Living Proof

Living Proof

As Disciples of Christ we are all called on by the “Great Commission” to seek the lost and bring them to Christ by proclaiming the Gospel. Then we are to baptize them and teach them all the Christ has commanded us.

Some followers of Jesus do not do this because they are afraid of offending people, or doing it wrong and not being successful.  There are many reasons for not being evangelist. Fear is one of most powerful reasons given.

I remember an old saying from a preacher who mentored me in the 1960’s.

“Become living proof of God’s love, one person at a time.”

How easy is that? Simply live out the gospel life in such a way that others see Christ in your life. When they ask you about your faith you can respond to them in love. Not all of us are called on to be powerful evangelistic preachers. Some of us are called on to live the life of love quietly as witnesses of God’s love and grace.

Gambling In Kentucky?

The governor of Kentucky has been trying to get slot machines and casinos legalized in Kentucky. This is supposed to help our budget woes. There is the old argument that because states that border us have gambling [now called gaming] Kentucky money is flowing to those states.

In my mind this is NOT a good thing!

It is said that once Bugsy Siegel, who built the Las Vagas early casinos for the “mob,” was asked by a friend which games they should play and which games to avoid. His reply was, “They are all bad bets.”

The only real winners are the owners of the gambling establishments. Yes some money would flow into state coffers but you know what politicians do with more money. We already have lottery and that was suppose to solve all our state money problems and hasn’t.

There is a very real social cost in the form of the poor to see gambling as a way out of poverty and can not see that it only get them into deeper debt. There is an addictive side to gambling that creates even greater problems.

The gambling organization will keep pressure on our government and on voters by spending a lot of their profits made in other states on ads and lining the pockets of our politicians. We must resist!

Uniforms for Congress Members

A dear Texas friend Lesley sent me the following statement ---

"I think Congressmen should wear uniforms, you know, like NASCAR drivers, so we could identify their corporate sponsors."

I agree completely! We should know who is lining their pockets and paying for their re-election.
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And perhaps single term limits would be a good idea.

YOUR Freedom of Religion

“Whilst we assert for ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess, and to observe the religion which we believe to be of divine origin, we can not deny an equal freedom to those whose minds have not yet yielded to the evidence which has convinced us. If this freedom be abused, it is an offence against God, not against man.”

James Madison to the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

James Madison was one of the founding fathers who pushed for the first amendment to the US Constitution  for separation of church and state. To deny equal freedom and protection to any citizen makes it possible to deny the same freedom to ourselves. This protection allows us to have leaders who come from all the different religions in this county. No leader can force his or her religious views on the rest of us. We must even allow for those who do not have any religious views or deny the existence of a deity.

This freedom of religion has made possible over three hundred Christian church groups to worship freely. It also makes possible the free worship of all non-Christian religious expressions. Every organized expression of faith can be found some where in this country. As individual citizens we each make our own personal choices and that is a very good thing.

Living Witnesses

As baptized disciples of Jesus the Christ why are we here?

I believe that we are here to glorify and praise God and take our faith out into the world and make new disciples. We are the living witnesses of God’s salvation through Jesus and we are the living proof of God’s love in the world.

When we gather to worship as the church it is good to be reminded that we worship the one true God, that we have one faith in Jesus as the Son of God, that we have one baptism that gives us spiritual birth.

If you love Jesus be a living witness every day and invite some one who is with out faith to come and worship with you.

It is a Daily Choice

People in the Bible like Joshua can teach us about the process of faith as a growing and learning experience. Joshua in fact gives us a basic biblical methodology for growing in faithfulness day by day. Choose this day whom you will serve.

The surprising thing is that the people Joshua led into the Holy Land had many choices to make as they settled into the land they had just conquered. The people who already lived there worshipped many gods and the land the Hebrews had come from in Egypt had worshipped many gods. Some of the Hebrew people had idols in their possession at the time like an insurance policy.

It was so tempting to worship like the locals. Do like everyone else and party every Saturday night. But they had been called and chosen by God Almighty, who had said, “Do not worship any other god.”  So now they must make a decision.

It was not a once and for all decision either. Each succeeding generation also had to make that same decision. In I Kings 18:21 “Elijah went up to the people and said, `How much longer will it take you to make up your minds? If the Lord is God, worship him; but if Baal is god, worship him!’” 

Each individual must make the same choice every day. That includes you and me!

Let Us All Praise the Lord

We were tent camping by a lake and I took a morning stroll with the sun glimmering off the lake. It was fall and the autumn leaves were in brilliant colors. There were birds singing as if praising God. It seemed that all of nature had read Psalm 150 that says, “Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!”

 There is something special about being out in nature and being able to appreciate all the blessing we have. I think God every day for my darling bride of over thirty three years and for our two daughters.

Praise God every day with every breath for every day is a blessing even when we do not see it.