Miss USA

Undoubtedly you have heard about the young woman who lost the Miss USA crown because she stood up for traditional marriage when asked by a homosexual activist.  Here may be a little insight into why homosexuals have so much hostility towards "Christians."

Yesterday I heard this Miss USA contestant on the radio say that she would answer the question the same even if she knew it would cost her the crown, because she was more concerned with being biblical than being politically correct.

Here is a question for this Miss USA contestant if you are so concerned about being biblical what about 1 Timothy 2:9-10, which states:

 9 And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes.10 For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do. (NLT)

It as seems that it would be unbiblical for a woman to parade around on a stage in a bikini, flaunting  her body.  With this type of biblical picking and choosing, it is little wonder why homosexuals think the church is picking on them.  Why is the church not condemning this young woman, which would be biblical because she claims to be a Christian rather than condemning the homosexual.  WHAT ARE YOU SAYING PASTOR?  1 Corinthians 5:12-13 states:

 12 It isn't my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning.13 God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, "You must remove the evil person from among you." (NLT)

Think about it.

Rick Warren and Voddie Baucham

Here is Voddie Baucham's take on Rick Warren's new flip flop on homosexual marriage.

Click Here

Quick Post

Yes, I am still alive.  What a couple of weeks.

You have to go back to the week before Easter to catch.  The Easter program was great.  God once again showed us who is in control and is worthy of all glory. 

Then we followed that up with Holy Week.  We had great music and preaching Monday and Tuesday night.  Thanks to Quinton Moss and Lloyd Hopper for delivering powerful messages.

Then on Thursday we had a Love Feast and all that I can say is that if you missed it, you missed a blessing.

Friday night was our traditional "Service of Darkness."  It always leaves one awed by what Jesus did for us.

Easter was Awesome.  It was our most attend Easter service since I have been the pastor with 196 in attendance.   We enjoyed a powerful moment when we saw the darkness flee when the light of Christ took its place.  We were joined by the Covenant Players and they were as good as always.  Then was our "famous" Easter egg hunt with the church grounds peppered with plastic colorful eggs.  The children of HSBC are spoiled with this huge egg hunt.  Thanks to everyone for the candy and egg donations.

This was followed up again this Sunday with a great service and numerous people coming forward to express interest in being involved in the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief efforts.  As their pastor I can't wait to hear their stories after their first volunteer assignments.  God is going to use this to change them and our church.

We also had a child receive Jesus yesterday as his Lord and Savior.

That is a quick recap of where we left off two weeks ago.  There is much more that could have been said.  

Do not forget the work day tonight anytime after 5:30.  Hope to see you there.

A Hard but Good Week at HSBC

This week has been a very hard week for many at HSBC.  They have been at the church every evening preparing for the Easter Program, "A Light in the Darkness".  It has been a joy to watch so many new faces plugging into this year's presentation.   Everyone has work hard and are doing a great job.  

Are there things that could be improved?  Yes!  Here is the deal, I learned this many years ago in my sermon preparation. If whatever we do is made perfect or great in our own strength then where is our need for God.  It is us who did it.  As a preacher, I have literally over prepared,  over structured, and over crafted what I thought was the prefect sermon that was going to bring the masses to repentance.  Those sermons were some of the worst messages that I have every delivered. Why?  It was all on paper and all I had to do was deliver it as written. When we think that we have all the variable managed, God likes to remind us that He alone manages all the variables.  These are sermons that if I would have went into the pulpit like I came out, God could have used the sermon.  

We must not be lazy in our preparation. When we have done all that we can do and we are left with a creaked pot, REMEMBER THOSE ARE THE ONES THAT LIGHT SHINES THROUGH (2 Corinthians 4:4-10).  There is going to be a light that goes out into the darkness by means of this play this weekend.  God is going to do it in such a way that it will leave no guess that it was HE.  I cannot wait to see HIM show up this weekend.

The Easter Program "A Light is the Darkness" happens tonight at 7:00, tomorrow at 5:00 and Sunday Morning at 11am.  Do not miss it and bring a friend.

Decline of Evangelicalism Addressed

What in the world is going on in Evangelical Christianity causing it to decline?  The number one reason for a decline of Evangelicalism in America is the lack of biblical theology and doctrine being taught and prized by churches.  The modern church has lost its way by trying to fill pews.  Successes has been defined for churches by the number of people that sit in it pews on Sunday morning.  This has been contributed to by the rise of the field of study called church growth.  There is much that pastors should learn from the church growth movement but sadly much of the movement is church growth for the sake of filling pews.  There is little to no interaction or consideration of methodology and true biblical theology.  We have all heard someone say "Well, look at the church, they must be doing something right because of the way they are growing." We have been told for a generation or more that churches should make unbelievers comfortable in our worship services by preaching practical topical messages that shy away from sin, controversial issues, and theology.

We are now in the post-denominational era of the church in America.  No longer are people loyal to denominations.  This is good and bad.  Good in the sense that the unnecessary divisions among denominations are being erased. Bad because the theological beliefs that divide denominations are being erased.  This is bad because people are no longer theologically minded or even have an understanding of biblical doctrine.  People today judge a church by worship styles not what doctrine it teaches. What evangelical needs is more theology not less.  We need more theology, "study of God", not people studying God less.   

With less theology or people studying God less, the church and its members replaces its doctrine with a more socially acceptable philosophy.  The church is only willing to embrace biblical truths when is does not conflict with their personal philosophy.  The church is not to have a philosophy instead it is to have a theology deeply rooted in the Scriptures.  The Scriptures are to the absolute authority not my or your personal opinions.

After a generation or two of philosophy being the authority and not God's Word what are we left with.

19 percent of born again Christians have a biblical worldview.

Look at this quote a direct result from not having a biblical worldview or biblical theology.

[T]he most common definitions of successful parenting include children having good values (25 percent), being happy adults (25 percent), finding success in life (22 percent), being a good person (19 percent), graduating from college (17 percent), and living independently (15 percent). Being godly or having faith in God is mentioned by 9 percent of respondents.

The first step of recovery for evangelical is to close the books, turn off the television and open their Bibles.

Weekend Review and Sermon Notes

Wow, what a weekend at HSBC!  It is weekends like these that really make me glad that I pastor a great church like HSBC.  This may sound odd but if you are a Christians you will understand, we had a great memorial service Saturday at noon.  The praise team was awesome!! The ladies that prepared the meal were awesome!!  The best part was on Sunday when the grandson, of the lady who had gone on to Heaven, received Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

In addition to the one receiving Christ, Sunday morning we heard a report from Lori about her mission trip to India.  I love hearing what God is doing all over the globe.  The praise team did awesome as always.  And I finally finished up presenting a series of sermons on the end times.  The sermon notes are at the end of this post for the past two weeks.  Next week we continue in 1 Thessalonians.   HSBC is a church where people love the Word of God.  They are not afraid of being challenged from the Bible.

Between services Sunday, the church was busy with numerous people doing their part to prepare for the Easter program.  It is hard to believe that it is only two weeks away.    It is such a blessing to see people working so hard for Christ.  Please keep the program in your prayers.

Sunday night, our Bible study is in the book of Romans and it is extremely challenging.  Danny is doing a great job.   

Keep it up HSBC!!!

Here are the sermon notes:

Revelation 20 

v.2 - "Thousand years" - indefinite long period of time - 10 cubed

v. 3 - "Bound" - in two ways

1.) To deceive the nations

From Adam to Christ  Acts 17:30

Make disciples of all nations Matt. 28:19

2.) Satan cannot gather all enemies of Christ together to attack the church  Rev. 20:8

N.T. Examples of Satan being bound

Matt. 12:29

John 12:31-32

Luke 10:17-18

v.4- "Thrones" - Located in Heaven  Rev. 3:21

"Came to Life" - Spiritual resurrection takes places at conversion

v.8 - ties to Rev. 19:17-21; 16:14-16  and these all point to Ez. 38-39

v. 9 - "Fire"  - Second Coming   Rev. 19:20-21

2 Pet. 3:10-13

2 Thess. 2:8; 1:6-10

Matt. 16:27;25:31-32 -  ties will Rev. 20:11

Notice no 1,000 yr. interval.

v.11 ties with Rev. 14:14-15 and the reapers in Matthew 13:24-30

v.13 Second resurrection - Physical

of the just and the unjust

Col. 3:1-3

John 5:28-29

Dan. 12.2

Notice no interval between the resurrection of the unjust and just, both happen at the same time.

v. 14 Second Death - Avoid by those who partook of the first resurrection.

God bless you as you continue your studies and look forward to his return.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Decline of Evangicalism

It has been a depressing week for the church in the media.  Monday morning USAToday published the results of a study on a study that shows a decline of Christianity in America.  Baptists have dropped over 3% in relationship to the increase of population.  15% of American now claim no religion at all.  This makes "No Religion" the third largest group behind only Catholics and Baptist in our country.  Of these three only the "No Religion" group is growing in relation to the population.  

I received a link to another article from the associational office titled "The Coming Collapse of Evangelicalism."  This is another depressing article, however it is somewhat enlightening.

What in the world is going on in Evangelical Christianity causing this decline?  Many of these causes have been identified in the preaching at HSBC.  I will post more on this topic in the days to come, and hopeful present some ideas of how the church can thrive in the future.

If you read or have read the mentioned articles above, I would love to hear your take on them.

These two articles and the church shooting on Sunday, church we have to remember, THE LAMB WINS!!!

Cheryl is having surgery today.  Please remember her in pray.

In the words of Woodrow Kroll, "What good is a good day if it is not a godly day?"

I hope that you are having both a good and godly day.