7/21/05: My thoughts on President Bush's pick

I am hopefully optimistic with President Bush's nomination of Judge Roberts, but still harbor some doubts because of the lack of a paper trail to tell us where he stands on crucial issues like abortion. However, I feel much better after discovering that his wife has served as a Vice-President of Feminists for Life, a group for whom she still does free consulting. This group is adamantly opposed to abortion. Coupled with Judge Robert's conservative credentials in other areas, and his status as a practicing Catholic, I strongly suspect that he is pro-life and that he'll rule in an appropriate fashion on this issue on the Court.

President Bush praised Roberts for being a strict-constructionist, which means someone takes the Constitution for what it says, not what he wishes it would say. The problem with the Supreme Court lately has been that it says the Constitution says things that it doesn't, such as endorsing "gay marriage" or "abortion rights".

Unfortunately, some times we Christians are not "strict-constructionists" with scripture. Instead of believing what the Bible clearly says, we use our flawed logic to twist it into saying what we wish it said. On everything from Creation to Hell, from the necessity of Salvation to morality, on how we're to raise kids and about our responsibility to give God everything, we often water down, distort, and twist God's clear words into something he didn't say.

Let's start being scriptural strict constructionists. Take each passage literally, in the spirit in which it was written; consider other passages that complement and explain the meaning; consider who the passage was written to and for what reason; and then believe and obey what God says, even if you don't understand it or even like it. One day we'll all stand before the Supreme Judge to give account... and believe me, He's a strict-constructionist!

~Pastor Brian

7/15/05: wet paint--DO NOT TOUCH!

But you do, every time! If the sign wasn't up, you'd never have touched that wall, but with the sign there you have to. When walking in a building and seeing dozens of doors, the only one you really want to explore behind is the one that says "NO ADMITTANCE ... EMPLOYEES ONLY." Across from our church is an ammo plant. Its not that different from hundreds of other industrial plants. But because access is denied to most people, I've always wanted to sneak in and see what's back there.

This is the problem we Christians have with law. Law is supposed to keep us straight, but instead it stirs up our old nature that hates to be told what to do. If we know we shouldn't, we passionately want to, or at least our flesh does. With a Christian mind we want to do right, but our sin nature overwhelms us with desire for forbidden fruit.

The apostle Paul himself was no different! (Romans 7) But he discovered that He had to stop living under law, and start living under grace. What does that mean? It means that as Christians, we are not required to keep the law in order to be saved, or in order to be accepted by God, or in order to pay off our debt to God. We no longer think, "I'm supposed to this, or I can't do that." We are free from the law. This happened through Jesus Christ...as a Man he fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law for all of us; and as a Man he died to pay the penalty for all of our law breaking...he died for all of our sins. When we becomes a Christian, all of Christ's merits (good deeds) gets credited to our account, and all of Christ's sufferings are seen as our own sufferings for our sin. We've already fulfilled the law in Christ! We've already been punished for breaking the law in Christ! We are now free from both the righteous requirement of the law, and the penalty of breaking it. We are free from the law!

Does that mean we should be lawless and wild? Absolutely not! Rather, we are free to choose to work for Christ now out of love. We also know that working for Him will bless people around us; that working for Him will draw us closer to Him in fellowship (contact, not acceptance...we're already accepted by Him!); and that working for him gives us excellent benefits, especially wages that last forever. When we work for Satan we find ourselves far from closeness to God, helping our enemy and hurting our friends, lacking many benefits, and worst of all, getting paid wages that don't last and that destroy our lives.

But, as Christians, it is our free choice each day as to whom to work for...and that, Paul says, frees us to serve Christ with joy instead of with fear, with peace instead of with struggle to gain his acceptance, and with love for what He's done instead of out of debt. Now the sign says, "Wet paint...touch if you want to," and, acting with good sense, we say, "Why would I want to do that?" We, in Christ, are free from the law...free at last to walk in liberty, and to serve our Lord out of love and free choice. Thank God Almighty, we're free at last!

~Pastor Brian

7/05/05: The Supreme Court

Doesn't that name smack of pride?
To too many today, the pronouncements of this cadre of ebony wearers are the final authority. And, in our country, they are. Murder your baby or distribute child pornography, and these Justices say, "Go free, don't worry about it." Lead a prayer at a football game, or post the Ten Commandments in a courthouse, and you'll find yourself paying the fines.

Supreme Court members sit on the bench for life. While there, their say is almost always the final say. And their arrogance grows accordingly.
But they are not the Supreme Court.

One robed in white and gold, seated on a great white throne, will have the last word (Rev. 20:11-13). Murderers, the sexually immoral, the liar, the swindler, and the cruel will all receive justice...even the Justices themselves will stand and face a Court higher than them.

That is why, traditionally, Judges respected the Law...not only of man, but of "Nature and nature's God," as Thomas Jefferson said in our Declaration of Independence. Judges respected the rights of the people to make the laws through their elected representatives, and restrained themselves from making harsh pronouncements knowing that they, themselves, were under authority.

There still are some Judges like that out there. Unfortunately, whenever one gets nominated to the Courts, he or she is smeared by people who "call evil good, and good evil." Our Senators will soon be voting on whether or not to confirm a new judge to the Court. We need to let them know that they had better not condemn a man or woman for believing in the Sanctity of Life, in the evilness of pornography, or in the right of the people to express their religious convictions and heritage in public places or at public functions.

Someday, all of us will be judged by a God who believes all those things...and those who seek to smear and scoff at His law now will find themselves in Contempt of His Court.

Supreme Court? No way! Its time our leaders remember that no human institution is God--He ALONE is the Supreme Being, worthy to be feared and whose rulings get no appeal.

~Pastor Brian

7/03/05: DANGER AHEAD

What's the most dangerous place in the world today? some would say driving down a road in Iraq as an American. But they would be wrong. The most dangerous place in the world is a Christian who is living with unconfessed or unrepented sin in his life.

We Christians all sin.

Sounds awful, but it's true. As a matter of fact, John writes to Christians that if we say we have no sin, we're a liar, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8,10).

But, when a Christian sins, God generally does one or more of the following:

1. He allows natural consequences to occur ... he doesn't protect us from the consequences of our error.
2. He Himself causes problems for us ... He might stir up our enemies, send us a sickness or make our job, family or finances start experiencing bad times.
3. He opens up the protection around us so that Satan, who wants you dead anyway, is free to wreak havoc in your life.
4. He distresses our Spirit ... takes away our joy, our peace, and replaces that with guilt and conviction.
5. He, in extreme situations, might even bring about our physical death so that we can't continue on that path.

A soldier in Iraq can hope to get back to America and thus return to safety. Here's what we need to do when we're in the danger land of sin:

1. Confess or admit we did wrong. Maybe you're still rationalizing, making excuses, saying it isn't a sin, when you know it is. You did wrong, admit it!
2. Repent of willful sin. Maybe you know it's wrong but you've chosen to just go on willfully with a devil may care attitude. Repentance means changing your mind ... determining to go the other way. You may not be able to conquer that sin in an instant, but in an instant you determine you want it conquered.

~Pastor Brian

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