Scripture
Learn to do what is right! Treat people fairly. Give hope to those who are beaten down. Cheer them up. Stand up in court for children whose fathers have died. And do the same thing for widows.
~Isaiah 1:17, NIRV
Quote
The Jews never abandoned worship although their worship became superficial and displeasing to the LORD. Isaiah lived 700 years before Christ and not much changed over that period of time. When Jesus came the Jews were still doing the same thing: they were selfish and self-serving. So selfish that they thought very little of others, especially those who could not benefit them. They were horrible when it came to taking advantage of the weak and helpless like orphans and widows. Even the Temple itself, ran by the Sadduccees in Jesus day, was corrupt. The Temple became a hide-out for thieves. They cheated pilgrims daily and many of the pilgrims were poor. The sacrificial system was a money making racket for the already wealthy Sadducees.
I am reading the O.T. through in the NIRV and the theme that keeps popping up is the emphais on the second commandment or the second section. Jesus narrowed the commandments down to two: love God with all your heart and you neighbor as much as you love yourself. We like to evade our social responsiblity by defining neighbor. To us, a neighbor is someone we like, some one we enjoy going out to eat with or on a cruise with but we do not consider orphans and widows as neighbors. We don’t think about those who need our help; we think more about those who can help us or at least will not ask for our help. This selfishness has prevaded every area of life, even our worship. Everything is about us and our need: we are too selfish to put the needs of others first.
Luke 14 is a ministry project. It is an opportunity to demonstrate Christ love to children who are being raised in an institution. Technically, they aren’t orphans: most of them have living parents but the parents are strung out on drugs or so preoccupied with themselves that they have totally neglected the their own children. Trust me, if DHR takes your children, you are a bad parent. Many of these children have been mistreated and some have emotional scars. Folks, if we can’t love these children, who can we love. Many of our members, more than half showed their true colors yesterday. First, we can in without a shoebox. I am talking about families that spend thousands of dollors on vacations came in without a thing. There is not one family in this church that cannot afford to do a shoebox. We had plenty to eat last night and the workers were present but the trend is to treat LUKE 14 like WEE Care or VBS and this is sad. It proves that we do not love people as much as we love ourselves. I’m sure that no one will lose sleep over displeasing me but the greater problem is that we are displeasing the LORD. He aches for us to love others more than ourselves.
- I thought we had a good service yesterday morning; I enjoyed it. Thank God for the two baptisms: Dekota Fromehold and Walker McAbee. These two young men brought a huge following with them. Dekota’s family filled the first three pews and Walker had a big following also but they were spread out. If it had not been for visitors, we would have had an embarrassing crowd. With out 50 plus visitors, we had 304. I do want to thank those who did help us with LUKE 14. Amazingly, we had plenty of food. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to miss LUKE 14.
- Remember, the FORTE will be closed Wednesday night through Saturday. We are going to refinish the floors. No part of the building will be accessable.
- I said when we called Joe David that I would pray for him as my pastor everyday and I have failed to do that so this is a confession and a call to prayer. Let’s remember Joe David in our prayers daily.
- THANKSGIVING DAY worship Thursday at 9:30 am. Breakfast at 9:00.
- There is some uncertainty about the PEPSI Cola CEO’s statement. I think it is a fact that she was a big Hillary supporter and she probably expressed regret over the election but there is no record that she said for TRUMP supporters to take their business elsewhere. I am still unhappy that Pepsi owns STARBUCKS which is more than anti-trump. Starbucks is anti-christ so I’m not sure what I’m going to do personally but I will not promote the boycott. I have a sneaky suspicion she said it, but it can not be confirmed so we must give her the benefit of the doubt. That’s just my feeling: you follow your own convictions.
