The Presidential election is coming up and once again Americans have a difficult decision to make. Do we vote for Barack Obama? Do we vote for John McCain? Do we vote for a third party candidate? Do we write in a candidate? Finally, do we simply sit by and not vote at all? From a biblical perspective I am convinced that it is our obligation to vote and to vote for someone who reflects biblical values. Recently in a conversation with my dad, we were discussing the church’s obligation to vote for someone who reflects godly values. The refrain that I consistently hear from believers is that they may not love any candidate, but they will vote for the “lesser of two evils” in order to not “waste their vote”. This is an interesting thought process, and honestly, is one that I embraced for a while. The problem arises when it is pointed out, as my father lovingly did, that to do so is to admit that you are voting for evil, albeit “less” evil than you might otherwise vote for.

As believers we need to think and pray deeply about the upcoming election. We need to evaluate each candidate, not against each other, but against God’s Word. If a candidate is found that is suitable to consider voting for, do so. At the same time, if you are convinced that none of the candidates are viable, biblicallly, than write a candidate in. You might argue that to do so is to waste your vote. I would strongly disagree. Remember America is not our home, our allegiance is ultimately to the Kingdom of God and not to an earthly political process. To vote in amanner that would reflect the most politically expedient option is to unfortunately believe that pragmatism, rather than holiness, is our highest aim.

Our goal is to please God, and not man. It’s often difficult, in our political climate, to remember that. I’ll be honest with you that I have not decided, at this point, how I am going to vote. I am convinced, however, that I will study and pray and I will vote this year for the candidate that most reflects my commitment to God and His word, even if that means writing in the name that I think be represents those characteristics.

What do you think?

Drs Danny Akin and Al Mohler have worked together to provide for us a wonderful resource that deals biblically with the topic of infant salvation. If you haven’t studied the topic before I would recommend that you do so now. When one loses an infant to death you will be ill equipped in that moment of extreme emotionalism to adequately research and understand the implications of infant salvation. This is a topic that you need to have a strong understanding of before that event occurs so that you can confidently answer questions and provide loving hope.

We owe a debt of gratitude to these men for this resource.

You can access the article here.

HT: Timmy Brister

**DISCLAIMER** This is an occasional series in which I offer some heartfelt cries to pastors in regards to issues that I see that are crippling the work of the gospel and the effectiveness of the church. These are areas that are particularly close to my heart. These articles are not intended to be academic treatises, but rather a reflection of current concerns that I am dealing with.

I couldn’t sleep last night. It was a difficult night of tossing and turning until almost 3am before I finally drifted off to sleep. I occasionally have nights like this, and when I do I try to read. As a general rule I try to read a few newspapers each day (Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times and the St. Joseph News-Press) to make sure that I am current with the climate of our culture. I grabbed my laptop, turned it on and turned to the sites for these papers. As I was perusing the Post website I noticed an article by Melissa Etheridge, the rock star, who has become even more well known for her lesbian lifestyle and activism for homosexual couples to have the right to adopt. I read the article that she wrote about her  “Awakening at Easter” and my heart broke. In the article Etheridge details a typical midwestern upbringing in which she attended church with her parents only about 45 minutes from where I live here in St. Joseph. Unfortunately, however, as she spoke about their times at church during the Easter holiday she doesn’t speak of a pastor who clarified the risen Savior and the purpose of His resurrection instead, in her own words, what she heard was:

“Jesus was crucified on the cross and put into the tomb and rose from the dead three days later, now go find some eggs that a bunny left in the yard.”

I sat back, after I read her quote, and I struggled with frustration and sorrow. To think that her experience in celebration of the risen Savior was devalued to some lesson about Jesus and the Easter bunny is truly disheartening. To be honest, it could certainly be true that as a young child she simply missed the point, but unfortunately I would not be surprised if this depiction were accurate, understanding the state of the modern church.

It is vital that we pastors lead churches that communicate in modern, effective ways the truth of the Gospel. I believe in the importance of contextualization and the need for understandable application.  If, however, in an effort to make the message understandable we somehow lose the message itself than we have nothing of value to offer those who are listening.

It may be encouraging and convenient to encourage our people with thoughts that they should believe in themselves and that they should know that God wants them to triumph. It certainly may be convenient, but the problem is that it is not biblical. Instead of teaching our people that convenient message, we should teach our people to believe in God, rather than themselves, and the fact that He can triumph for us, rather than our ability to triumph for Him. Instead of getting people to our churches with a good time and throwing Jesus at them in some fashion, Jesus must become the center of all that we do. Our hope for our culture is not a large number of people who believe in the power of what they can do but rather a group of people who are broken by what they cannot do and are dependent upon God for what He can do.

It is frustrating to me to hear Etheridge’s personal testimony of the unfaithfulness of her church. It is even more frustrating when I turn on my own tv and see the pastors who are misleading their own people just as successfully by teaching them that God wants them to prosper and to be happy and that God would never allow them to suffer. It is a ridiculous perversion of the gospel. The kind of theology that exalts those values will cause our people to scratch their head in wonder when they see that God can’t even maintain His own standard with His Son, whom scripture tells us was “slain before the foundation of the earth.” So much for prosperity, comfort and ease I guess?

No, we do not need to make our people comfortable, happy and thankful for how easy their faith is. We must challenge them, encourage them and attack every thought that would exalt man over God. So, in this short plea, Pastor please hear me beg you not to lose the gospel! Contextualize the message, make ready the application and by all means prepare to communicate His word creatively, but please, please don’t lose the gospel. The lives of your people depend on it.

This week for Weekend Worship I want to share with you something that God has been dealing with me about. I struggled, as a teenager, with trusting God. I worried about everything. The worry became so extensive that I was placed on prescription Zantac as a 16 year old and the doctor told me that I was in the beginning stages of a stomach ulcer. I asked God for the ability to trust Him and He gave it to me in supernatural ways. For almost 15 years now I have had the ability to simply trust Him regardless of what came into my life. Recently, though, the sin of worry has crept back into my life. I have struggled with trust and as I’ve been seeking God’s heart, my wife reminded me of a powerful passage from Philippians 4.

4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

As I read that again, I was struck by verse 7 which claims that God’s peace will “guard you hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” What a powerful statement! God is working to protect my heart and mind as I trust and rejoice in Him and His goodness.

This week, the song I want to post is a story of the amazing grace of God as we walk by faith. Jeremy Camp’s song, “Walk by Faith” is a wonderful song on its own, but when you listen to it and realize that he wrote the song after experiencing the loss of his wife to cancer after being married for only 4 months, it takes on an even more powerful meaning. I hope that you will enjoy listening to this song, and Camp’s testimony of God’s faithfulness, and that you will walk by faith this week.

Blessings!

I found these two helpful resources today that I wanted to pass along. It should be noted that they are wholly unrelated to each other.

The first resource is  an article by John Piper on the biblical statements concerning elders within the church. As a lifelong Southern Baptist, the concept of elders in the church was a foreign one to me until about 10 years ago. As I began to study God’s word on my own, however, I began to be more convinced of the importance of a plurality of elders within the New Testament church. I now serve in a church that is led by a body of elders whom I respect greatly and who are being blessed by God in their efforts. If you are interested in the concept of biblical elders at all, I would recommend this article to you.

Click here / HT: Jason 

The second resource is a great idea for anyone who is working on church facilities. At our church we are opening our newest building project on Easter Sunday (if you’re in the area, join us for service, Grand Opening and continental breakfast), and we are getting started on our next project which includes the completion of our children’s facility, our youth facility, adult classrooms, dining hall and kitchen. Anyway, I’m one of those geeks who is always interested in what’s out there for church facility design and ran across an article on ChurchRelevance.com dealing with the 7 most innovative new church designs across the country. It’s fascinating stuff.

Take a look by clicking here

 Hosea 3:1, The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”

I desperately wanted to attend the Text & Context conference this week but previously scheduled obligations precluded me from attending. I was visiting the site today watching a few video clips that were prepared beforehand to help promote the conference I viewed this short clip from Dr. John Piper. I highly encourage it to you.