The Study Corner    

“I’m a very controversial figure in the Christian world. I don’t believe if you’re gay or you have a drink or you dance, you’re going to hell. I don’t think that’s the kind of God we have. The Pat Robertsons and Jerry Falwells of the world are scary. I want to be a Christian like Christ – loving and accepting of other people.” – Kristin Chenoweth

I’m not going to pick on Kristin. I am going to use her quote I found over on IMBD as an example of what many Emergent or Liberal churches are preaching to be truth.  This is a falsehood plain and simple.  Comparing homosexuality to dancing and drinking is ridiculous.

Jesus drank, but he was not a drunk. (Luke 7:34)

David Danced, but in worship to God. (2 Sam 6:14)

Leviticus 18:22 and Romans 1:26-27 both specifically call out the sexual immorality, therefore sinful nature of, homosexuality.  Denying this is nothing but pride.  Pride that you want to be “more accepting” and not “scare them from Jesus”.  It is also pride of not wanting to admit that you or they are doing anything wrong because then it makes you look judgmental.

Jesus himself associated with and hung around the basest of society in his time, but did not partake of their sin.  Teaching them in love the message of God so they can come to know him as their personal Lord and Savior was his example.  His goal was alway to bring them to repentance and rebirth so he could spend eternity in heaven with them.

I do not and cannot hold a non-believer to my moral standard.  One can share Gods love in the constant hope that they will come to know him.  It is not our job to save people.  God will draw them to Himself.  It is our job to spread the message and hope some will listen.  If someone claims to be a follower of Christ then their words, works, and teachings become open to inspection by the word.  Using the example of Acts 17:10-12 with Paul’s praise of the Bereans, we base our foundation for testing a belief, teacher, or a teaching in the Scriptures.  Paul commended them for testing his teaching against the word.  Anyone professing to be a follower of Christ who teaches a message they claim to be a valid Godly view must pass the test of the God-breathed Scipture itself.  Just as in 2 Timothy 4:2 we are to “reprove, rebuke, and exhort” because as Paul writes in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

Again, the sin here is pride in unrepentant sin.  If you know what God says not to do something, and you continue to do it and say that Scripture is “out of date” or “not relevant in our cultural context,” then YOU are turning your back on God.  He is not rejecting you.  He is not turning his back on you.  He weeps for the loss of you to ways that are not his.  He wants to have a relationship with you because he loves you more than anyone you will ever meet.  He doesn’t want to “cast you into hell”.  He sent his Son to die for you.  Don’t turn away from him and call him the bad guy.  You are doing this to yourself.  He isn’t persecuting you.  He is a loving God; please don’t turn your back on him out of your stubborn pride.  Ask Jesus for forgiveness and he will give you the strength, love, and resolve to live a life repentant for your sin, and constantly growing in a stronger relationship with Him.

Don’t jump to conclusions and judge me from your pride.  Just because something becomes socially acceptable does not mean it is right in God’s eyes.  I know many would just read this and flame me as a fundamentalist right-wing homophobic bigot.  You may view me as you like.  I know the world will not like what I say.  No one wants to hear a truth that makes them feel like they may be doing something wrong.  Jesus was “loving and accepting of other people”, but he didn’t say they shouldn’t change their ways.  The adulteress woman was told to “go and sin no more” (John 8:11).  Paul was not told it was OK to go back to killing and persecuting the Christians; he instantly gave up his pride and did as God told him (Acts 9:1-19).

This is my prayer. That you will meet God in true love, not in the false love of the god preached by so many today.  He wants you to come as you are to him so he can help you learn how to have a real relationship with him.  He wants you to hear his voice and have your name written in the book of life.  ”In that book are of those who have been redeemed by “the Lamb who was slain”” (Rev 13:8).  Please, throw your pride out of your heart, and embrace God’s love for you.

Don’t worship other gods or worship idols

Exodus 20:2-5, Deuteronomy 4, Deuteronomy 27, Deuteronomy 29, Joshua 24, Psalm 106:28, Psalm 97:7, Psalm 115:3-8,2 Kings 17:35-39, Isaiah 57:5-14, Hosea 4, Zephaniah 1, Zechariah 10:2, Acts 4:12, Acts 19, Romans 1:16-32, Galatians 5:19-21, Revelation 21:7-8

Don’t practice witchcraft, sorcery or divination (includes astrology)

Exodus 22:18, Leviticus 19:31, Deuteronomy 18:10-11, 1 Samuel 15:23, 2 Kings 17:17, 2 Kings 21:6, 2 Kings 23:24, 2 Chronicles 33:6, Isaiah 8:19, Isaiah 19:3-4, Isaiah 47:9-15, Nahum 3:4, Zechariah 10:2, Acts 19, Galatians 5:19-21, Revelation 21:7-8, Revelation 22:14-15, Daniel 1:18-21, Daniel 5, Daniel 2:27, Micah 5:12

Kings of Israel are criticized for pagan worship

Solomon – 1 Kings 11
Jeroboam-1 Kings 12, 14
Ahab-1 Kings 16-18
Omri-1 Kings 16
Manasseh-2 Kings 21,2 Chronicles 33
Amon-2 Kings 21
Joash-2 Chronicles 24:17
Jehoram-2 Chronicles 21
Ahaz-2 Chronicles 28

Pagan beliefs are compared to sexual adultery

2 Chronicles 21:11-13, Isaiah 57:3, Hosea 4, Romans 1:24-32

Jesus contends with Satan in the wilderness

Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13

Jesus casts out demons

Matthew 8:28-34, Mark 1:23-27, Mark 5:1-19, Mark 7:25-30, Mark 9:17-29, Mark 16:9, Luke 4:33-36, Luke 8:26-39, Luke 9:37-42, Luke 11:14-16

Needless to say, God despises any of these practices and their ilk.  It may seem like a harmless little “fun” thing.  That doesn’t make it right.   Socially acceptable and God acceptable are not the same.

These things are no joke, any more than Judgement day is a joke.

Please pray and think on your own about this topic. Do not base your views on societal norms. Man will deceive, God does not. You are responsible to God for your actions. “Everyone else was doing it” will not be an acceptable excuse on the day of judgment.

[bibleblock]Matthew 7:21-23[/bibleblock]

Part 1
Part 3

[bibleblock]2 Timothy 4:2-4[/bibleblock]

A time has been reached in our society.  A time that is not news to anyone who knows God.  A time which has been gathering for a long time.  A time to spereate your views of societal norms from those of God’s norms.  We, as followers of the one true God, are called to be servants, to “preach the word”,  and to be heralds of his God-breathed Scripture.

This session I will focus on 2 Timothy 4:3.

What is the original sin? What was the sin that removed Adam and Eve from direct daily interaction with Adonai?
(Read on …)

Adam might have realized he wanted a wife before he finished naming all the creatures of the earth.  However, he continued to do what what God had called him to do.  At the right time (His time), God brought Eve to Adam.This principle applies to all singles – both men and women – who desire to be married.

If a single person constantly thinks about getting married, they will be frustrated, unhappy and perhaps even unjustly angry at God if it fails to happens within their time frame.  With this attitude, they place themselves in a position where they are unable to receive all the blessing the Lord has for them and can hinder the work the Lord has called them to do.

If you desire to be married, put that desire in the Lord’s hands and delight and trust in him.  Develop a heart of trust.  Instead of complaining about what you don’t have, form the habit of thanking God for all that you do have.

I was once told a parable, “We are like a child who brings our broken toys to our Father to fix.  We get frustrated when he doesn’t do it fast enough and we yank them back saying ‘I’ll just do it myself, your taking too long!’.  He then looks at us and says, ‘How can I fix them when you never let go of them?’  The moral?  Let go.  Put it in your Father’s hands and let him work on them so he can fix your broken dreams and give you back more than you ever hoped for.

Pleasing God, not looking for a mate, should be the focus of a single person’s life.

Here is my list of 8 Scriptural guidelines to help single people avoid marrying the wrong one.  If you are considering marrying someone and know you are going against even one of these principles, God has not brought the right one to you.
(Read on …)

My first-born son went to be with the Lord on April 15th, 2008.  It has been almost 2 years and yet the pain never fades.  You just learn to get by with it.  I had trouble coming up with something better to post than my service I read as I officiated my own son’s funeral.  I read a shorter version of this on the day of his burial as I wasn’t sure I could get through it all.  I wanted to post the full version I had put together.

During the last few days as each of us considered the untimely death of baby Jason our hearts have been full of questions – chief amongst them being “how did this happen?” and “why did this happen?”  This has been upon the lips of many of you who are here today – and indeed they have been heard throughout our community.

We are not here today to answer these questions – even if we could. Rather we are here to mourn – to mourn and to commend Jason into God’s care, and to ask God to help us.

In the most beautiful of gardens, even those tended by the most skillful of botanists, there is an occasional rose that buds, but never opens.  In all respects the rose is like all the others, but something keeps it from blooming.  It fades away – or disappears – without having reached maturity.

What happens in nature’s garden happens once in a while also in the garden of God’s human family.  A baby is born, beautiful, precious, but fails to come to its rightful unfolding.  This child, like the bud that never fully opens, is gathered back into God’s heavenly garden of souls – where all imperfections are made perfect; all injustices made right; all mysteries are explained; and all sorrows turned to happiness.

Today we mourn our loss of such a child.  We weep, just as Jesus himself wept at the death of his friend Lazarus.  Even if we knew the answers to the questions that rise so naturally to our hearts and minds at times like this, there still would be no adequate explanation for this loss.  It is painful.   And I believe it is also painful to God, who created the world intending for it to be perfect.   As Jesus himself said: “So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”

(Read on …)