Keeping Cool During Hot Elections

Keeping Cool During Hot Elections

Rush Limbaugh is famous for saying that “everything is political.” To this we may all say together, “Oh no!” As we begin to see hundreds of TV ads from Trump vs. Clinton, it is important for Christians to not loose composure (2 Thessalonians 2:2) and remember what is truly and eternally important.

It's important to think about the relationship between Christians and their government. We find this in God's Word. We know that God has some requirements.

First, we are to occupy positions in our government if we can do so. You will recall that Joseph was appointed to positions, and eventually was a very powerful person in Egypt (Genesis 42:6). Next, we are to pay taxes to our government. Jesus famously said, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar, and unto God the things which are God's.” (Matthew 22:18-21). Next we are to pray for our government. This means praying for people individually, even those politicians we don't like or agree with (I Timothy 2:1-3). Christians are to be promotors of a “righteous peace,” and this begins with prayer. Next, we are to obey the rules of government. The basic formulation of our obedience to law is found in Romans 13:1-7. Here Paul gives a perspective that we should cherish ourselves. We don't control everything, but we know that God does! Finally, I'll remind you that we are called to obey God first. Gov. Mike Pence famously says, “I'm a Christian first, an American second, and a Republican third- in that order.” To most Christians that sounds like good priorities. In Acts 5:29 you see that people “must obey God rather than men.” Obeying God is our first priority. This is where the idea of God-given rights comes in our Democratic Republic form of government.

Whatever your political beliefs, always remember to try and let them be influenced by God's Word. While we may be moved to tears by our nation's problems, or frustrated by the decades of social decline and injustice, we can always show others that our hope is in God and not man. Further, we must always recall that our enemy is not other people, but the evil one who wants to deceive the whole world, the enemy of God, the devil.

If you're going to watch TV or hear the news, there is really no telling what we are in for this time. With all of you, I'll be hanging in there. While everything may have a political aspect, what is most important is the mission of Jesus and of Rolling Roads Baptist Church!

Happy Because of Jesus,

Pastor James

American Bible Society

From Dr. George last month in "First Things"

http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2016/06/the-bible-cause-at-200

Article: Transgender Advocates Don't Believe Anything They Say

I believe this Lutheran has nailed the issue to the door.

Article: Transgender Advocates Don't Believe Anything They Say

I sincerely hope you are challenged by it.

Happy because of Jesus,
Pastor James

What Is Success In Evangelism?

In an age when true evangelism is considered passe or unsophisticated by its cultured despisers, may we believers never adopt such corrupt thinking.  In a retrograde culture where right is considered wrong, and God is said to be irrelevant, may we believers shine as lights in this present darkness.

     "What is success in evangelism?  Is it when the person you witness to comes to Christ?  Certainly that's what we want to happen.  But if this is success, are we failures whenever we share the gospel and people refuse to believe?  Was Jesus an "evangelistic failure" when people like the rich young ruler turned away from Him and His message?  Obviously not.  Then neither are we when we present Christ and His message and they turn away in unbelief.  We need to learn that sharing the gospel is successful evangelism.  We ought to have an obsession for souls, and tearfully plead with God to see more people converted, but conversions are the fruit that God alone can give. 
     In this regard we are like the postal service.  Success is measured by the careful an accurate delivery of the message, not by the response of the recipient.  Whenever we share the gospel (which includes the summons to repent and believe), we have succeeded.  In the truest sense, all biblical evangelism is successful evangelism, regardless of the results."

-from "Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life" by Donald S. Whitney, p.103.

How could Jesus be the Answer?

How could Jesus be the Answer?

After all, life is complicated. People are intertwined and connected in very sophisticated ways, and many problems that used to resolve on their own now simply multiply and grow bigger... How can Jesus be the answer? Is this merely an assertion by Christians?

Time marches on for us, and our lives are pretty short in the scheme of things. This human experience is easily understood historically by looking at politics, economics, or demographics. For many people, this is enough, and they feel “reality” is understood. But I believe we all know that there is more to life than these artificial categories of numbers and events. Just as there is a spiritual dimension to our everyday life, so there is (by necessity) as spiritual dimension to human history. It is easy to try to confine spiritual things to the realm of religion, and satisfy another “facts and figures” category. However, there are certain spiritual things that just won't fit. One of these is the phenomenon of God's revelation to us in the Bible.

Far from being an abstract muse from ancient forests, or a religious justification for previous wars, or the product of isolated groups of self-promoting clergy, the Bible emerges above human experience as something truly authored and inspired from somewhere else.

The amazing shock is how God has revealed Himself in and through history. The Bible makes it clear that God has been working all along, and remains working today to bring about the consequences of faith and doubt among us. Another amazing fact is that God spoke through people like us to bring us His message; people in circumstances often far worse than ours.

And to what does the Bible direct us? It directs us to faith in one individual, one person, the divine Son of God Jesus Christ. Christ is anticipated first and in later writings celebrated as the crux of human history. His preeminence is inescapable in the pages of God's revelation.

To deny this reality is to dive off the deep end of skepticism, and in spite of all probability to remain there. Detractors will always find excuses and temporarily convincing lines of reason. And yet the Bible exists as it is, and it says what it does, with no apology needed. God's Word points us far above the circumstances of our current despair, to salvation from God, freely available by grace through faith. If we would only read and believe.

Whatever you may be facing, ultimately Jesus is the answer.

Happy b/c of Jesus

Pastor James

Weaknesses

Weaknesses

O spirit of God,

Help my infirmities;
When I am pressed down with a load of sorrow,
perplexed and knowing not what to do,
slandered and persecuted,
made to feel the weight of the cross,
 help me, I pray thee.
If thou seest in me
any wrong thing encouraged,
any evil desire cherished,
any delight that is not thy delight,
any habit that grieves thee,
any nest of sin in my heart,
 then grant me the kiss of they forgiveness,
and teach my feet to walk the way of 
thy commandments. 
Deliver me from carking care,
 and make me a happy, holy person;
Help me to walk the separated life with
 firm and brave step,
and to wrestle successfully against weakness;
Teach me to laud, adore and magnify thee,
with the music of heaven,
And make me a perfume of praiseful gratitude 
to thee.
I do not crouch at they feet as a slave before a tyrant,
 but exult before thee as a son with a father.
Give me power to live as thy child in all my actions,
and to exercise sonship by conquering self.
Preserve me from the intoxication that comes
 of prosperity;
Sober me within I am glad with a joy that comes not from thee.
Lead me safely on to the eternal kingdom,
 not asking whether the road be rough or smooth.
I request only to see the face of him I love,
 to be content with bread to eat,
 with rainment to put on,
 if I can be brought to thy house in peace.


The Valley of Vision: Puritan Prayers and Devotions, p.188