13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.

14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.

15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.

16 Instead, they were longing for a better country–a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Lord, help us to view today with the bigger picture in mind – bigger than us, even. Help my joy not to depend solely upon the events of this day or this week. Help me to realize that everything I do here, including things which I have accountability over and stewardship of, pales in comparison to the One I do it for. Help us to live with that eternal perspective today.

Something like that.

I didn’t have any music playing or anything, so I was just thinking as I was driving, and the thought occured to me – I bet there are alot of Christians who will get mad about that.

And then, THAT got me to thinking. (Prepare to be offended).

I have a reaction I’d like to share concerning the whole “Happy Holidays,” “Merry Xmas” thing.

Do we have any rights?

I understand that we as Christians live in a society in which certain elements not only disagree with our beliefs, but have become hostile to them, stereotyping us as often as we stereotype them. But I wonder, what are we accomplishing when we assert our rights by protesting, communicating, or boycotting.

Why are we offended when a lost world acts, well, lost? Do we become more concerned about our own rights being infringed upon, or about lovingly keeping open the lines of discourse between us and them?

Go back a few posts – I wrote about a man who was holding up a sign with Jesus Christ on it in a large crowd – at the same time, he was endangering the crowd because he could barely control the sign in the high winds, and his behavior and attitude stunk of a set of self-priveledged rights he had. To this day, I believe he could’ve reached many more people by being the hands and feet of Christ instead of rudely shoving a picture of Christ in their face while defiantly asserting his “rights.” He thought he was accomplishing more for Christ by being arrested for endangering the public (which he was) than submitting to authority and continuing to spread his message in a less dangerous manner.

I believe we make mountains out of molehills, and that we are fighting and willing to die battles that aren’t really important at all.

Is there any biblical support here? I do believe so!

I can find multiple times in which Biblical figures put their own personal rights on hold, in order that they had a greater impact and accomplished the will of the Father.

Paul – Acts 16:37-40

37 But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”

38 The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed.

39 They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city.

40 After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and encouraged them. Then they left.

Jesus – John 10:17-18

17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life–only to take it up again.

18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

So, here’s the kicker. If Paul and Jesus (and there are other examples) willingly endured persecution in the form of physical persecution even unto death, why are we as modern Christians so quick to invoke our own defenses so that we are not offended, when it comes to things like using “bad words” in place of Christmas, associating with people who are not like us, and even fellowshipping with fellow believers who do not share our exact doctrine?

There’s a reason for persecution and suffering. Keep reading:

Matthew 10:16-20

16 I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

17 “Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues.

18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.

19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say,

20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Matthew 5:10-12

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Romans 8:16-18

16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I really don’t think the Bible ever intended us to view “getting our feelings hurt” as “enduring tribulation.” This is a small thing. And yet, Christians everywhere are willing to die over hills that just simply aren’t important.

So for argument’s sake, let’s consider it (having to put up with “Happy Holidays” being said instead of “Merry Christmas”) as tribulation. Why are we then so eager to escape it, when the Bible clearly supports the enduring of tribulation as a wonderful thing?

The Bible leaves no room for doubt that our world is going to hell in a handbasket. And yet, we have the tendency to beat our chests while crying “woe is me” as we see it crash around.

Dear Christians, myself included. We are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Instead of focusing on condemning our world for being dark, we should be the light as we are directed.

And the next time someone wishes you “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings,” wish them that right back, and smile, and maybe we can more effectively love people that way. Who knows, we might make a connection with a stranger, and be able to show them who Jesus Christ really is, as opposed to leaving them with their own personal confirmation that Christians are pretentious bible-thumping judging holier-than-thou conservatives, as some of us come across sometimes!

Edit: revised end of the post, came across a little more sarcastic than originally intended

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I don’t mean to start a controversy or a fight, but I’d like to briefly explain my thoughts on Halloween.

There are 2 camps within Christian movements.

#1 – Use it as an opportunity to reach the community, get ‘em in the doors, etc. Nothing wrong with it, if observed in the right spirit.

#2 – Avoid it at all costs. Those who do not are in the wrong.

I grew up trick or treating. I have fond memories of putting a blanket on my head and running into various objects up and down my street. Of course, it was a different world. Kids weren’t worried about eating razor blades as much in 1983. I actually remember the first year the hospital began x-raying the candy. We did it just for the novelty of it. We didn’t have the concerns about it like we do today, but I digress.

I was at another church tonight with my kids decked out in costumes. It was **packed out** to the point of being nearly unpleasant to be there, because of the huge crowd. But I had to admire the fact that they had the “gumption” to have what has obviously become a huge success numbers wise.

I have to wonder how many people through the years have been reached by that church, even ultimately to the point of being brought in as part of the body.

Do I have any basis for supporting this, biblically?

Why yes, I believe I do.

Acts 17:

16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.

17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.

18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.

19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”

21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.

23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.

25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.

26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.

27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone–an image made by man’s design and skill.

30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”

32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”

The way I read this passage, Paul is in a city full of pagans, heathens, whatever label you want to call them. As he is reasoning with them, he uses a bit of imagery that they are familiar with – the statue to an unknown god.

I’ve not done alot of mythological studies in my life (though I have some), but the way I understand it is that some of the city-states in ancient Greece wanted to appease all of their gods. So much so, that they made this statue in order to appease the gods they were unaware of or didn’t know about. Sort of a “just in case we left anyone out” statue, yes?

By christian beliefs then and now, this is idol worship. One of the big no-no’s, and in a very obvious manner. Isn’t there a “10 commandment” about graven images?

The thing I can’t understand and reconcile in my own head is this. Paul, one of the greatest writers, teachers, and general all-around awesome guys in the Bible used something that wasn’t Christian in order to reach those who weren’t Christian. He used an idol as a demonstration in order to tell people about who Christ was. Many Christians today, in the same opportunity, would’ve taken the opportunity to grab an axe, chop the idol’s head off, end up thrown in jail, reaching no one, as long as their conscience was clear and they stood up for their personal belief system. Paul showed us that we should consider closely before dying on hills that weren’t meant to be fought over.

Please do not read me as supporting or endorsing the obviously paganistic roots of Halloween. That’s not the point here. Paul didn’t worship the idol, after all.

I cannot possibly reconcile a legalistic approach to Halloween when the opportunity is out there to engage our community, reaching people, and many of us are flat out completely missing a huge opportunity to smile at the kids, to make a connection with the parents, and maybe, just maybe, even reach a family and see their lives changed. Does legalism trump evangelism?

How can legalism trump evangelism?

It seems that if one was to have a true approach to Halloween that was sound and consistent year round, they would also be against other holidays rituals that may contain pagan roots – and boy, I found plenty – the Christmas Ham, Yule Logs, Anything with the word “Yule”,  Mistletoe, Easter Eggs, Easter Bunnies (both symbols of fertility in many ancient religons)…the list can and does go on. I don’t have time to write the book that it would take to do a full set of research on this.

Note, as I was researching this list, I hit a huge number of reference sites that point out the controversies involved by ultra-conservative groups that oppose having Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, etc. as part of a Christian celebration, claiming that these holidays are not Christian, but rather pagan in origin, and were simply absorbed or adapted into the Christian calendar.

If I’m going to live by a legalistic interpretation of the things around me, I must apply that interpretation to every facet of my life. To do less is to have a wildly varying outlook, dependant solely on my whims and perceptions instead of what the Word of God says is important and is not.

Too many Christians and churches spend so much time, energy, and thoughts avoiding anyone that doesn’t look like them or talk like them, that they forget that those are the people we are supposed to be in the middle of. Christ was.

I cast this rock, knowing a 100 more could be cast back at me for a thousand reasons. But I made no impact tonight for my faith, and I reached no hurting people tonight with hope, and I just don’t like that one bit.

Rant done.

I’ve been thinking alot about emotions. It’s been an emotional month, but most of that stuff I keep buried (yes, I’m admitting it). I’ve had some internal struggles and decisions, and I’m still trying to digest and figure them out.

If you were to take my life and put it on paper and then examine it, you’ll see that I have a history of making decisions based on emotions. You might notice a trend which indicates I don’t do it as much as I used to. However, I am still prone sometimes to making emotionally charged decisions.

Most emotionally charged decisions are the wrong decisions. Emotions are an effect, not a cause. They are a product, not a source. This seems to be universally applicable, but I will address this from the believer’s standpoint. What should be our source? As we consider major decisions in our life, what should be the basis upon which our thoughts build?

When we lived in Tennessee, I served at a large church north of Nashville. It was our first church after Sarah and I were married. We experienced much stress in our life, partly due to the fact that we were a newlywed couple and didn’t have many friends to call our own. Sarah had less friends than I did, and it was very hard on both of us as new married people, moving away from our families and trying to figure out who in the world we had married. I was blessed to work with a godly staff, but because of student loans and other bills, some foolishly incurred, we fell into debt and our income was not matching our spending.

I heard about a company south of us that was looking to hire a piano conservatory director/musical theatre accompanist. It paid almost double what we were making. We lept at it, without giving it much thought or prayer.We assumed that because we were in desperate need of increased income, that God had answered that need in this manner.

Sometimes, we assume that because a door opened, God must’ve been the opener.

While our situation temporarily improved, it ended in complete disaster. The tears, pain, and anguish that visited us in the years to come, simply because we went through a door we shouldn’t have gone through, served as a “trial by fire” for our beliefs, our careers, our outlook in life, and our family. I will tell you – if we didn’t have that genuine faith in God and a love for each other, I’m not sure we would’ve made it through that time. It wasn’t that we didn’t love each other. It would’ve been so easy to just run. Run away from each other, from the job, from our faith. We could’ve blamed God for a decision we made (and I’m pretty sure I DID blame him for a while).

One day, after finding out my job would be ending by such a date, I packed Sarah and our new baby daughter in the car, and we drove south 9 hours until we reached my hometown. I made a nice resume up and the next morning, I began passing it out. The first place I walked into ended up being the place that offered me a full-time position. It paid far less than our combined income in Tennessee had been, but it would help us get through the hard time (I had this personal conviction that I would refuse to live off the government).

So there I was, an assistant and later store manager of a shoe store. Boy, it would’ve been easy to run, based on the emotions I was feeling. I felt like my career was over. I was working quite a few hours, some of them with people who detested me (seriously!), and at one point we were living with family because we had no place to live. We made too much to get help from the state with our child’s insurance, but too little to afford it for ourselves. It was a miserable time.

A couple of months after I accepted that position, I heard about a manager opening, and I inquired and was eventually hired and relocated within the same company. I worked long hours, and could never do enough to please my supervisor. I wasn’t very healthy, and my life really seemed doomed to insignificance. Our daughter was beautiful and young, but part of me knew that I would never give her the life I had always dreamed and hoped I would. Same for Sarah at the time – I couldn’t be the provider I wanted to – I couldn’t even spend a day at home without being called in to work because of things only I could handle.

On Thanksgiving day of 2003 (I think), we managed to take a day and made the 3 hour drive to see my parents. I checked my email, and I had a church inquiring as to whether I’d still be interested in taking a worship pastor position. Apparently, they had seen my resume and saved it for over a year. I had posted it after I lost the position in Tennessee – quite a bit of time had passed.

I showed Sarah and felt in my spirit that I should completely disclose our circumstances. She read it, and said it looked like I was trying to talk them out of hiring me. We weren’t currently in the ministry (a big thing for SBC churches), there was a hang-up with my degree at the time, and we were completely scarred from the disastrous year we had lived through.

The church did end up hiring us, and we served there happily for over 5 years before coming to where we are at now. We re-embraced our calling and our faith in God, our ultimate provider.

This is where I’ll end the testimony except to say this – were it not for the rough road we travelled, we would not be where we are at today. I don’t know what would’ve happened.

Throughout the 8 or so years since all of this went down, Sarah and I have come up with some basic tenets of our faith that are very near and dear to us.

1. God is always faithful. Even when we can’t see it. Especially when we can’t see it. Even when we are in the deepest, darkest hole, being hurt and wounded.

2. God’s plans are not our own plans, and His timing is perfect. God is not our co-pilot. He is our only pilot. Taking the reins of our life from God always ends badly, if not in disaster.

3. God’s perfect plan can and does include imperfect people and their flawed decisions. We see this time and time again in the Bible. We look at the disaster that was David’s life, and yet we acknowledge Him as a “man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22).

4. There are times to stand firm, and there are times to run. Running away from a problem, a grievance, an “issue,” or a person is denying God’s opportunity to display Himself as the great Redeemer, Restorer, Strong Tower, Counselor, Friend, etc. God always desires that restoration and redemption occur. The only time I can see that we need to run is when faced with potential immorality – such as Joseph did in Genesis 39:11-18.

5. When we do mess up, and turn back to God, he will restore. Look at Israel during the time of the Judges. Worship false gods, get punished, turn to God, get delivered, worship false gods, get punished, turn to God, get delivered….etc etc.

1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Anyways, just stuff that has been on my mind. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about this part of our lives – maybe something here can help something you are going through.

-Pastor Harvey

Just as 1 Corinthians 10:13 says:

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

(and my initial thought to posting that verse here is “boy, I sure do goof that up sometimes”)

We can be assured that God is with us and sends those blessings to help us along the way.

I’ve done some belief-flopping in my life. I used to believe things which I adamantly oppose now, doctrinally speaking. My intent is not to speak as if I have my act together or that my belief system has reached some sort of “belief enlightenment” – so please don’t read this presuming arrogance on my part.

I did used to believe such a self-centered belief system, that I look back upon it in shame. It was all about what God would do for me, would deliver me from, would bless me with, would cause me to prosper and be promoted, etc. etc. I believed that I would get the first parking spot, would not suffer financially, etc. I was caught up in many beliefs like that.

Why did I substitute things that were temporary for things that were eternal?

What is eternal in nature?

I believe:

People

Worship

The Kingdom of God (this covers many things which could be expounded upon, but for the sake of brevity, I’m going to be blasphemous and include it all on this one line)

As I was able to spend time with the *wonderful* people in Zimbabwe, I realized that it was time well spent. Certainly much, much better time than what I invest into sometimes over here in the states.

I was reminded yesterday of the many blessings that God has put in my life over the years. I was able to spend time with a friend I haven’t seen since I was in my early 20s. We were able to reminisce and I came to the realization (if I had not already arrived at it) that God puts people in our lives for seasons. It’s not that they are no longer friends when geography or life situations separate the closeness. In fact, that’s what we kept saying yesterday – a friend is someone who you could not see for 10 or 20 years, and could pick up right where you left off.

I was blessed to have one of those in Bay Minette. I was blessed to have 1 in Mobile. I was blessed beyond blessed to have 2 of those in Ohio, if not 3. I am related to many people, but I consider a few on both sides to be much more than a blood or marriage relative. I’m married to one of those people. It takes time to discover these folks. I haven’t found one yet here in Florida, but I’m sure there’s one. A friendship like that doesn’t form overnight, but it never ends. And my life has been deeply and richly blessed by the time and influence these half-a-dozen or so people have had upon my life. They have profoundly influenced my choices, my thinking, and my reactions during struggles. And so today, after spending time with one of those folks yesterday, I am thankful all-over-again for the way God puts people in our lives to help us through life – and again, I refer to the Corinthians passage as an example of how people can help others.

These folks aren’t all my age, my gender, or as good-looking as I am (haha!). But they all share the common fact that they know me – I mean, they truly know me. And instead of counting my flaws as something to criticize, they seem to love me more because of the intimacy of our friendship (NOT romantic intimacy).

I always say about my friends in Ohio – if I drove up there and asked for a hamburger you could only get a few hours away, they’d crank up the vehicle, and they’d take me to go get it. I don’t know why food comes as my obvious example. That’s another posting. Haha again.

Who do you have in your life? Do you take them for granted? I look back at how I may have taken some friends for granted, and even now do so. Let us recognize them for who they are – God-sent humans in angel disguises sent to help us through life, and to have a mutual effect upon each other to draw us close to the Giver of such blessings.

As this was a sappy post, I’m going to talk about something that has to do with violence, conflict, war, or American politics next time so that I can restore the correct testosterone balance in my system.

-Pastor Harvey

So, my TOP 5!

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Hurricane Frederic, 1979

Probably the most destructive of the hurricanes I’ve endured. I was 3 and our family evacuated to Montgomery. Our house was ok but the church Dad pastored was totally destroyed. Our house/church were at the center of this storm. We lived in Daphne, AL.

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Hurricane Gloria, 1985

Even though I lived many years in L.A., we were in a church in Edenton, NC on the Albemarle sound from ’84 – ’87. During that time, this was one of several storms we had, but by far the worst. I remember staying in our church all night long and it was scary!

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Hurricane Erin, 1995

This was the first of 2 storms that had a major impact on southern Alabama in 1995 – yes, 2 in one year! This one particularly was rough as I remember it even though it wasn’t particularly an intense hurricane – it just went pretty much right over our head. I lived in Bay Minette, AL.

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Hurricane Opal, 1995

After Erin, everyone was pretty jumpy when Opal came around. They both ended up going into FL worse than where we were in AL (which by coincidence, I live in Ft Walton Beach now!). As I recall, the hurricane shelter was full in Bay Minette but it never got as bad as anticipated, and most folks did not stay overnight. It was still a real scary situation. We thought were were going to get a CAT 3 or 4 head on.

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Hurricane Ike, 2008

We lived in Waynesville, Ohio.

Seriously!

This storm came way way way inland from the gulf, did something weird, and we ended up getting sustained CAT 1 winds in the MIDDLE of the midwest for several hours! We had widespread damage and lost power for the better part of a WEEK. That’s more than any other hurricane I’d ever been in except for Frederic.

We had to keep baby milk in the neighbor’s fridge because they had a generator.

The weirdest thing? It was sunny!

This video shows the SW Ohio impact from Ike :

Back in one of my seminary courses – apologetics, I believe, I was exposed to a website I’ve used over the years. It is entitled “Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry” and is from a gentleman named Matthew Slick. I have some denominational-belief-related differences with him occasionally but I’ve always found him to be solid on his core stuff. Anyways, the following is from his website at www.carm.org and his from an article entitled “Yes, there are essential Christian Doctrines” which can be located in its entirety here.

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Primary Essentials

1. The Deity of Christ
   1. John 8:24, “I said, therefore, to you, that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins.”
      1. This is where Jesus clearly taught what you cannot deny and you must affirm.
   2. Jesus is God in flesh (John 8:58 with Exodus 3:14). See also John 1:1,14; 10:30-33; 20:28; Col. 2:9; Phil. 2:5-8; Heb. 1:8
2. Salvation by Grace
   1. “You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace,” (Gal. 5:4).
   2. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast,” (Eph. 2:8-9).
      1. Both these verses show salvation is by grace through faith, not by works and that to add works is to not be saved.
3. The Resurrection of Christ
   1. “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith,” (1 Cor. 15:14). “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins,” (1 Cor. 15:17).
      1. These verses clearly state that if you say that Jesus did not rise from the dead in the same body He died in as he prophesied in John 2:19-21, then your faith is useless.
4. The Gospel
   1. “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” (Gal. 1:8-9, NIV).
   2. 1 Cor. 15:1-4 defines what the gospel is: “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
5. Monotheism
   1. There is only one God (Exodus 20:3; Isaiah 43:10; 44:6,8)
   2. “You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments,”  (Exodus 20:3-6).
      1. We can see that God will visit iniquity on the descendents of those who do not follow the true and living God.

Secondary Essentials

Secondary essentials are likewise necessary truths, but there is no self-declared penalty for their denial — yet they are still essential to the Christian faith.  Again, by way of example, Jesus says that he is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by him, (John 14:6).  I call this a secondary essential because there’s no penalty associated with its denial.  Nevertheless, it is a statement of absolute truth and is an essential Christian teaching that cannot be denied.

1. Jesus is the only way to salvation
   1. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me,’” (John 14:6)
      1. Jesus declared that he was the only access to God the Father.  To deny this is to deny what Jesus said.
2. Jesus’ virgin birth
   1. “’Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us,’” (Matt. 1:23).
      1. Without the virgin birth, we cannot substantiate the doctrine of the incarnation of Jesus being God in flesh.  This would put at risk what Jesus said above in John 8:24, where he said, “I said, therefore, to you, that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins.”
3. Doctrine of the Trinity
   1. Matt. 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,”  (See also, Matt. 3:16-17; 1 Cor. 12:4-6; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:4-6.)
   2. This doctrine is not represented by a single verse per se, though it is hinted at.  The doctrine of the Trinity is arrived at systematically by looking at the totality of Scripture.  It is, nevertheless, the proper representation of scriptural revelation concerning the nature of God.

Our faith is only as good as who we put it in. There are false teachers who redefine God, redefine Christ, and redefine the gospel to their own destruction. Jesus warned us about false Christs and false teachers in Matt. 24:24.  Paul clearly said in Galatians 1:8 that anyone who preaches a false gospel is to be cursed.  Therefore, we can see from Scripture that there are doctrinal/propositional truths we cannot avoid and that these truths cannot be governed by experience and/or the ambivalence of emerging “conversation”. If that were the case, we would not need the propositional truths given to us by God in the Bible.

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Of course, as a Southern Baptist, I would always encourage members of my own church and/or denomination to refer to the Baptist Faith and Message for a concise listing of core doctrines and beliefs. You can find that here.

Good News: The women’s group voted to send you a get-well card.
Bad News: The vote passed by 31-30.

Good News: The pastor-parish relations committee accepted your job description the way you wrote it.
Bad News: They were so inspired by it that they asked the bishop to send a new minister capable of filling the position.

Good News: The trustees finally voted to add more church parking.
Bad News: They are going to blacktop the front lawn of the parsonage.

Good News: Church attendance rose dramatically the last three weeks.
Bad News: You were on vacation.

Good News: Your biggest critic just left your community.
Bad News: He has been appointed as your conference bishop.

Good News: The youth of the church came to your house for a visit.
Bad News: It was in the middle of the night and they were armed with toilet paper and shaving cream.

Good News: The Church Council has agreed to send you to the Holy Land for study.
Bad News: They are waiting for war to break out before sending you.

Oftentimes, I’m checking out facebook or on the phone or am involved in social interaction within groups, and I notice a common theme. For that matter, I participate in the theme myself. It goes something like this:

“I AM NOT GOING TO MAKE IT THROUGH THIS STRUGGLE/DAY/TIME OF MY LIFE/CHALLENGE/TEMPTATION/TRIAL/INSERT OTHER WORDS HERE.”

Reminds me of some funny “You might be a Southern Baptist” lists I’ve read lately:

#23 – You might be a southern baptist if you’re still giddy over your last spiritual victory, which was years ago.

Growing up, I’d hear people talking about church services as if they were a spiritual gas station.

“Thank goodness for Wednesday’s mid-week church service, otherwise, I’d never make it to Sunday!”

Since when did Church become a fueling station, by which and only by which a Christian can barely make it through his struggles and trials until the next church service?

Another related question…

Why do Christians think that corporate worship can in anyway substitute for a daily walk with God? Somewhere, there’s an unwritten rule that our spirituality is directly proportional to our church attendance and involvement.

Can I just state that there are churches filled with people dressed like a saint and acting like…yeah, something else?

And can I also state that there are people who may not be attending church every time the door is open, because they are being a pastor to their family, community, workplace, or are resting so that they might be one of those from Monday to Saturday?

Let me chase that rabbit for a moment:

Church isn’t bad. It’s good! It is an awesome thing to spend time in the fellowship with other believers. I’m not trying to make a point contrary to that. The church is the “Bride of Christ.” It is a great thing. Many of us know the famous Hebrews passage:

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching. – Hebrews 10:25

While we are not able to determine whether an individual is a sheep or a wolf in a sheep’s clothing on our own, we know that God does protect the sheep. He gives discernment to the leadership to guard the sheep from the wolves. And he has given several “litmus tests” as well. Christians should produce fruit. Christians should love other Christians. Might I make the small leap and say, Christians should love going to church! You show me a grumpy grouchy person who can’t stand people and doesn’t like to attend church who claims to be a Christian, and I’ll show you my best impression of a reserved skeptic!

Is not that we have to come to church, it’s that we get to!

Back to the original topic now:

As wonderful as corporate worship services are, they are no substitute for an individual relationship with God. God does speak to us (future blog topic)! And he desires a daily walk with us – He has desired such a walk since the first human, and still seeks those who would walk with Him today.

I was blessed to be able to share Lamentations 3 this morning with our staff. Talk about a person who had it rough. It makes what most of us go through on a daily basis seem a little petty.

Lamentations 3:1-33

1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.

2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light;

3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.

4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones.

5 He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.

6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead.

7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains.

8 Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.

9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.

10 Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding,

11 he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help.

12 He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.

13 He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver.

14 I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long.

15 He has filled me with bitter herbs and sated me with gall.

16 He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.

17 I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.

18 So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD.”

19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.

20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.

21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,  for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;

26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.

28 Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him.

29 Let him bury his face in the dust– there may yet be hope.

30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.

31 For men are not cast off by the Lord forever.

32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.

33 For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.

I find myself being hypocritical when I get to the point when I wonder why God doesn’t speak to me, and yet I am not engaged in interaction with Him.

What do I expect?

So it may be that God desires something special with each of us, and not just when we enter the doors of a church building. And that a lifestyle of worship isn’t a lifestyle that is only engaged when around other believers. And in fact, if we only engage God in action a few times a month, then it’s no wonder that we can’t figure out why we have no passion, no revelation, no newness in our walk with Him, and no sense of “God is present.”

Solution?

Spend time with God. Dust off the Bible. Read it. Pray whether you feel like it or not. When we discipline ourselves to engage God on a personal, intimate level, we might just be shocked!

Our relationship with God is based on an individual interaction, Spirit-led understanding, and personal application of the Gospel message. A corporate action cannot substitute.

Still don’t know where to start? We’re all in different places in our lives. Message me, I’d be glad to talk and pray with you.

-Pastor Harvey

I get alot of questions and comments about denominations. No, I’m not talking about these:

I’m talking more about something like this:

Yes, that is a small chart (so it won’t take up the whole blog), but it covers just the major denominations among churches, and just the major denominations in America at that.

What is a denomination?

From Wikipedia (and we know they are always right, ha!) – A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name, tradition, and identity.

From Harveypedia – A denomination is a group of believers that form a sect based off of an interpretation in scripture, administration, practice, or any number of things that would otherwise result in this:

Oh, by the way. That still happens, anyways.

So, what gives? You *normally* don’t see this sort of militaristic action taken inside of America when different religious groups get up in arms, but mind you, there is plenty of denominational warfare.

Just think of the people who claim to be Christian in America. Here’s some more pictures of some of those groups:

So, what do the people behind these representations have in common?

Not much. But I’m going to make the following assumptions (very dangerous, I know, but face it, you’re not referring to my blog to write your doctoral thesis):

1. They believe that their belief system is correct.

2. They are willing to defend their belief system, even sacrifice for it.

3. These are all images I found of people who label themselves as Christians.

I’m not going to even begin to make the dangerous trip of saying which qualify and which don’t qualify as legitimate Christians. It’s a slippery slope, and I just happen to not be God. I too have very specific, very opinionated beliefs. None of those images represent the specific beliefs I adhere to.

By the way, there are some major, foundational beliefs that represent the core tenets of Christianity. That’s a future blog posting. But yes, there does exist “dealbreaker” doctrines – to deny their validity is to deny Christianity by definition.

Back to the topic…

So many people are attending non-denominational churches in an effort to avoid the division that a denominational tag seemingly accompanies. Which is pretty ironic, considering how a. they are classified just like denominational churches are – by their beliefs (pentecostal, reformed, legalistic, etc), and b. they lack the good things that a denominational structure brings, and yes, there are good things!

Just off the top of my head, here are some great things that a denominational structure brings:

1. Organization

2. A set of unified beliefs

3. The “pooling” of resources, so that churches can have a larger, worldwide impact

4. Publishing companies that correspond with the denominational beliefs, such as “Lifeway” in my case (southern baptists).

5. Many more – this blog is being done without the benefit of days of research and reading.

So, can we see any clarity at all with umpteen denominations carrying out their goals, missions, beliefs, and agendas in America and all over the world?

How do believers figure out which is the right denomination?

Is there a “most right” denomination?

What separates the denominations from what I would call the “cults,” that is, organizations set up as denominations, but so far off track that they have indeed rejected the fundamental beliefs that Christians embrace, or they have embraced beliefs that would discredit them as Christians?

Umm, yeah. So I can write some great questions, can’t I!

Here are some very short answers. Books and books have been written about this, so don’t expect me to magically solve this for the whole world. That’ll take me at least three blog posts.

So, can we see any clarity at all with umpteen denominations carrying out their goals, missions, beliefs, and agendas in America and all over the world?

God is bigger than the division. Does it irk me to no end that the “Christians” with the most media exposure are the ones who are uttering nonsense that couldn’t be further away from the REAL truth of the Gospel? You bet your bippie.

Do I shudder knowing that the same denomination adjective in my church is also present in a very publicized nutcase factory in Kansas that has nothing better to do than protest funerals of the fallen military? And they apparently honest-to-God believe they are carrying out the mandate of God by spreading hate? Why yes, I do shudder.

Does it bother me that the cesspool of American spirituality is so shallow that many actually believe that the publicized nonsense of Westboro and other cults is representative of what I as a southern baptist pastor stand for?

Do I believe that God is bigger than all of this, and that there is not one human or a trillion humans together who can ever divert his perfect plan for humanity, carried out through His Son and continuing today as the avenue for broken humanity to have relationship with perfect divinity? Emphatically, yes.

To quote some silliness i was spouting earlier, the Bible doesn’t say “in the end times, people will ride unicorns up rainbows all day long and everyone will be perfectly happy as the world experiences increasing warm fuzzy feelings because people just love each other.”

Nope, divisions with Christianity were predicted in the Bible.

One spot is 2 Peter, 2nd chapter:

1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them–bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping…

So yes, we have divisions within divisions within divisions.

The thing is, God is bigger, supreme, sovereign, near, loving, just, faithful, and is worthy of each of us living a thousand lives and dedicating each moment to learning more about Him.

A perfect God uses imperfect people who organize into groups full of weaknesses and flaws to accomplish His perfect will. One of those most awesome things about God is that He uses us! Our brokenness, our heartbreak, our failures, our misunderstandings, our lack of capacity to fathom just about anything – and God does something through us we could never do on our own. We are here on a mission which, in my humble opinion, does not include hitting someone on the head with a stick. In fact, it involves caring for people, ministering to the hurting, caring for the less fortunate, and otherwise doing what He wants us to do, not what we get in our heads that we should be doing on our own.

1 Timothy 1:17

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Concerning the other question – I’m going to save them for future writings.

I hope I haven’t come across as terribly blasphemous. That’s the thing about division. I’m sure I’m blasphemous to someone out there!

-Pastor Harvey