Proud to be a Southern Baptist

Last week, I attended the annual Southern Baptist Convention in Louisville, KY. I had a good time and once again, I can gladly say that I am proud to be Southern Baptist.

One of the things I am most proud of is the fact that for the vast majority of Southern Baptists, the main thing is still to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ all over the world. This was demonstrated in several ways last week in Kentucky:

1) Before the convention ever took place, many Southern Baptists were hitting the streets of Louisville helping those in need, passing out food, and sharing the love of Jesus with those who needed to hear it. And God greatly blessed our efforts. In those brief couple of days, there were over 1,000 decisions made to follow Christ. Praise God! It makes me very proud to be able to say that when we come to a city to meet, we don't just have our meetings and leave... we really try to bless that city!

2) Another demonstration of Southern Baptist's commitment to the Great Commission was seen in the motion that was made and passed, which authorized the current SBC President, Dr. Johnny Hunt to appoint and head a "Great Commission Task Force" to study and evaluate everything going on in the SBC, in order to report back at next year's convention with recommendations concerning how we can get even more focused and even more intentional about carrying the good news about Jesus all over the world.

Something else that I am proud of is the Resolution that was passed concerning President Obama. While we as Southern Baptists are proud of the fact that enough racial reconciliation has been accomplished in this country to make it so a black man can be elected president, at the same time there are quite a few of President Obama's policies that are just wrong and ungodly, and these things were denounced in this resolution. For example:

1) his decision to provide federal funding for embryonic stemcell research...

2) his actions to provide more funding for organizations doing more late-term abortions and less funding for abstinence education... and

3) his overwhelming support of the whole homosexual agenda, even evidenced as recently by the proclaiming of June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.

Even just today, I was reading in news story that Obama made the statement that many Americans still cling to "worn arguments and old attitudes." Well, maybe so Mr. President but these "old attitudes" are BIBLICAL attitudes. These were issues that we needed to speak out against and so I'm glad we did.

My Traveling Partners

This is why I listen to audio books when I travel. :)

Strawberry Picking!

Strawberry picking is really hard work...

But so worth the effort! :)

Obama & the National Day of Prayer

I know it's in the news right now how a lot of people are upset that President Obama is not really observing the National Day of Prayer like former presidents have done in the past, but you know for me (and this may surprise some people coming from me), but its really not that big of a deal for me. I guess most people, knowing that I'm a conservative Christian pastor would expect me to be very upset, but I'm really not. And here's why?

First of all, much of these National Day of Prayer Ceremonies are nothing more than a lot of political show. If someone is not living as a devoted believer on a daily basis, with prayer being a regular part of their lives anyway... then what good is it to all of a sudden to pretend to be one, one day out of the year? In my opinion - none at all.

Second, I generally do not like these National Day of Prayer Ceremonies because they are so ecumenical in nature. To me it is simply theologically dishonest and hypocritical to hold hands with people of many varying faiths and pretend to all be praying to the same God. The most dramatic example probably being Christians and Muslims both participating at the same time. Here you have two faiths that couldn't be more opposite, supposing and pretending to be brothers uniting together for prayer. The book of Amos 3:3 states, "Can two walk together unless they are agreed?" And the obvious answer is no, they can't. Even Christians and Orthodox Jews can't honestly meet together for prayer as brothers. Biblically we can only go to God in prayer through Jesus the Messiah, and they reject Jesus as the Messiah. So, all these different religious groups coming together for such purposes as prayer or worship or even missions with no basis in truth, in my opinion is not theologically honest or Biblically correct. Now agreeing to work together for some kind of specific social reform like world hunger, abortion, or the traditional view of marriage is completely different; I have no problem with that. But when you start talking about praying together and worshiping together, thats different b/c each one is making the implication that the other faith is just as valid as theirs, and that is not always true.

So, for me it's not a real big deal that President Obama is not participating in this event. The only little thing that does bother me about it is the question... why is he doing this and who is he doing it for? Let's face it... he's a politician, he's supposed to do things like this, especially since he's made the claim to be a born again Christian. Now, of course, I don't believe he's a Christian anymore than Job's turkey, but he himself has made the claim, so why is doing this? What is his motivation for breaking this presidential traditional? Is there a certain minority group of the population that he is doing this for? These are the only things that I wonder about. Maybe he's finally revealing his true self... an Unbeliever. If so, I respect him for at least being real.

New Sec. of Heath Seems More Preoccupied with Death

It is so ironic that Obama's new appointment for the Secretary of Heath and Human Services be a person so obviously preoccupied with DEATH. But that is precisely the case with Kathleen Sebelius, Governor of Kansas, who's avid support of abortion rights, especially late-term abortion, is so blatantly clear.

The following report is taken from an article written by Bradley Mattes, Executive Director of the Life Issues Institute:

As Governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius has worked to oppose: parental notification before a minor daughter can have a surgical abortion, waiting periods before having an abortion, and informed consent. She has vetoed pro-life legislation that would have afforded women basic health care protections in abortion facilities, as well as one requiring specific medical reasons for a late-term abortion. Just before becoming Secretary of HHS, she vetoed a bill that would have required that abortionists provide statistical information to the state when doing late-term abortions.

Kathleen Sebelius has strong ties to the notorious late-term abortionist in Wichita, KS, George Tiller (also known as “Tiller the Killer”). Women from throughout the nation come to him for late-term abortions. He has faced multiple federal charges for doing illegal late-term abortions.

Ms. Sebelius’ confirmation hearings revealed that she underpaid her taxes by thousands of dollars. She also greatly under-reported the campaign contributions given to her by George Tiller. It was three times more than she reported under oath. She also failed to report that George Tiller had personally given $200,000 to a political action committee to elect her. Governor Sebelius even held a secret party at the governor’s mansion in honor of this late-term abortionist.

Kathleen Sebelius is not just pro-abortion, she’s a pro-abortion activist, with a special advocacy for late-term abortion. 

It's comforting to know that the person so responsible for matters of health and life, seems more bent on ending life than preserving it. 

Church Discipline - Tough Subject

Tonight at our Wednesday night Bible study, we ended up discussing church discipline, or as some might call it - excommunication. We very quickly looked at 3 major passages that dealt with this topic: 1 Tim.1:18-20; 1 Corin.5; and Matt.18:15-17. This is a really tough subject for the modern church for many reasons. One reason is, for years now pastors just haven't had the backbone to preach the whole counsel of God, and therefore many sincere believers are completely ignorant of what God's word says. Another reason is, we live in a very tolerant, relativistic culture... which boils down to everyone is afraid to tell anyone their wrong about anything. People have forgotten that we are not the standard, God's word is, we aren't the Judge; He is. And finally, church discipline is for maintaining the purity of the collective body of Christ, as well as helping individuals believers be as close to God as possible... and its sad to say, but I just don't think the vast majority of believers in churches across this nation today are really all that concerned with their own personal holiness before God. So, if we're not concerned with our own, then we're certainly not going to hold anyone else accountable, and rightly so.

Now, one very important aspect about this is, people MUST understand... this is not about punishment or retribution... it's about RESTORATION. Because a professing believer living in a lifestyle of unrepentant sin is NOT in fellowship with God, and gives more evidence of being still dead in their sin and separated from God, as opposed to being alive in Christ and reconciled to God. And it truly breaks my heart for the millions of people out there with their name on a church roll, who believe when they die they're going to heaven, when in all probability... they're not. And it absolutely infuriates me with all the pseudo-churches out there, who claim to be Christian, but who have long since abandoned the Scriptures, who do nothing but deceive and lull people into spiritual apathy. I fear for the pastors of those so-called churches when they stand before God and answer for all the souls who were under their care. Church Discipline is indeed a tough subject... but one desperately needed in the modern church in America.

Rainy Days

What do you do on rainy days when you just have to get out of the house? Well, in our town there's really not much more to do than to go to the local Wal-Mart and play with the toys! So, that's what we did. As you can see, we especially liked the toy leaf-blowers and the foam swords. Make sense... after a hard days work... everyone has to let off some steam. :)