Not The First Rodeo

We can be encouraged to think about how God has gifted each of us and how He wants to use us in ministry. 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 says:
1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.
2 But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

He is the one who determines the ministry - it is Christ who equips, who also empowers us to do the will of God, and encourages us as we seek to do His will. We can be confident that He is at work in us and will continue to be faithful to us - because of that, we, as verse 1 says, "do not lose heart."  We can avoid become "weary while doing good," according to Galatians 6.  We love God and love people and look forward to being communicators of truth.

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In Luke chapter 16, Jesus relates an important teaching which can really speak to us about how He
will work in relationships for His glory.  You've probably heard it said that "little is much when God is in it." We can read:
10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.
11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?

Cody, Wyoming is located 52 miles from the east entrance to Yellowstone National Park and it is named for, you guessed it, "Buffalo" Bill Cody, according to the city's website, which says that Cody "passed through the region in the 1870s. He was so impressed by the development possibilities of irrigation, rich soil, grand scenery, hunting, and proximity to Yellowstone National Park that he returned in the mid-1890s to start a town. He brought with him men whose names still adorn street signs in Cody's downtown area: Beck, Alger, Rumsey, Bleistein, and Salsbury."

That is a little bit of history of this city, and something truly historic in the scope of the Kingdom of God has been occurring there.  Cody, you see, is known as the "Rodeo Capital of the World," and each summer, hosts a three-month rodeo - every night, all-summer long, according to a Baptist Press article.  It's one of the world's longest-running rodeos.

Pat Alphin, is described as a "church planting pastor," and when he and his wife, Renee, moved to Cody in 2016 to establish Cody Cowboy Church, they saw ministry opportunities at the rodeo activities. He says, "When we first got up here...we could see the multifaceted ministry we could do here, in the community, with ranchers, at the rodeos and with tourists," adding, "We get opportunities to share the Gospel with people from all over the world."

Alphin is a former bull rider, and relates that, "We started out [recording] behind the bucking chutes," adding, "One of the contestants asked me to video his ride one night, so he could watch himself to see how he could improve." He went to say, "Renee told me later that night, 'If we had a camera, what a ministry that would be.'"

The story says:

The Alphins were given a video camera by East Mountain Baptist Church in Gilmer, Texas, and bought a 32-inch television they set up where the contestants congregate under the bleachers.

"We started videoing the rough stock riders, the bull riders, bronc and bareback riders," Alphin said. "Started coaching them. Then someone [from the bleachers above] spilled a beer on the TV."

Now Cody Cowboy Church has a 65-inch television screen and computers in a big blue tent behind the bucking chutes. Two video cameras positioned around the rodeo grounds log each contestant, who can view replays, slow motion and multiple views for on-the-spot analysis as well as next-day coaching.

Each morning, rodeo contestants gather to watch the previous night's rides.  The church also hosts riders in a bunkhouse and does outreach throughout the community.

Here are some ministry reports from this past summer:

Church members park cars during the weeklong Cody Stampede Rodeo June 30 through July 4, assisted this year by mission teams from First Baptist Church in Atlanta and Mobberly Baptist Church in Longview, Texas.

Cody Cowboy Church and the two mission teams also fed breakfast to participants at each of three parades -- July 2, 3 and 4 -– and served three meals a day to all the contestants and workers at the rodeo between June 30 and July 4.

Cody Cowboy Church also ministers to area ranches, recently baptizing five people from the Moon Crest Ranch near Cody. Last spring the church hosted an appreciation dinner for teachers at Cody's junior and senior high schools.

Pastor Alphin says that, "We came to Cody with no preconceived ideas on what this ministry would look like and let God define the ministry and mission field," and added, "He does an amazing job at that when we let Him have the control. We have been so surprised and in our wildest thoughts could not have come up with or implemented this plan we have seen unfold."

The pastor said that there were "no preconceived ideas."  I like that - sometimes we can generate our own ideas and then ask God to bless them, rather than allow God to show us what He would have us to do.  We can certainly, as Pastor Alphin says, "let God define the ministry."

Pat and Renee Alphin didn't sit in a room somewhere and craft elaborate plans for rodeo fans in Wyoming.  They took what they had and used it for the Lord.  You know, ministry can begin simply - in this case, it was the use of a video camera.  And, they didn't even have the camera to begin with.

Finally, we can remember that God will use relationships in order to get His truth into the hearts of people.  Pat Alphin met with rodeo riders regularly - he got in the meetings, in the room, which became an incubator through which the Lord would work.

Yeezus to Jesus?

If we have come into a saving knowledge of Christ, we have been brought into God's redemption
story, and He desires for us, and makes it possible for us, to reflect His glory. 2nd Timothy 1 states:
8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,
9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,
10 but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel...

Someone might say there are a lot of unlikely candidates for salvation out there - the celebrity who has lived a life that does not reflect God, the drug dealer whose heart and mind is full of corruption, the corporate head who is driven by money, the prisoner who is full of anger and hate, the terrorist who is intent on taking the lives of others in the name of his or her religion.  But, in a moment, the presence of Jesus can enter a person's life, remove the sinful heart, and give that person a new heart - that's the incredible work of redemption, and no one is beyond the hand of God bringing salvation.

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We know that God is at work throughout the earth, executing His plan to raise up disciples, people who profess faith in Christ, so that they may come to know Him and to help others to know Him, as
well. The Old Testament book of Zephaniah says:
17 The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."
18 "I will gather those who sorrow over the appointed assembly, Who are among you, To whom its reproach is a burden.
19 Behold, at that time I will deal with all who afflict you; I will save the lame, And gather those who were driven out; I will appoint them for praise and fame In every land where they were put to shame.

Is there anyone beyond the long arm of the Lord to save?  I think that there may be a tendency to pigeonhole people, and think that perhaps there is no way such and such a person can be saved by Jesus.  And, if someone famous does claim to have found God or accepted Christ, we may treat that person with skepticism and think that it likely isn't true.

The wife of a famous rap/hip-hop artist went on The View the other day and said that, as Faithwire puts it, "... her husband’s worship service exploits were...developed out of a relentless pursuit for God."  You see, her husband has been staging "services," invitation-only, which includes some high-profile people.  She went on to say, "...he has had an amazing evolution of being born again and being saved by Christ.”

The wife is Kim Kardashian-West, speaking of her husband, Kanye West, who took his Sunday service to an actual service in Atlanta recently.  Even the Atlanta Journal-Constitution took note:

During Sunday’s worship, West and the choirs provided their own wording twists to R&B favorites to be gospel-centered.

He turned Ginuwine's "So Anxious" into a gospel song, as well as "Father Stretch my Hands."

The choirs also performed “How Excellent.”

A solemn West took the mic to share some of his faith walk, saying being closer to Jesus Christ also brought him closer to his family.

West said, “I’ve seen him work miracles in my life..." The report also notes that "He also said he’s seen everything the devil can do to lead one astray."

That's quite a departure from an artist who recorded an album called, Yeezus, a few years ago, including a track called, I Am a God.  But almost a decade before that, he recorded a song called, Jesus Walks.  So, Kanye, in a sense, has blazed his own religious trail, and perhaps has discovered the one true Savior, Jesus Christ.  A CNN article from 2013 declared that Kanye had a "God complex...;" one could say he perhaps had put himself on the same level as God.

So, how should we regard these seemingly bold declarations of faith in Christ from Kanye - or any other high-profile individual?  I came across some good perspective on Twitter from Bob Lepine, the co-host of FamilyLife Today, heard weekdays at noon on Faith Radio.  He recounted about how he heard about Glen Campbell's conversion and sought out an interview.  Bob wrote:

...I was disappointed I didn’t get the interview, but I was impressed by how the church was handling this...

In the years that followed, there were well publicized lapses in Glen’s life. There were charges of domestic violence and arrests for substance abuse. I confess my cynicism led me to conclude Glen’s profession of faith wasn’t real...

He went on to tweet out:

I’ve often thought about the wisdom of those who were protecting Glen during the early days of his walk with Christ. Those who understood that in spite of his fame, he was not ready to be put in a position to have to publicly answer a lot of questions about faith...

Those people did Glen a favor. And they did me a favor too. They gave the story and the new birth some time to develop before they sent the new convert out to face the lions.

Lepine adds:

What made me think about all this today is reports I’ve seen on Twitter regarding Kanye West. I hope we can all be careful and prayerful with whatever we hear. Expect fits and starts. Believe the best. Give grace...

A few random but related thoughts: The Kingdom of God doesn’t need celebrity converts to advance. And there is joy in the presence of the angels any time anyone repents...

So if you hear anything today about Kanye, make it your first impulse to pray for him, not to retweet the news. Let’s give him a second, okay?

You've probably been there - heard the story of someone, whether a celebrity, neighbor, or family member, coming to Christ.  And, then you see or hear that person is not quite living up to godly standards.  We know there is a tendency to put a person who makes a profession on a pedestal, expecting him or her to say all the right things - we can't expect a person who is a baby Christian to say or do the right things, and we shouldn't put them in a position to be a high-profile spokesperson for the gospel.

But, there are radical conversions, where God does a profound work in their life - and it's important that the body of Christ take the steps to disciple that person so that when they are called upon to tell their story, that they are a credible witness for Him.

Bob Lepine says, "Believe the best...let God take care of the rest," and to "Give grace." I think skepticism is perfectly OK, and as someone who is in a gatekeeper position in Christian media, discernment is something that should be exercised.  But, we can also recognize that God is able to save anyone.  No one is beyond the reach of the Holy Spirit to touch and change a person.  So, we can rejoice, as the angels do, when a sinner repents!  We can know that the Lord has begun a good work and is faithful to complete it.  But, we should also reflect on a person's status in the spiritual growth process and not set a new Christian up to fail in his or her public pronouncements.

We can, as Bob encourages us, pray for a bold and accurate witness from converts, high-profile and otherwise.  We can also strive to make sure that our witness is bold, accurate, and full of love and truth.

But, I think that main takeaway is that we do not know for sure how God is working in a person's heart.  And, we know that He can do amazing things - He is the one who is mighty to save, and He can bring a person out of the depths of sin and despair to the heights of new life in Christ.  He is our Savior, our Deliverer, our Mighty God, who desires to bring all into a saving knowledge of Himself.

In His Presence

Because we are joined together with Christ and He lives within us, we can think in accordance with
His will and be cognizant of His presence with us. 1st Corinthians 2 states:
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

Verse 16 then says:
16 For "who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

The mind of Christ.  If we were to evaluate our thinking, would we find it to be generally consistent with the Word of God?  Or do we say we believe in Him, but do not acknowledge Him in our daily routine? We have the daily choice to put to death the desires of the flesh and to walk in the Spirit; but it can't be done if we are consumed with ourselves.  We are called to take every thought captive, so that the Word of God and the awareness of the presence of God are foremost in our thinking.

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Each day consistently, we can draw near to God and allow His principles and the awareness of His
presence to be in our thoughts. Romans 8 says:
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Yesterday, we explored the first of the 10 Commandments: to have no other gods before our God, the one true God, the Lord Almighty.  There are all sorts of ways through which we can keep Him at the forefront of our minds, including reading and studying the Word of God, so that we retain His truths in our hearts.  We can also meditate on Scripture, pray, and worship, so that we maintain that awareness of Him.

And, about two-thirds of Protestants who regularly attend church claim to think about God "throughout the day," according to a new LifeWay Research study.  The survey summary states:

About 2 in 3 Americans who regularly attend a Protestant church (67%) disagree with the statement: “Throughout many of my activities I don’t think about God,” with 40% strongly disagreeing.

45% of women and 33% of men relate strongly that they think about God throughout the day.

46% of those in the 50 to 64 age group "affirm their constant thoughts of God," while 33% in the 18 to 34 group do.

Almost 4 in 10 church attendees say they "set aside time for private worship, praise or thanksgiving to God every day," with another third saying they do that a few times per week.

In processing the data, Scott McConnell, Executive Director of LifeWay Research says, “A Christian has the opportunity to walk with God,” adding, “Most churchgoers affirm their thoughts are on God as they go about life’s activities.”  He also states regarding worship, “Having an attitude of praise requires noticing who God is and what He is doing. This takes intentionality...Once we choose to observe His work, however, the thanks and worship come naturally.”

And, over three-quarters of Protestant churchgoers "agree they find themselves praying at the spur-of-the-moment throughout the day, with 44% strongly agreeing."

McConnell reminds us that “Jesus opened the way for people to enter God’s presence through His death on the cross..."

Please allow me to emphasize three areas of emphasis here:

First of all, we can do an inventory of our thoughts and pinpoint whether or not we are thinking about God throughout the day.  There are multitudes of thoughts that enter our consciousness daily, even hourly, and we have to make the choice to allow our thinking to reflect our true nature in Christ.

Not only do we consider thinking about God, but we also can consider thanking or worshipping God each day.  The Psalmist even put a number on it in Psalm 119:
164 Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous judgments.
165 Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble.

Now, seven is considered to be the perfect number, so we could say that David was committed to maintaining a thankful heart and attitude.  It's not a goal to be attained, but can provide a framework for our consistent worship of God.

So, we think about God and thank Him.  We can also consider taking time to pray, even in the everyday activities or routine of life.  He lives in our hearts, He is near to us, and calls us to call on Him, bringing our requests, burdens, and concerns before Him.  Praying for our decisions, seeking Him for wisdom, and being faithful to pray for the needs of others.

Pastafarian Paganism

What we think about and treasure, that shows the extent to which we revere God and place Him in the first position in our lives.  Colossians 3 emphasizes how important that it is to make sure that we
are living with Jesus as the absolute Lord of our lives; it says:
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

We can be challenged to consider how our thoughts are centered on God day by day.  Or, do we go through an entire day without even thinking of God's Word or acknowledging His presence?  If we are a devoted follower of Christ, it is critical that we look to Him for guidance and rely on Him for strength.  We can enjoy His peace and His presence when we are thinking about being with Him, assured that He is with us, and honoring Him with our daily worship.

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God teaches us through the 10 Commandments the standards that He has set for us, and the first
commandment deals with giving Him first place in our lives. Consider these words from Exodus 20:
2 "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
5a you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.

It's not just a fun cartoon character; the icon of a certain religious practice actually grew out of a desire to mock God.  I found a summary of the rise of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster on The Atlantic website, which stated (keep in mind, this is the publication's words):

In 2005, the Kansas Board of Education voted to let public schools teach the creationist theory of intelligent design alongside evolution, arguing, among other things, that you couldn’t prove a supernatural being hadn’t given rise to life. A 24-year-old with a degree in physics named Bobby Henderson responded on his website that you also couldn’t prove a flying spaghetti monster hadn’t created the universe.

Unfortunately, the Kansas school board reversed its decision two years later, but as The Atlantic reports: "the semi-parodic Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has outlasted the dispute, spreading via the internet to countries around the world."

In 2016, when this article was written, "...the Infrastructure Ministry in Brandenburg, Germany, found itself litigating what counts as religion. The ministry typically concerns itself with worldly issues like road signage. But then the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) sought a road sign of the sort that local Catholic and Protestant churches receive from the German state."  The article says:

The ensuing legal skirmish—a court ultimately sided with the Infrastructure Ministry, which argued that FSM wasn’t “a recognized religious community..."

Fast forward to today, where this practice or philosophy, known as "Pastafarianism" made another meatheaded appearance.  According to a report on the Christian Headlines website:

Thanks to a court ruling, a representative of the make-believe Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster led prayer at a government meeting in Alaska this week.

The prayer at the government meeting in Homer, Alaska, followed a 2018 decision by an Alaska state court that ruled the previous policy – only permitting individuals from government-approved religious groups – was unconstitutional. The ACLU brought the suit, the Anchorage Daily News reports.

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly could have abandoned the prayer tradition altogether, but instead adopted a new policy that allows anyone to sign up to pray.

This follows on the heels of a Satanist offering a prayer back in June. The story quotes Willy Dunne, a member of the Assembly, who told the Anchorage Daily News: “There’s quite an interesting cast of characters, and it looks like it’s a majority non-Christian as far as I can tell,” adding, “It’s become kind of ... an area of debate over what should be a valid belief, prayer, to begin the meeting.”

The "Pastor" of the FSM, in his prayer, delivered with a colander on his head, mocked God by saying, as the Associated Press reports: “...I'm called to invoke the power of the true inebriated creator of the universe, the drunken tolerator (sic) of the all lesser and more recent gods, and maintainer of gravity here on earth. May the great Flying Spaghetti Monster rouse himself from his stupor and let his noodly appendages ground each assembly member in their seats..."

You know, there is just such as widespread lack of reverence for God all around us.  Yet, people, whether they admit it are not, are in dire need of Him.  They have rejected His ways, and that departure has yielded a pervasive anger across our culture, which is an expression of the rebellion in their hearts.  We have the chance as believers in Christ to show a better way and to share the love of Jesus.

The Flying Spaghetti Monster is certainly no deity, not even close.  Yet, the reverence for this fictional character can remind to make sure that we are keeping the commandment to have no other gods before us.  We do have real-life idols - not graven images, mind you, but there are things that we put above the Lord on our list of priorities.  We may seek power and possessions, or put people, fellow humans, on a higher plane than God.  Whatever replaces God on the lordship scale is an idol to us.  We can be challenged to identify the idols in our lives and to declare that Jesus is Lord.

Chasing Fantasies

We live in a society that is certainly in need of a good dose of Godly wisdom.  Humanity's ideas pale
in comparison to the principles of Scripture. Romans 11 states:
33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
34 "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?"
35 "Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?"
36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

The wisdom that we find in God's Word can help us to develop a sense of discernment regarding current events.  We can make sure that what we are being told lines up with God's truth and recognize that there are many who elevate human understanding about His principles.  We can reject fear and fantasy and hold fast to what is true and right, so that we can become people of trust in a self-deceived generation.

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We need an injection of godly wisdom and correct appraisals in our world today.  James chapter 3
states:
14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.
15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.
16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

It was supposed to be a groundbreaking moment in the pursuit of truth regarding alien life.  Matty Roberts, a California college student, had created the Facebook page, “Storm Area 51 – They Can’t Stop All of Us," and so attendees and law enforcement began to prepare.  Local officials in the area of Nevada surrounding Area 51, notorious for its supposed housing of alien life forms, were preparing for some 30,000 people to "storm" the government facility.

They were ready.

Except the expected crowds never materialized.  According to USA Today, the crowd was more like 3,000 - at its peak.  Only 100 showed up on the first night.  The article states:

“We planned for 30,000 with contingencies above that,” said Lincoln County Emergency Manager Eric Holt. “Anything less than that was acceptable.”

In the end, the storm was more of a September shower.

The middle-of-the-night meme that exploded into a viral space spectacle in this far-flung Nevada town served as both a challenge to law enforcement and county leaders with many lessons learned and an opportunity for other world seekers to be a part of something they thought could become the next Burning Man or Woodstock.

But, as the article said, "...to the people who showed up to open a new chapter in the extraterrestrial saga, being here was enough." One attendee said, “Fifty years from now...we can say we were here.”

Oh, to be part of history, right?

Those who did show up at Area 51 were seemingly driven by curiosity and were chasing some sort of extraterrestrial fantasy.  And, while some were following the unproven fallacy of captured aliens, there were many, many more over the weekend who were following a different sort of fantasy - climate alarmism.

CBS News declared:

Millions of people around the world walked out of their schools and workplaces Friday to demand urgent action on climate change. The global climate strikes, which are taking place in more than 150 countries, were scheduled ahead of the opening of the United Nations General Assembly and the Climate Action Summit on September 23.

In New York City, 1.1 million students were permitted to skip school.  Hundreds of employees of Amazon walked off the job.  Their view of saving the planet, according to the article: end fossil fuels. That's right: influenced by an apocalyptic ideology, in which some circles say that the planet only has a few years to live, protesters are calling for radical energy policies that would certainly interrupt life as we know it.  On Monday, Shut Down DC occurred, described by USA Today on Twitter as:

#ShutDownDC aims to "disrupt the systems that created and perpetuate the climate crisis" and block key intersections across the city to disrupt traffic.

I'm not sure that inconveniencing commuters in a hurry to get to work is the best way to deliver a message, but I digress...

And, then there was the Climate Summit at the United Nations - President Trump made a cameo appearance, but his main focus was a Religious Freedom event that occurred at the same site.  Good call - people, including scores of Christians, are actually dying all around the world due to a wave of persecution for their faith.  Assyrian Christians, for instance, are facing real and true extinction.  Prisons in North Korea are full of Christians who do not have the freedom to live out their faith publicly.

Yet, you have the unfortunate case of Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old so-called "climate activist" who went on a rant at the U.N. straight out of a movie, think, Hunger Games, or some other dystopian fantasy film, claiming that greedy capitalists are wiping out a generation.  The Hill reported:

“My message is that we will be watching you,” Thunberg said during the U.N. General Assembly climate summit. “This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here, I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean, yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you.”

She also said that world leaders "have stolen my dreams, my childhood, with your empty words and yet I’m one of the lucky ones."

"People are suffering, people are dying, entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of the mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you,” Thunberg added.

Cal Beisner described this sort of climate alarmism in a recent post at the website for his organization, the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation.  He took to task a recent so-called "fact checker," who pressured Facebook to flag an article and force it to be removed from the original publisher.  Why? Cal wrote:

Because we absolutely must abandon fossil fuels and adopt wind and solar come what may, even if it means trapping billions of people in poverty that will shorten more lives by more years than anything having to do with climate change. Because we absolutely must abandon capitalism as the dominant global economic order and adopt socialism since nothing else will stop greedy people from using those evil fuels and frying us all.  

 Gregory Rummo had written in a Townhall commentary, later removed:

A graph of the Earth’s mean temperature over the last 2,000 years shows two previous periods when temperatures were warmer than they are now; from 1–200 A.D., an epoch called the Roman Warm Period, and more recently the Medieval Warm Period from 900–1100 A.D. [Emphasis added.]

Beisner also wrote:

You can read some of the backstory on this in Hannah Harris’s “The fake news police: Who checks Facebook’s fact checkers?” in World Magazine. And when you do, don’t miss Marvin Olasky’s followup, “What are the facts?”, in which he cites a major new scholarly history that credits, in part, the Roman Warm Period, aka Roman Climate Optimum, covering the two centuries before and after the birth of Christ, for Rome’s great growth—and blames the reversion to cooling afterward, in part, for Rome’s collapse.

Rummo had used the research of noted meteorologist Roy Spencer as his source.  Spencer was also mentioned in a piece on the Institute for Creation Research website from last year. The subject was how sensitive that the planet is to changes in the levels of carbon dioxide. He cited a new study, in which Nicholas Lewis and Dr. Judith Curry "concluded that climate sensitivity is relatively low..." The article states that, "Low climate sensitivity is consistent with evidence that our climate system 'self-regulates' to avoid extremes."

ICR states:

That the climate system would be relatively insensitive to such changes is expected by biblical creationists. Since Earth and its climate system were designed by an all-knowing, loving Creator who promised us a degree of climate stability (Genesis 8:22), one would expect the climate to be relatively insensitive to changes that would tend to push it toward extremes.

So today, we can consider how we should not be chasing fantasies and be grounded in truth.  Certainly, there are and have been incremental changes in climate - are those changes, man-made or otherwise setting the planet on the path to destruction?  I think probably not. Absolutely, we should be good stewards of the environment, because in Genesis, God assigned us that responsibility.  But, in our care for the planet, human stewards should not resort to fear, apocalyptic language and political overreach, using climate change as a tool to further a socialistic agenda.

Christians should be known for our accuracy, not alarmism.  That's important.  And, there are many causes that deserve our attention - abortion, upholding God's view of sexuality, guarding against greed and gossip, and plenty more; there's a list of the works of the flesh found in Galatians 5.  We need godly wisdom and power in order to address the issues that we face as individuals and as a culture.  We should rely on truth, not fear, to make our arguments, consistent with a Christian worldview.

Finally, we have to guard against placing too much emphasis on the power of humanity.  Unfortunately, people who do not have a reliance on God or the Bible feel they can turn to their own superior wisdom, which can lead to frailty and futility.  There are people in leadership who claim to be working toward solutions, but their so-called "solutions" just lead to further empowerment of themselves.  For instance, if champions of the poor really eliminated poverty, they would be working themselves out of a job or a cause.  We can lean on the God of true solutions.

Sharing God's Word

We have been called and empowered to do the work of God and as He gives us strength and
direction, we can be faithful to do His will. 1st Corinthians 15 says:
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Our faith will be tested and challenged and there may be barriers that we encounter as we seek to walk faithfully before God.  We can know that He has given us His mighty power and that He has provided victory for us through Jesus.  When we face opposition - which may come from within us, through our own fleshly desires, or from without, through a variety of challenges - we can rely on God's strength to enable us to work through the things that would slow us down in pursuing the will of God.

+++++

There may be obstacles that we face in this world to freely share our faith, but we can continue to be
steadfast in our witness. 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 states:
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
8 We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed--
10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

The news that continues out of Hong Kong shows that the protests against the government there continue, even in the aftermath of the withdrawal of that proposed legislation that would extradite some of those arrested in Hong Kong to China for trial.  No wonder that Christians have expressed their concern and joined the protests.  It continues to be an explosive situation there.

And, in the midst of the activity, a Christian ministry representative has set up an organ and sang, while Bible and Christian books are available to the protesters to take.  According to Mission Network News:

Mission Cry recently sent a container filled with used Christian books and Bibles to Hong Kong. The books, mostly in English, were donations from Christians who no longer had a use for them. Mission Cry sends these resources all across the globe, but it sent this shipment to Hong Kong because of unrest. Executive Director Jason Woolford says he believes God is doing something in this city; Mission Cry wants to resource it.

The books are shipped to a ministry partner in Hong Kong and distributed in the manner that I mentioned.  As the article points out, "Woolford says the city is a region China can point to as an example to show its claimed leniancy;" of course, China's restrictions on religious freedom are well-documented.  Woolford states:

“Hong Kong is a melting pot of multiple nationalities and different languages so there [are] so many people that speak English. And so, we have that ability to give English [books] and those people to read it. It’s having a big impact..."

A person working with Woolford stated, "thousands of people at the protests will sometimes break out into praise and worship."

Meanwhile, back in America, Christian college students are voicing concern about their being refused the opportunity to share the gospel in a city park - in Chicago!

Four students at Wheaton College wanted to share their faith at the city's Millennium Park, and were restricted from doing so; the Chicago Tribune reports they "filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the city of Chicago, saying the park rules improperly restrict freedom of speech in a traditional public forum and infringe on the students’ right to exercise their religion."

The article states:

In April, the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, which runs Millennium Park, updated rules for the park. One new rule divided the park into 11 “rooms,” or sections, and prohibited “the making of speeches and passing out of written communications” in 10 of the 11 sections, according to the city’s website.

That leaves out the area with the highest tourist concentration, according to the Wheaton students' attorney.  Also, according to the article:

The rules also ban “conduct that objectively interferes” with visitors’ ability to enjoy the park’s artistic displays, impairs pedestrian traffic and disrupts the views of art.

These new rules actually were implemented following an incident last year, in which students on Wheaton's Chicago Evangelism Team were told that they could not hand out materials and could not engage in open-air preaching.

Around the world, believers are diligently following the Great Commission, and we can each be challenged to boldly communicate our faith. Today's takeaways:

Seek to boldly share God's Word - there may be impedances, but we can continue to reflect the courage of Christ.

And, we remember that we can creatively share God's Word - look for opportunities to share the love of Christ. And when there are barriers, we can continue to find ways that we can get the gospel to people who need to hear.

Light and Life

In John chapter 8, Jesus described Himself in a manner that reminds us that He shows us His ways
and He radiates through us:
12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
13 The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true."
14 Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.

The Pharisees refused to accept and believe the teachings of Jesus; their eyes were blinded by their own pride and arrogance.  Jesus said essentially, "Look at Me.  See Me."  He said, "if you've seen Me, you've seen the Father."  There is a great degree of spiritual blindness in our culture today, and we need the light of God's truth to shine in a profound way - each of us can play a part in that, as we allow Christ to speak through His Word and allow Him to live through us.

+++++

Jesus encouraged His disciples during His final days on earth, to walk in His light.  We have access to that light, because, even though it appeared that light was snuffed out, He is risen and alive in the
hearts of His people. John 12 states:
35 Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.
36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.

It's disappointing to see how support for abortion seems to have become the default position for many in the music and entertainment industry - rather than use their platforms to promote life, they have partnered with death.  In fact, LifeSiteNews has a story about a new Planned Parenthood campaign called, Band Together.  The article says, "More than 130 music artists have joined forces with Planned Parenthood to protest the various pro-life laws advancing across the United States."

The initiative's page on its website states: “Musicians across the country are standing in solidarity with Planned Parenthood,” adding, “They’re saying access to sexual and reproductive health care is about the same type of freedom that allows them to create music and speak their truth — because no one is free unless they control their own body.”

And, you might as well add: "...and the bodies of unborn children, determining their right to even live."  But, the nation's largest abortion provider certainly won't do that.  The LifeSite article from late August states:

Billboard reports that the campaign launched this weekend with a full-page ad in Billboard Magazine, and plans to feature a Planned Parenthood “presence” on various artists’ tours as well as music festivals such as Jay-Z's Made in America in Philadelphia and Music Midtown in Atlanta.

Some of the artists include: Alanis Morissette, Ariana Grande, Beck, Carly Rae Jepsen, Demi Lovato, the Foo Fighters, John Legend, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Macklemore, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj, Nine Inch Nails, Norah Jones, and Selena Gomez.

Selena Gomez?  Really?  Remember, there was such a buzz in Christian media when Selena and Justin Bieber were going to Hillsong Church together.  Since then, she's become involved in the 13 Reasons Why suicide drama on Netflix and went on national television wearing a pro-abortion piece of jewelry.

The show was Live with Kelly and Ryan, and according to The Christian Post:

The 27-year-old Gomez made more than a fashion statement by going on the show with a gold 1973 necklace made by New York jeweler Sophie Ratner.

According to Sophie Ratner’s website, the $380 necklace commemorates the 45th anniversary of the Roe decision. Thirty percent of proceeds from the sale of each necklace will be donated to the pro-abortion advocacy organization, Physicians for Reproductive Health.

A Pennsylvania author and mother, Carla D'Addesi, had people reach out to her to craft jewelry to counter that message, according to the story. She found a "jeweler and a distributor who would be pro-life," and the line COL 1972 was born. It stands for "Culture of Life 1972," and it " launched a line of four different 1972 necklaces this month that are designed to commemorate 'the last year' that 'a culture of life' was enjoyed for the unborn in the United States."

D'Addesi is quoted as saying, “We are building the life tribe in a fun, glamorous way,” adding, “And why shouldn't we be using fashion for good. The other side is using fashion to harm our kids and harm our society. Why shouldn’t we be using fashion to help our society and our kids. We are a brand on a mission.”

And, the company, which D'Addesi runs with her daughters, has acquired a spokesperson:

Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic manager whose experiences were the focal point of the 2019 movie “Unplanned,” agreed earlier this year to serve as COL 1972’s brand ambassador.

Abby had said back in May, "We want to have ethically sourced fashion that is actually going to protect women and their children. Momentum is growing within the pro-life movement and we see all these heartbeat bills being passed. People want alternatives."

It certainly seems that COL 1972 fits the bill.  The Post relates that:

COL 1972 also sells clothing and other fashion accessories. Since its founding, the brand has expanded to offer office-appropriate attire to equip pro-life professionals.

Well, an obvious takeaway here is that we should be dedicated to promoting, as the fashion line suggests, a "Culture of Life."  That is a phrase that was used by President Bush in 2003.  The complete quote, from the archived version of his website, goes like this:

"In the debate about the rights of the unborn, we are asked to broaden the circle of our moral concern. We're asked to live out our calling as Americans. We're asked to honor our own standards, announced on the day of our founding in the Declaration of Independence. We're asked by our convictions and tradition and compassion to build a culture of life, and make this a more just and welcoming society."

That statement was followed by his accomplishments in the pro-life arena.  He's right - our laws should reflect a deep moral concern.  We should be involved in advocating for and passing legislation to protect the unborn and expecting our courts to uphold their rights; but we should also be in the business of attempting to spread an attitude, a mindset, a worldview, that values these innocent lives. And, we do them a disservice when we try to denigrate those who wish to protect the unborn by saying they are not "pro-life enough" because they don't support progressive talking points.  It's strange - conversely, those that claim to be compassionate and lecture Christians about their lack of compassion because they hold to Biblical standards, will turn around and advocate for the taking of unborn life.

I think each of us should strive for Biblical consistency.  We should allow the Scriptures to drive our actions, to govern our compassion, and to govern our views concerning political leadership.  We are not to be neutral or uninvolved concerning politics - that area should be a part of the Christian's life, as well.  And, it concerns me when you have some Christian leaders who seem to think that you should be neutral on political matters.  We should not be silent; we cannot be silent, and Carla D'Addesi is a great example to us; we can be motivated to shine the light of Christ to counter the darkness. 

Resilient

Jesus painted a powerful picture in John 15, as He described Himself as the vine and us as the branches.  We draw our life from Him; His life and the power of His Spirit and the capacity to walk
in the Spirit come from Him. He taught:
4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

When we are connected to Christ, wonderful things can happen - our hearts can be encouraged and the power and love of the Lord will be reflected in our actions.  When the enemy comes to try to ensnare us, we can rise above his challenges and draw on the spiritual resources that come from God. When we are knocked down and discouraged, we can experience bounce-back capability.  When we suffer, we can partake of His strength.

+++++

We can rely on the Lord to strengthen us and to make us more resilient through Him.  As we consider a new survey that measures what can be called "spiritual resiliency," we can remember these words
from Hebrews 12:
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

God offers us the ability to withstand adversity, and when we absorb the blows of the enemy, to bounce back.  There is a concept called resiliency, which is defined by the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary; it actually offers two definitions:

1) the ability of something to return to its original size and shape after being compressed or deformed,

and...

2) an ability to recover from or adjust easily to adversity or change.

A new Barna survey highlights the concept of being a resilient disciple of Jesus Christ.  Even though there is a high percentage of young people in their 20's who have become what are called "church dropouts," it does seem that God is preserving a remnant in this critical age group.  The Barna website says: "...the percentage of young-adult dropouts has increased from 59 to 64 percent..." since a 2011 survey. And, "Nearly two-thirds of U.S. 18–29-year-olds who grew up in church tell Barna they have withdrawn from church involvement as an adult after having been active as a child or teen." 

Referring to a new book co-written by Barna President David Kinnaman, the article says:

In Faith for Exiles, Kinnaman and his coauthor, Mark Matlock, get to know the one in 10 young Christians for whom they’ve coined the term “resilient disciples.” “From a numbers point of view,” Kinnaman says, “10 percent of young Christians amounts to just under four million 18–29-year-olds in the U.S. who follow Jesus and are resiliently faithful. In spite of the tensions they feel between church and everyday life, they keep showing up.”

The website makes reference to the concept of a resilient disciple.  The article says:

As defined in Faith for Exiles, individuals in this group: have made a commitment to Jesus, who they believe was crucified and raised to conquer sin and death; are involved in a faith community beyond attendance at worship services; and strongly affirm that the Bible is inspired by God and contains truth about the world.

Also, these resilient young disciples agree with one or more of these statements:

• I want to find a way to follow Jesus that connects with the world I live in.
• God is more at work outside the Church than inside, and I want to be a part of that.
• I want to be a Christian without separating myself from the world around me.

89% of these resilient disciples say their relationship with Jesus "brings me deep joy and satisfaction."

90% want other people to "see Jesus reflected in me through my words and actions."

And, 94% want to use their "unique talents and gifts to honor God."

These talking points, which are consistent with the Scriptural prescription for a productive and satisfying Christian life, can help us consider how we can become more resilient.  We can develop a bounce-back capability. Certainly, life will not go our way, there will be challenges, there will be suffering, but how we handle life's twists and turns can say a lot about the degree to which we allow God to have His way.  Satan would try to keep us down and discouraged; God wants us to exalt Him and keep our eyes focused on Him, so that we will be encouraged and walk in His peace and joy.

9 out of 10 of these "young disciples" want to see Jesus reflected in them, slightly less say their relationship with Christ brings "deep joy and satisfaction."  We can love the people who populate the world around us without loving the world itself.  The more we embrace the Lord, the more we will be able to reject the ways of the world and love the people who reside in it.  Jesus taught that if we abide in Him, we will bear fruit for His glory.

Freedom

We have mighty power available to us through Christ in us, the hope of glory, as He is described in Colossians 1.  He enables us to put to death the power of sin because of what He did for us through
His death and resurrection. Romans 8 says:
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors--not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

When we accommodate sin, we denying the teachings of the Scripture that there is nothing is impossible with God.  When we consider that Jesus died so that we might have freedom in Him, we can experience His power to resist temptation and walk in holiness.  We should never be settled in our own sin, but should always be in a process of rejecting and resisting sinful desires, because Christ took care of every sin on the cross and gave us victory in Him.

+++++

In order to live the life that God intends for us, it is important that we reject the desires of the flesh
and realize that we have overcoming power available to us. Galatians 5 reminds us:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
24 And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

The shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando was a tragic event in which 49 people died; Pulse was a nightclub that catered to the LGBT community, and gay activists have used that tragedy as a rallying cry in their movement.

Well, a group of Christians gathered in Orlando recently for a different sort of rallying cry - to declare freedom in Jesus Christ from the bonds of homosexuality!  It's called the Freedom March, the first of which was held last year in the nation's capital and replicated this year. The Christian Post reports that organizers plan another march in Georgia next month and a return to Washington next year.  That article states:

Each march is meant to share their transformation in Christ, equip the Body of Christ on how to reach out to the LGBT community and offer a safe place for those in the LGBT community to come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

This stands in contrast to the movement within some churches that affirm homosexuality and essentially exalt gay identity over Christian identity and the possibility of change through Christ.

The Freedom March in Orlando drew an estimated 400 Christians to Lake Eola Park.  According to the article:

Angel Colon and Luis Javier Ruiz hosted the event and led the sharing of testimonies of salvation at a bandshell before the group marched around the park. Both men are survivors of the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in 2016 and have since left homosexuality and started a ministry called Fearless Identity to help churches effectively share the love of Jesus with the LGBT community.

Testimonies included:

• Edward Byrd, who led worship, "who used to identify as androgynous before finding freedom in Christ and accepting his identity as a son of God."
• Jeffrey Mccall, the Freedom March founder, who "shared how God brought him out of a life living as a transgender prostitute."
• Laura Perry, who "shared that she battled with gender identity so much so that she surgically removed her body parts to become a man only to find that nothing changed on the inside." As the article said: "Instead, it was her heart that was missing a savior."

According to the article, "The group proclaimed to the crowd that God 'loves gay people' and it’s important that people come to know Jesus as their Savior before trying to change their lifestyle."

But, their lifestyle can certainly change; the Bible is clear that nothing is impossible with God.  If a person's identity is in Christ, that means he or she should not be identified with a particular sin or area of temptation.   And, should be willing to crucify sinful desires in order to experience God's measure of freedom.  Remember this: Never, never underestimate the transforming power of our Savior.

But, the question is: does a person want to change?  Or would he or she prefer to accommodate or offer safe haven to sinful desires?  When we allow the presence of the indwelling Christ to enter our lives, we should be open to whatever He wants to do in us.   We can be confident in Jesus, who conquered the power of sin and offered us the chance to experience His freedom.

Home

The children of Israel, following the dramatic exit from Egypt, wandered for 40 years in the wilderness, without a permanent home.  But, they did have the presence of Almighty God with them.
In Deuteronomy 31, we can read:
7 Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it.
8 And the Lord, He is the one who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed."

When it was time to enter the promised land, God raised up a man to lead the people in and gave him the assurance of His presence with him.  The Israelites were about to make another transition, and the road was certainly not smooth once they crossed the Jordan into their new home.  But, God was with them, and He is with us, totally faithful - He will enable us to navigate the transitions of our lives - with wisdom and direction, with strength and courage. We can know He is with us.

+++++

We encounter so much in life that is temporary and walk through various stations, with each season passing away and another one coming.  And, ultimately, we recognize that life here on earth is
temporary, as 2nd Corinthians 4 suggests:
15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Yesterday, we talked about a building being repurposed for refreshment, spiritual refreshment.  We recognize that a building can be a tool - for ministry, and for the local church.  The Church itself is not a building, but a facility can be used as a fellowship and ministry center.

There's a church in the greater Washington, DC area that has been wandering without a home building for a few years now.  It's the Falls Church Anglican Church (TFCA), which is part of the Anglican Church of North America, which, according to a Christianity Today story, "had lost its 250-year-old historic church property after a long, high-profile legal dispute with the Episcopal Church that spanned 2006–2012."

The ACNA, as I understand it, was an Anglican body that broke ranks from the Episcopal Church and embraced a more conservative theology.

A dedicatory message preached by new rector Samuel Ferguson, after different features of the new space were prayed over, included these words: “We are God’s living stones whom he is shaping and configuring into his holy temple,” adding, “You can imagine it is one thing to build a beautiful building out of bricks and mortar. It is altogether another thing to build a unified and holy people. We are far harder to work with.”

The article included a quote from Jeffrey Walton, Anglican program director for the Institute on Religion and Democracy: “To be candid, church buildings do matter. They serve as missionary outposts in the communities that church congregations seek to minister amongst,” adding, “While the buildings themselves are not ‘the church,’ they establish a physical presence in a community. For Anglicans and other Christians in historic, liturgical traditions, setting is important.”

The church has been in seven different locations since 2012, having been hosted by churches of a variety of denominations. Ferguson noted that the church had been "tabernacling" for the past seven years.

Walton, in his article at the IRD website, stated about the opening Sunday recently for the 2,000+ member congregation in its new home in a new building:

At a standing-room-only 8:45 a.m. service this Sunday in 2019, Ferguson noted that the Bible has many examples of people displaced for a season. God providentially engages his people in an activity or period of renewal that otherwise might not have occurred.

“God strategically forced us into a place of real weakness. As a church, we really didn’t know what was next. We really didn’t know what to do, except depend completely on him. Dependence, not independence, is strength,” Ferguson recounted of TFCA’s own journey. “Weakness will train you to lean on God.”

The writer of the Christianity Today article, Abri Nelson had this to say about transitional periods in life:

God is active even in our periods of uncertainty. Think of Joseph in prison, Abraham and Sarah without children, Elijah sitting on Mount Horeb after fleeing from Jezebel; they did not see the end of their stories while they were in them, nor could they see how God was orchestrating the strands of their stories to fold into his larger plan of redemption.

One could say that all of our lives are a journey; hopefully, there are periods of stability, although that may not be the story for everyone.  But, we will encounter instability from time to time, and God gives us the ability, through His presence, to enjoy the journey.  I think about that song from Michael Card that declares that there is certainly, as the title suggests, Joy in the Journey.

We can remember that in our transitional times, we can trust the Lord.  Change brings opportunity, and really, when you think about it, opportunity will bring change.  We travel from station to station, point to point, and can depend on the Lord to give us the direction we need to navigate those travels.

And, as believers, we can be on the search for a place to call home within the body of Christ - ultimately it's not in a building, but in a group of fellow believers.  That's the way God has designed the body of Christ and the local church, for us to function and fellowship together, so that we can experience His fulfillment.

Remember, ultimately, God has a home for us.  And, it's not this world - He wants us to live here with an eye on heaven, the place that He is preparing for us, where we will see Him face-to-face and enjoy Him for all eternity.  That's our home; the place to which we truly belong.

Refreshment

Jesus taught in His earthly ministry about His ability to change a life, and the Bible shows us how we
can experience true and lasting change through a relationship with Him. And, we can maintain and grow in that relationship by the power of the Holy Spirit. In John 7, we find Jesus is teaching:
37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Colossians 3 tells us that Christ is our life - and He desires to manifest that eternal life through us as we lay down our own lives, take up our cross, crucify the flesh, and seek to live through the power of the Spirit.  The Spirit convicts us, directs us, draws us closer to Jesus, empowers us, and He will bring a sense of His rest and, as Acts 3 suggests, will refresh us.  He has come to make us new and to set us free from the burdens of the flesh, so that we might enjoy His presence in the Spirit.

+++++

In Acts chapter 3, we find that Peter is preaching shortly after the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given in a dramatic way to the people gathered in Jerusalem.  Peter interpreted what had
transpired and pointed to life change:
19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,
21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

For years throughout the nation, cities of various sizes had the iconic Coca-Cola Bottling plants - there was one in my hometown, and that has been replicated.  According to Coca-Cola's website, after the first bottling agreement was negotiated in 1899 by three Chattanooga attorneys to bottle and distribute the sweet product, within about a quarter of a decade, there were over a thousand local bottlers.

Fifty years or so later, though, driven by technology bottlers consolidated to meet international demand.  This left vacant former plants - some have been repurposed: in Opelika, the local plant there is now an events venue, in Andalusia, the city recently announced its intent to purchase the plant there.  You can actually see some of the repurposed buildings on Coke's website.

In Albany, Georgia, God had a purpose for the old Coke building there.  It was donated by Coca-Cola Bottling Company-Consolidated to a local church, yes, you know it - Sherwood Baptist.  It's been used as a disaster relief center; after all, as Baptist Press reports:

Albany, Ga., has been racked several times by severe storms over the last three years. From hurricane-force straight-line winds to a powerful tornado to Hurricane Michael, the city has experienced a tremendous need for assistance in getting out from under the rubble left behind.

According to the article:

As Sherwood has partnered with Samaritan's Purse and the Team Rubicon veterans service organization, it has become a central distribution point for the entire community working with an interdenominational coalition of churches. Since the first major storm in January 2017, they have disbursed over $334,000 in aid.

God gave the church a building - and a man to run the operation, described as, "a retired Marine Corp logistics officer who was a veteran of the Persian Gulf War as well as involved in the leadership of the U.S. relief effort to Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami."  You know him - he played a firefighter in one of Sherwood's films and a police officer in the next.  He spoke several years ago at the Sav-a-Life of Covington County banquet.  That would be Ken Bevel.

He says, "The last few years I was in the military, I prayed that when I got out, God would put the training and experience I had received to good use...and He did."

Bevel has provided leadership for the disaster relief efforts, but as Baptist Press relates:

We began to ask, 'How else can we glorify God with this place?'" Bevel said.

He then thought of a quote from Charles Spurgeon -- "How do you set a city on fire? You start a fire in the basement."

Bevel began to feel a burden for the "basement" of the city: at-risk youth. He realized many of them had educational needs the church could meet by offering special classes in the plant. The new ministry would be called The Hope Center.

Through partnering with a local technical college and some of the public schools, the program took shape.  The article says:

Classes were developed to replace programs such as home economics and shop that had been cut from the school district. Sunday School classes from Sherwood and other local churches helped recruit kids to participate in the program, and it began to grow rapidly.

Recent offerings include home economics, auto maintenance, home repair, and wilderness skills as well as GED preparatory classes. Upcoming classes will teach plumbing, flooring and woodworking. An adult education class on family finance as well as other classes are being developed.

And, after the classes, a representative from the church shares the gospel.

I remember the old Coke slogan, "The Pause That Refreshes." It is interesting that a popular source of refreshment is now a home for spiritual refreshment.  The Bible speaks of times of refreshing that come from the Lord - His Word can bring us the renewal we need, as we experience His living water.

I also thought about God's provision here - a building donated by a company to a church...a gift, a resource to be used by His people.  We can consider that we can take the resources God has provided and use them for His intent.  Those resources may take physical forms, or maybe a spiritual gift or a skill, to be used for His glory.  We can think about how we can be prepared for service.

Finally, we can see how life skills can be combined with gospel truth.   We have seen God raise up ministries that provide training that can help someone get a job and be a better employee - and we know that the application of God's standards of behavior can help to empower someone to be a model employee, doing his or her work to the Lord.

A Jesus Home

We are called to be part of a glorious body of Christ, and God's intent is expressed through His
people. In Hebrews 10, we can read:
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,
25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

We are all running the race of life together, aren't we?  And, we can encourage one another in the Lord to love and serve Him well.  God provides us circumstances in which we can honor Him - that may flow out of our one-on-one time with Him, or it can be with a small group, such as a family, or a large group, such as an entire church body and group of churches.  We can be sensitive to how God places us so that we can grow in Him and do His will.

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God has a purpose for our lives, and He calls us to serve Him and to honor Him individually, as well
as with others - and that can include our families. Psalm 68 says:
4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Extol Him who rides on the clouds, By His name Yah, And rejoice before Him.
5 A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation.
6 God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

If you've seen the movie, War Room, then you're familiar with the scene in which Elizabeth, the character played by Priscilla Shirer, in a time in which her home was being besieged by the power of the enemy, called out to God - and the devil - in a powerful declaratory prayer.

I thought about that moment when I read these words from an actress who has an Alabama connection.  She told CBN:

"When I'm in my house and I'm afraid if I'm by myself or my husband's asleep before me, and I get afraid and I'm walking the halls and you just get that creepy feeling like goosebumps up your back like something's not right, I just say out loud, you know, 'This is a Jesus home, Satan's not welcome here, get out, this is a home for Jesus," she said.

"Immediately... you feel that darkness go away," she explained.

Once she played a "teenage witch" on television, then a teacher who faced legal action because of her faith in the movie, God's Not Dead 2.  Recently, Melissa Joan Hart, according to ChristianHeadlines.com, traveled to Zambia, "along with her husband, Mark Wilkerson, and their oldest son, Mason. The family brought supplies to one of the villages in Zambia – a special village for the family as it is home to three sisters who are sponsored by the Hart family."

The Wilkersons sponsor through World Vision. According to the story, she told Entertainment Tonight: “We brought them toys and necessities, socks and food,” adding, "...they also provided goats for the villagers, which made a 'big change,' adding 'they can then learn to farm and teach others and share the goats.'”

On Instagram, she wrote: "My absolute favorite moment in Zambia this month was our first prayer with the families in Moyo AP. Sitting on a hillside with our new friends, feeling the hot breeze across my cheek with my eyes closed listening to the Tonga translation of the words the family prayed over everyone there...," adding, “We would usually end the visit with a prayer Mark or I would say blessing the people with health, crops of plenty and strong livestock...It was a magical time all around. And the dancing to the drums was incredible everywhere we went.”

My quote from Hart earlier was from the Paula Faris ABC podcast.  The CBN story relates that:

Hart tells Faris she was raised Catholic on Long Island while her husband was raised Baptist in Alabama. Over time, as a married couple they searched for unity in their pursuit of faith in Christ, and they eventually settled on becoming Presbyterian.

She's put her kids in Christian preschool and has been studying God's word through a Community Bible Study where she lives in Connecticut. She loves being surrounded by Christians she can pray with and says her goal is continual growth by getting to know God through getting to know the scripture.

Hart told the interviewer, "I'm a Christian, I believe that Jesus is my savior. I believe in God and I believe in Jesus as His son..."

According to Wikipedia, her husband, Mark, is from Enterprise and is responsible for co-writing Chris Daughtry's first big hit song.  Mark also performed a concert in his hometown after the tornado that levelled the high school in 2007.  Mark and Melissa have been married since 2003.

So, good for the actor, who has proclaimed her dedication to Jesus and who has declared her home to be a "Jesus home."  That is a phrase that can really resonate and help us to consider what that really means.  Certainly, we can make a profession of faith and try to live the Christian life, but we can ask ourselves if we are really living that out - at home, in front of our families.

We can consider if we are allowing the presence of God to be evident in our lives each day.  And, if we are claiming our homes and families for Christ and praying protection against the hand of the enemy.  When we are beset by fear and turmoil, we can take steps to release peace and comfort in the Lord through prayer.

And, the Wilkersons' definition of a "Jesus home," it appears, involves service.  What goes on inside the home is certainly important, but we can also make sure that we are making an impact on the world around us.  That may involve going halfway around the world, or perhaps, as Bob Goff alluded to in yesterday's conversation, across the street.  Recent guest Karen Whiting inspired us regarding families serving together, which can help to strengthen family cohesiveness.  Our aim is to glorify God with those whom God has called us to serve.

Responding

God's power is present when we struggle, and He invites us to bring our burdens to Him, realizing that in our own humanity, we are weak compared to His mighty power. Psalm 34 states:
17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.

Life can be difficult, and there can be discouragement, even despair, along the way.  The pain of past experiences can weigh us down, and the reminder of our inadequacies can cloud our thinking.  We need the power of Almighty God and the truth of His Word to help clear our minds and to empower us from within, so that we can overcome such forces as fear, anxiety, or desperation.  He offers solutions to us, and we can be reminded that He loves us, He is near to us, and wants to walk with us in our struggles.

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When strongholds take root in our minds, we can hold on to the one who is strong in our weakness.
2nd Corinthians 10 reminds us:
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ...

The 18th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks has come and gone, and you have to admit that the events of that day have changed the world in so many ways - with regard to the heightened awareness of radical Islam, to bold new security measures, and...as a new memorial at the 9-11 site in New York City reminds us, the ongoing health challenges that people have encountered.

NBC New York reports:

...there has been growing awareness in recent years of the suffering of another group of people tied to the tragedy: firefighters, police and others who died or fell ill after exposure to the wreckage and the toxins unleashed in it.

While research continues into whether those illnesses are tied to 9/11 toxins, a victims compensation fund for people with potentially Sept. 11-related health problems has awarded more than $5.5 billion so far. Over 51,000 people have applied.

The story adds, "The sick gained new recognition this year at the memorial plaza at ground zero, where the new 9/11 Memorial Glade was dedicated this spring.

The tribute features six large stacks of granite inlaid with salvaged trade center steel, with a dedication 'to those whose actions in our time of need led to their injury, sickness, and death.' No one is named specifically."

This reminds us that there have been lasting physical effects of the events of 9-11.  But I would contend that there have been emotional effects, as well.  A Harris Poll article published last year stated:

Nearly two decades later, thousands of first responders are still battling the consequences of their rescue efforts that fateful day with health conditions such as respiratory complications, various types of cancer and mental health problems. Earlier this year, the American Heart Association released a study that tied PTSD to heart attacks and strokes in civilian 9/11 responders.

The article goes on to say:

Considering the nature of their job, it is not surprising that in a recent Harris Poll survey with the University of Phoenix nearly all first responders (93%) agree that mental health is as important as physical health and more than eight in 10 (83%) believe that people who receive counseling generally get better.

But, according to the article, there is still a stigmatization about getting "help for mental health issues." For instance: 47% of those surveyed say there will be repercussions on the job for seeking professional counseling."

For instance:

• 53% say will be treated differently by coworkers
• 52% think they will see a difference from supervisors
• 46% say they will be "perceived as weak" by their fellow workers.

But, the good news is that around two-thirds of those surveyed "have either sought or considered professional counseling." 82% say they would be more likely to get counseling if a "team leader spoke about their own experience." 89% would "be encouraged to seek help for themselves if a close colleague, friend or family member spoke up."

Dr. Samantha Dutton, program director for University of Phoenix College of Humanities and Sciences, is quoted in the article; she said, "...if mental health issues are not addressed, they can affect job performance, family life and even physical health. Often it just takes one trusted person speaking up to change perceptions."

Bottom line from this survey data: Get help. Even professional help, with someone who is trained to provide counsel. The mind is an incredible gift of God, but it is certainly a battlefield.  And, when someone is struggling with depression or even mental illness, that is not a time to run away from God or from the Church - it is a time to press in to God.  Many throughout the years have sought to de-stigmatized mental illness - and issues of the mind should not be ignored.  And, whenever possible, it's important to seek Christ-centered help.

We do recognize that our lives today reflect past experience.  And, the enemy of our souls will attempt to write the story of our future by holding us captive to the failures of our past.  We have to realize that God wants to craft a new story, a story of hope and the evidence of His hand.

Day by day, we can hold on to the promise of the renewed mind.  2nd Corinthians teaches us that the enemy would build strongholds - errant thinking can lead to destructive action.  And, we realize there are proclivities that may be physical, perhaps chemical in nature, and we can remember to rely on God's strength, realizing that when we are weak, He is strong.

Loss

We have been given a finite number of days on this earth, a span determined by the Lord; and we have an infinite number of days to spend with Christ in eternity.  A New York City firefighter, whose story we will consider on The Meeting House, in encountering the deaths of a number of colleagues,
brought the perspective of the fleeting nature of life on earth. James 4 states:
13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit";
14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
15 Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."

Yes, we can plan, and seek God's wisdom and direction.  The Holy Spirit will lead us as we surrender to God's will.  But, ultimately, we also know that God has a master plan for each of us and a certain number of days allotted to it, to our lives on earth.  So, we are called to place our attention on heavenly things, setting our minds, as Colossians 3 states, on "things above."  But that doesn't mean we don't attempt to maximize our lives on earth.  No matter our location - heaven or earth - we can make it our aim to live in God's presence.

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As we'll discuss today, spurred on by the testimony of a New York City firefighter, we recognize the temporary nature of our lives on earth and how we need to be good stewards of what God has
entrusted to us. Ephesians 5 states:
15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,
16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

On this day, we remember the 3,000 who lost their lives in the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania.  And, we pay special attention to the first responders who perished in attempting to save lives.  In the FDNY, the Fire Department of New York, 343 firefighters lost their lives.

Jerry Sillcocks was not one of them.  He was off work on September 11, 2001.  But, he lost 29 friends that day, according to a Focus on the Family feature story.  Jerry and his wife, Diane, were not unacquainted with loss.  Just four years before 9-11, they had experienced the death of a child, their daughter, Hannah, who was 12 days old.  According to the story, "Jerry and Diane leaned on each other and grieved deeply together. This gave them the compassion and fervor to help others who lost loved ones on 9/11. Hannah’s death was a wake-up call, Jerry said, making faith in God their focus 'every day, every hour, every minute.'”

After she died, of an infection she received at the hospital, Jerry started a chapter of Firefighters for Christ.  The article says that, "...by 2000 the group had placed a Bible in every firehouse in the city. FFC made presentations to each new class of firefighters and always used the opportunity to share the Gospel. One of those presentations was on Sept. 7, 2001. Ten who heard the salvation message that day died in the line of duty four days later."  We can hope that they responded to that message prior to what occurred on the 11th.

Jerry continued the ministry of FFC at Ground Zero and participated in the recovery and cleanup efforts at the former World Trade Center site.  The Focus story states that Jerry and Diane are "quick to admit that after 9/11 there were many days when they thought the grief would never end." The article continues:

“After 9/11, the first place I went was to God’s Word to find some comfort,” Diane says. “As a firefighter’s wife, my heart was broken to hear that so many firefighter husbands had died.” A few weeks after the attacks, Diane hosted a tea for 9/11 wives and widows. About 100 attended, and more than 80 committed their lives to Christ.

Jerry Sillcocks still works with Firefighters for Christ and serves as the FDNY Chapter Leader. Just two days ago, an Instagram post related that he was speaking in Louisiana.  The post reports that he was speaking at a "Spirit of Louisiana" event, which has a tie-in to 9-11.  According to the post:

A Louisiana manufacturer built a fire engine pumper as a gift to the New York City Fire Department, after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The department lost 343 firefighters that day, as well as dozens of vehicles. The “Spirit of Louisiana,” made by Ferrara Fire Apparatus in Livingston Parish, arrived at a Brooklyn station house a week before Christmas 2001. It was the FDNY’s first arrival to meet department code after the attack. New York’s first responders returned the favor after August 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. The FDNY sent the truck — plus 350 firefighters — to aid recovery efforts in New Orleans.

Sillcocks is continuing to be devoted to ministry to his fellow firefighters - in New York and beyond.  He recognizes that he could have been on duty on 9-11.  He certainly values the time spent with his family. The Focus on the Family article says that:

The most important message from 9/11 is that “life is a vapor,” Jerry says. Firefighters know that any day could be their last, but the same is true for everyone, no matter their occupation. “The most important thing you can do,” Jerry says, “is share the Gospel with people and spend quality time with the Lord and your family.”

So, one of the Biblical takeaways has to do with the certainty of tomorrow (or the lack of it).  We are not guaranteed another day on earth. How many of the 3,000 victims of 9-11 really thought that would be their last day on earth?  We never know when the Lord will call us home.  But, we can have the certainty of where we will spend eternity when He does - through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

But, we can consider how we are using and applying the gift of time God has given to us.  The Bible speaks of redeeming the time.  And, we can make sure that we are aware that God is calling us to be obedient and to not be wasteful with that gift.

Finally, we can consider how tragedy can give birth to ministry.  You'll hear a story today of a man who was motivated by the events of September 11 to join the military, and Carlos Evans ended up losing his legs and a hand when he stepped on an IED in Afghanistan.  Despite his struggles, God is using Carlos and his wife, Rosemarie, to provide encouragement to people. Siran Stacy, who was on the radio show recently, lost his wife and several of his children in a vehicle accident; yet, God, out of his tragedy, has brought forth incredible fruit for the Kingdom.  While we are on this earth, God has a purpose for us, and even though we may encounter tragedy, that can be a catalyst that God can use for His glory.