hear these things all the time and know that they are lies, are we doing anything to combat these lies? Dreher has some thoughts about why Christians haven’t been able to stop this ideology or even slow it down. 
 
“Christian resistance on a large scale to the anti-culture has been fruitless, and is likely to be for the foreseeable future. Why? Because the spirit of the therapeutic has conquered the churches as well—even those populated by Christians who identify as conservative. Relatively few contemporary Christians are prepared to suffer for the faith, because the therapeutic society that has formed them denies the purpose of suffering in the first place, and the idea of bearing pain for the sake of truth seems ridiculous.” (p.13)
 
Forget suffering for our faith, we won’t even be inconvenienced for our faith. The bare minimum a Christian does is go to church on Sunday, but if we can find something better to do, or if we are just “tiered” we won’t go. Another bare minimum activity of the believer is Bible reading and prayer but let’s face it, most of us spend much more time vegging out in front of our tv’s or phones. 
 
We must prepare ourselves because persecution is coming for Christians. I want to encourage you to get a copy of this book and read it. At the end of every chapter is a section marked “See, Judge, Act” pay close attention to this section. We must prepare now! Many “Christians” have already rolled over and given themselves over to the woke mob leading this soft totalitarianism. We must prepare now to be dissidents, to live not by lies, but to live for truth. Christ suffered for us, let us now prepare ourselves to suffer for Him! 

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6 ESV
 
Proverbs 22:6 is a principle not a promise. It’s not guaranteed that a child who was “raised right” will grow up to follow the Lord. We know this from experience. As a pastor, I can’t tell you how many times a parent or grandparent grieved by their child, or grandchild’s actions have come to me and said, “This is not the way they were raised!” And let me tell you I believe them! Many of those who have come to me and have said this are God loving and fearing people. No parent is perfect. All children are born with a sin nature (Romans 5:12). Children will grow up an make their own choices, the best we can do is to teach them the gospel from God’s word and pray that the Lord would take their hearts of stone and turn them into a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). 
 
A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. Luke 6:40 ESV
 
Several years ago, I was looking at some football pictures of me and my brothers. One noticeable thing was that when we stood on the sideline, we all stood the exact same way. We found a picture of my dad when he was in high school playing football and sure enough, he was standing the exact same way. That’s not all that crazy. It’s actually the simple concept of “monkey see, monkey do.” Children learn by watching their parents. They watch them do EVERYTHING even how they stand! Your children are watching you, what do they see? Do they see their dad studying God’s word or studying football stats for fantasy football? Do they see their mom praying with and encouraging other moms, or do they see them gossiping about others? Do they see their parents make plans around church or do they see their parents make plans to miss church? As we think about these questions let me also encourage you to never say “Do as I say not as I do.” That is one of the stupidest things you can tell your child. Live the way you want your kids to live. If you’re doing something you don’t want your kids to do…STOP DOING IT! 
 
Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. Proverbs 13:24 ESV
 
Discipline is a necessary good. In fact, true love for your child demands discipline. There is a way to show grace, mercy, and forgiveness while also practicing discipline. To do so, parents must resist the urge in the heat of the moment to let their own emotions get the best of them. Sometimes it’s probably best to send them to their rooms while you take a moment to cool down and collect yourself. “A man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to anger causes much transgression” (Proverbs 29:22 ESV). There is a big difference between wrath and discipline. God does not pour out His wrath on believers (Romans 8:1) but in love He disciplines them (Proverbs 3:11-12). If you let your emotions get the best of you in the moment, you’re not really disciplining them as much as pouring out your wrath on them. Don’t be afraid to bust their rear ends, ground them, or take away privileges, just make sure you do so with all self-control, explaining to your child that the discipline comes from an abundance of love and care for their well-being. 
 
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16 ESV
 
Like I said above, no parent is perfect! You have and you will make mistakes. The gospel teaches us that we are not perfect and because of that Jesus had to die in our place to pay for our sins. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9 ESV). Confess your failings and shortcomings as a parent and then draw near to the throne of grace. Practicing this kind of humility and dependence upon the Lord is good for your soul and its good for your children to see as well. 
 
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 ESV

In 2020, Canadian Pastor and writer Tim Challies experienced every parent’s greatest nightmare. He and his wife Aileen received a phone call that their 20-year-old son, had collapsed and was unresponsive. Their son Nick was 600 miles away from home studying at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Tim and Aileen rushed to the airport and took the first available flight from Toronto to Louisville but before they could get there, Nick had tragically passed away. Over the next year Tim wrote down how he was wrestling through the sorrow of loss. What he wrote would become this book Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God.   
 
As I read this book I did so with almost constant tears in my eyes. I grieved for the Challies family, but I also rejoiced with them! Their son had died yet still lives. Nick was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and was committed to becoming a vocational pastor. For those in Christ, death has no sting and death has no victory (1 Corinthians 15:55) because for us “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21 ESV). And although, there is no sting for the one who has passed, there is still sorrow for the loved ones left behind here on earth. Jesus knows this, He has even felt this sorrow (John 11). Yet, in our sorrow we can find joy and we can find comfort in the promises of scripture.  
 
Challies continually goes back to the scripture, he clings to it, he is reminding himself of the truth that scripture gives and there he finds comfort. Throughout the Bible we find that one of the attributes of God is that He is good. He is Omnibenevolent (All Good). In Chapter seven Challies reminds himself of this truth that God is always good. He also reminds himself that God is sovereign. God is sovereign over this world and over our lives, He and He alone decides when we leave this world!  Challies reminds himself and us that since God is sovereign and since God is omnibenevolent, even though we might not be able to understand, by faith we can rest assure that our loved one’s passing has a good purpose. 
 
We can look at the above truths and say, “yes I know that but I’m struggling with it.” We can know that God is good and sovereign, but we can also struggle with really believing it at times. In chapter thirteen, Challies recounts Mark 9 when a boy who possessed with a demon is brought to Jesus. The father of the boy asks Jesus to help him IF he can. Jesus responds “If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.” (Mark 9:23 ESV) The father replies with “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24 ESV) Then Jesus proceeds to cast out the demon. The Lord knows that our faith is often weak. We believe God and yet our flesh still tries to doubt. God knows! In suffering this may be our only prayer “I believe; help my unbelief.” 
 
I want to encourage you to go buy this book especially if you are in a season of loss and sorrow. Even if you are not in a season of sorrow now, you will be one day if the Lord tarries. Suffering, sorrow, and loss are all guarantees in this sinful and broken world. Its best that we prepare ourselves to lean on the Lord when those times come.  I have marked certain chapters in this book that helped me greatly, that made me say “when I suffer, I want to be reminded of this.” I want to encourage you to do the same. Get a copy of this book but you’ll also need a box or two of Kleenex, there will be tears of grief and tears of joy! 

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.  Colossians 3:1-4 ESV

​American Christians have traded the Great Commission for the American Dream. We have traded the glory of God for the glory of self. We are not leveraging our lives to make disciples for the glory of God.  We are leveraging our lives for comfort, pleasure, leisure, and the glory of ME. Instead of seeking the things above, where Christ is, we are seeking the things of the world. We are not discipling the world; the world is discipling us. As a pastor these are the things that keep me up at night. I worry that people I love, my family, my friends, and my church family are not ready to die or for Christ to return. I’m afraid that they are clinging too tightly to the things of this world and not tightly to Christ who is above.
 
Colossians continues:
“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.” Colossians 3:5-6 ESV
 
Read the first three words there in Colossians 3:5 again. Everything that is “earthly” PUT TO DEATH. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, and evil desire are all pointing to sexual sin. Why is it that the first four things that we need to “put to death” are all related to sexual sin? Well look around. We live in a sex crazed society. But it’s not just sexual sin that Jesus points out. There is also covetousness or greed. The American Dream isn’t a bad thing in and of itself. The dream that everyone has an equal opportunity to better themselves is not bad. However, greed and covetousness has been added to this dream. In a lot of cases, it’s not just about having all your needs met to provide for yourself and your family, now it’s about having all the excesses for you and your family.  To get all the things we want, so that we can fulfill our own little American Dream, we must sacrifice time and energy and then sacrifice time and energy to enjoy those things. This is where greed and covetous become idolatry. We sacrifice a lot of time and energy to stuff. This is why our Bibles collect dust and why we switch that alarm clock off on Saturday nights to sleep in on Sunday morning. 
 
According to a Gallup poll from 2021 somewhere around two-thirds of Americans claim to be Christian, and that number looks to be declining even more since then. They may claim it, but they are not. We know this because media and advertisements would not look the way they look. What most of these 210 million Americans are actually claiming is that they believe there is a God, and they have some sort of family connection to Christianity. Less than fifty percent of Americans said that religion is very important. If you claim to be a Christian and you would say that your faith isn’t very important…you’re not a Christian. Twenty-two percent of Americans reported that they attend Church every week, nine percent said almost every week and eleven percent said about once a month. Then fifty-six percent of Americans say they attend church seldom (25%) or never (31%) (If you’re doing the math, I guess 2% didn’t respond). Simply put, these numbers do not give any confidence that most of these people are actually Christians. 
 
People believe in God because God’s existence is self-evident (Romans 1:19-20). Only fools say that there is no God (Psalm 14:1). But believing in God does nothing for you. “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (James 2:19 ESV) One of the main points of the second chapter of James is that saving faith is faith that can be seen. People should be able to see a difference in you compared to the rest of the world. You’ll do things that others think is really weird. You won’t do things that everyone else is doing. You won’t be perfect, but you will be different. 
 
“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12 ESV). May this be our prayer. May we understand that our days are numbered. “Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14 ESV). “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming” (Matthew 24:42 ESV). We will either die or the Lord will return. Are you ready? Are you holding tight to the things above or to earthly things? Are you building the Lord’s Kingdom or your own? Are you discipling the world or is the world discipling you? 
 
We don’t know when Jesus will return, and we don’t know when we will die but until one of those things happen, we have work to do. “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12 ESV). Living a faithful Christian life will no doubt bring persecution. Every day the world grows angrier and more hostile towards the Christian faith. Our own society here in the United States considers many of the doctrines of Scripture to bigoted, and hateful. Celebrities and other people who are in the spotlight who have expressed views that are in line with Christian views are being canceled all over. Don’t think they won’t come for your job as well. On that day will you stand for Christ, or will you give in to avoid persecution? I’ll ask again, are you holding tight to things above or to earthly things? 
 
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Matthew 6:19-21 ESV

​Faith is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot. It is also something that gets twisted a lot. For example, Jesus says in Matthew 21:22 “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Prosperity preachers will twist that verse every which way they can to turn Jesus into a magical wish granting genie. In the context of Matthew 21 Jesus had just cursed a fig tree because it had no fruit and it immediately withered. The reason Jesus cursed the fig tree is because it had leaves, which would typically indicate that there should also be fruit, since the leaves and fruit appear around the same time. The point that Jesus is making is that a lot of people have the appearance of being followers full of faith, but they aren’t bearing fruit. If you are truly following Jesus by faith, then your prayers will align with His will, and He will indeed give you what you ask for! 
 
I’m not sure who originally said it but many of theologians have said “Faith is taking God at His word.” There are a lot of things that we can see in scripture that our simple minds cannot understand. For example, the Trinity, how can God be three-in-one.  How can God be “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being” (Baptist Faith & Message 2000)? I don’t know how that is, but I do know that Bible shows us that God is indeed Triune and I believe it by faith. I also see in Scripture that God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnibenevolent and I am none of those things. God is greater than I am. I am bound to the laws of physics, math, time, and nature but God is not! I believe that God is triune because He says that He is. 
 
A product of the enlightenment (an intellectual movement beginning in the 17th century that focused on reason and science) is that man began to believe himself to be too smart to believe in God. It was very much a time when faith was thrown out because man basically believed that if there was a god it was himself. This led to an impossible task of trying to explain the world without God. Darwinism is a product of the enlightenment as an attempt to explain creation without God. Hebrews 11:3 (ESV) says “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” No human being was an eyewitness to creation. By faith we understand that God created the universe. Faith leads to understanding. Evolution has not been and cannot be proven. In fact, evolution is extremely far-fetched, and the only way one can truly believe it is if they have faith that there is no God. I personally do not have enough faith to believe that the evident order around us comes from chaos, and that we are simply the product of trillions of years of random chemical reactions. You cannot sell it to me that the words that I am writing right now that you are able to read, understand, and process are random and ultimately meaningless. 
 
If we want to know how best to live in this world it will take faith. We will need to take God at His word. If we want salvation from our sins and to truly know love and joy, we will need to have faith that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8 ESV). “…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV). “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11 ESV).