I am very much encouraged by all the things happening in our church. There is such an awesome spirit of cooperation, work, and excitement about ministry. This year’s church picnic/fish fry was standing room only.  The awesome presentation regarding the Shroud of Turin was truly inspiring.  The next day, the Church Council met and the talk was about ministries and the community.

The Women’s Bible Study begins on July 19 at 5 p.m. It’s exciting that the ladies are back in a Bible study and their enthusiasm is catching. The Men’s Ministry is jumping in with their James 1:27 Ministry.  It is designed to, primarily, assist our widows with any home structural needs, as well as any senior adult that needs a helping hand. And, who knows, there may be a community neighbor that needs the help of a loving church.

We discussed the continuing need of the Green Springs Ministry for food and how we are going to re-emphasize that ministry.  But there was also a focus on a backpack program for kids in need in West Alabama, the Shoebox ministry, and the associational Season of the Savior stocking emphasis over the next few months.

Let me assure you that, as your pastor, it truly does my heart good to see our church focusing on ministry in the community and across our city and state. God is going to bless that! He is going to use Church on the Bluff in a powerful way!

I think you’ll agree with me that rules are a good and necessary thing. Whether it is a board game or a sporting event, rules are important. Rules prevent chaos and bring order. Rules can protect us and prevent inequality. We are a civilized society because there are rules by which we live. Can you imagine living in a culture where there were no rules?

But what about too many rules?  That can get out of hand, too, if we aren’t careful.  Too many rules can often steal some freedoms, happiness, and peace from our lives. That is nowhere as obvious as when it comes to religion.  Christianity changed our interaction with God from simply appeasing a “god or gods” to knowing the one true God.  Not just living to make Him happy and to gain His favor but knowing God personally; having a true relationship with the One who created you.

By the time of the incarnation, the Hebrew religion had become a system of keeping rules. The “rules mindset” almost begged for more rules.  Take the first commandment, for instance. (I’m paraphrasing here) Don’t work on the Sabbath and don’t require anyone else to work. Pretty simple, huh? Nope.  People began asking the religious leaders some honest questions so that they wouldn’t inadvertently disobey God.  What, exactly constitutes work?  Can we fix a meal? Can we visit with friends if we have to walk too far? Can I milk my goat? Is it ok to mend a robe that needs it? It is interesting to read some of the Hebrew laws on how to keep the first commandment.

Rules are necessary, of course.  But if we try to use rules to be closer to God we will keep making up new ones.  I always tell folks they should seek to be closer to the Lord; they need to know him scripturally. As we get to know His character and purpose, rules will follow.  Once we understand the Bible isn’t a rule book it’s a love letter we develop rules  that draw us closer to Him.

When I worked at a TV station in Dothan I learned an important lesson.  One day I woke up feeling bad.   I went in to work because I knew they needed me.  I got progressively worse as the day wore on and it got to the point where I was coughing up blood. When I told my boss what was going on and that I needed to leave and go to the doctor, she said no. She said that there was an important car dealer about to show up to do a couple of commercials.  She strongly insinuated that it may not go well for me if I deserted them in a time of need.  So I stayed and we did the commercial.  When I drug myself to the doctor, he said I had a bad case of pneumonia. The hospital was his suggestion, but I opted for penicillin shots and bed rest. 

So here’s what I learned: my employers did not care about me and did not appreciate the work I put in.  For a young 22-year-old working his first full-time job, it was an awakening.  From that day on I only did the bare minimum.  I did it to the best of my ability and worked hard at it, but did not do anything more than what was expected of me. That was not the right attitude at all…and certainly not a Christian attitude, but all it would have taken was for my bosses to appreciate my work.  And, perhaps, to let me know that on occasion.

In our world there are three things that are at the forefront of what I call the “culture clash” of morality.  Abortion, homosexuality, and transgenderism dominate the differences in discussions of morality.  It boggles my mind that just one generation ago, all three would have been almost universally regarded as immoral or unnatural. What happened?

First and foremost, I believe, we allowed God to be taken out of the collective consciousness.  We are not allowed, in the workplace, recreational activity, or government, to claim our ideas and actions are based on scripture.  How that became the norm still baffles me. But I wasn’t surprised when a sitting congressman said that God did not belong in the work of the government.  Nor was I taken aback when a potential government appointee was asked if she could assure the committee that her religious beliefs wouldn’t factor into her actions. 

Proverbs 29:18 tells us exactly what happens when we remove God from the equation: “Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint…”. I would dare say that the world is casting off restraints like it is throwing confetti at a ticker-tape parade.  We don’t like being restrained, do we?  We are carnal-minded, self-seeking, beings who would love to act on any and every impulse we think will bring us a moment of pleasure.  Without the morality of God’s word, we rely solely on our own wants and desires, no matter how obviously warped and unnatural.

I used the word unnatural on purpose because there are a lot of folks who say that certain things are not unnatural because they happen in the animal kingdom. Two things are wrong with that statement. One, animals do a lot of things that are disgusting and we choose not to do them because they are gross.  The second thing is that I am not an animal; I am a grown human being with the ability, and I believe the responsibility, to make rational decisions for the good of all concerned…not just myself; to do what is morally right. I like how one man put it when he said: “Morality, in fact, is often the opposite of doing what comes naturally on this broken planet, and the ability to overcome natural impulses is one of the things that separates humans from animals”.

So…who sets the moral standard?  Mankind, apart from any guidance from the one true God, has historically failed in the morality department.  Why? Because “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Proverbs‬ 9‬:10‬ NIV‬‬).  Apart from God, there is no true morality.  Look around, it is pretty obvious, isn’t it?‬‬‬

When I was growing up social media was mostly talking with friends on the school bus to and from school.  During the summer, I was pretty much isolated from school friends. I had five brothers and a sister, so I wasn’t completely alone.  We had the “Library-mobile” that would stop on the old dirt road in front of the house once a month. And we had the World Book Encyclopedia. Television wasn’t a big part of our lives so it would not have been unusual to find us sitting around reading an encyclopedia. Boring, huh?

Fast forward to today. I have access to five movie channels, four television news channels, at least. And unlimited internet access.  Therein is the problem. Problem? Unlimited access to information is a problem? Yes. Absolutely. Why? Because there is no guarantee that the information is true.  There is a lot of misdirection, misconception, and outright lies to lead folks astray.  No matter your sin, perversion, mental illness, or unnatural desires…you can find people of like abnormalities and problems to boost your feeling that you do not have a problem, everyone who disagrees are merely “haters”.  People don’t get the help they need; they only get affirmation that their sin is not sin.

That is why the local church is so important. We must continue to proclaim the gospel of Jesus.  He came to save us from the results of our sin. And how do we know sin?  The Bible or the opinions of like-minded sinners, seeking to justify their sin? You can find anything you want on social media…but the truth is found only in the word of God.

Of course, there is always unscrupulous, wolves in sheep’s clothing, who want to pervert scriptures to mold to their deceitful messages…but find a local body of believers who teach what the scriptures truly say about such things as homosexual relationship, abortion, transgender mindsets, and a God who loves a sinner while hating their sin.

This year the Southern Baptist Convention will again take up the question of whether a woman can be a pastor.  The issue has arisen several times before, and there have been churches that were deemed disqualified as a cooperating SBC church. The “Baptist Faith and Message” clearly states that a woman cannot be the pastor of a Southern Baptist church. This year is a little different in that it will be offered up as a constitutional amendment. That would remove any ambiguity.

So…should a woman be able to pastor a church? Short answer, no.  That is not an exceedingly popular statement in today’s world. But we must recall that God’s word hasn’t changed, and will not change, based on the opinion of any culture.  The feminist movement (joined by the LGBTQ+ movement) has done it’s best to say there is no difference in men and women; that the roles are merely a “social construct”.  Not so.

To the world it may seem like the church is saying that men are better than women. If a person doesn’t understand the Bible or know how a church is to function, they will probably come to that conclusion.  But, again, a false narrative.  Males and females are simply different.  God created them to be different.  We are to celebrate the differences.  God didn’t create two people with no differences except in their sexual organs.  He created two distinctly different types of human beings.  Because of that, He endowed them with distinct roles, both in the home and in the church.

That doesn’t make their roles any less important.  I know for a fact that many…many…churches  would have failed and faded away were it not for the women working hard to use their gifts within the church.  I applaud and respect what Godly women have done to keep churches active and useful in the community. I shudder to think what would become of this very church if the ladies suddenly decided that if they could not be a pastor, they wouldn’t be anything.

Men and women are different.  Not one better than or superior to the other.  But…because they are different, they have different roles.  Men and women should work hand in hand, using their gifts, to increase the kingdom of God. It is truly that simple.

Say good things about your Savior and His Church on the Bluff.

Is calling out sin the same as judging people?

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”” (John‬ 8‬:11‬ NIV‬‬)

Most people quote Matthew‬ 7‬:1‬-2‬ as commanding us not to judge sin in someone’s life. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” But the thought and command expressed in those two verses is continued and completed in the next five verses: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 5.3-7 NIV)

Jesus is quite clearly saying that we should not judge someone else’s sin if we do not first address any sin in our own life, but after we do that, then go ahead and warn others of sin. Paul expressly told Christians to point out sin in the world: “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” (Ephesians‬ 5‬:11‬ NIV‬‬)

Now, just as important is to recall that the Christian has extra responsibility to call out sin within the church. In fact, we should deal with that first. And always…always…remember that calling out sin is not about judging people…it is about helping them turn to a righteous, loving God. 

Say good things about your Savior and His Church on the Bluff.

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah‬ 53‬:5‬ NIV‬‬). I listened (not for long) as a preacher used the last part of that verse to claim that God will heal any and all Christian’s of their physical maladies.  He stated that when we say that if God doesn’t heal us here, in this life, He will heal us in heaven…we are speaking gibberish (his words). He claimed it was just a lack of faith. Honestly, he said if you are sick God will absolutely heal you.  Really?

I know lots of Christians that got sick and the sickness resulted in death.  Did they die because of weak faith?  Did they pass away simply because they didn’t believe God would heal them? Absolutely not.  If you read the whole verse of Isaiah 53:5 you will see that Isaiah is clearly speaking in the spiritual sense. It is for our spiritual self…our sinful nature… that Christ was pierced, crushed, punished, and wounded.

Can God heal physical sicknesses? Yes! He has done it in the past and He will do it in the future.  He is, indeed, the Great Physician. But God heals whom He chooses and for what reasons He chooses.  You will never convince me that the Christians that I have known only tasted death because their faith was weak and they didn’t believe the Word of God. 

When Eve took that first bite of forbidden fruit our eventual death was sealed.  “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many…” (Hebrews‬ 9‬:27‬-28‬ NIV‬‬) Christ’s sacrifice, His death on that cross, was about sin, not sickness.

Say good things about your Savior and His Church on the Bluff.

I recently heard a person say (and her companions were nodding in agreement) that most republicans were Christian nationalists who wanted to impose their beliefs on folks through laws. Now, we need to acknowledge that the majority of conservative voters are Christian, but does that mean conservatives want a nation where Christianity is the state recognized religion and no other is allowed? Absolutely not. State/Church partnerships have been shown to fail as political power soon infiltrates the church.

Do we Christians really want to impose our beliefs on others? Christianity, by design of God, negates force or intimidation to become a Christian.  Salvation is a choice.  No amount of government policy will ever change that fact. But do we want laws that we feel reflect the character and purpose of God?  We sure do.  But…and this is a fact…a lot of our laws already reflect that!  Can you think of a civilized, government-backed law that would not fit under the umbrella of the last six of the Ten Commandments? If you think you can, then it is not civilized.

Take the issue of abortion, for instance.  Is a law against it a Christian-based assault on women? No.  It would be a law against murder.  “The predominance of human biological research confirms that human life begins at conception—fertilization.  At fertilization, the human being emerges as a whole, genetically distinct, individuated zygotic living human organism, a member of the species Homo sapiens, needing only the proper environment in order to grow and develop. The difference between the individual in its adult stage and in its zygotic stage is one of form, not nature. This statement focuses on the scientific evidence of when an individual human life begins.”  (American College of Pediatricians) Science says life begins at conception/fertilization.  Ending that life would be murder.  Even non-Christians agree that murder is wrong. Right?

The objection to The Ten Commandments is not to the last six, but to the first four:  love and obey God.  Proverbs 29:18 says that without a word from God, people cast off restraints.  That’s what the problem is: people do not want restraints.  They want to live how they please without thought of the consequences.  When they disregard the first four commandments, they will then water down, weaken, and violate the last six without worry or thought.

When you take God out of the picture, you remove restraint.  Your moral compass is merely your selfish, uncivilized desires.  That never works out well.