Jun 19

Fellowship

One of the biggest reasons why the church is failing in America is due to the fact that we have become places of socialization instead of places of fellowship

The bible never teaches that we are to practice socialization but instead it teaches that we are to fellowship

Socialization teaches that we are to accept each others beliefs, lifestyles and morality without any questions

socialization teaches that there is no difference between the sexes

We’re all just suppose to get along without being invested in any other persons life

This is one of the reasons why people shack up together outside of marriage, they’ve been socialized, theres no committment, their not invested into the other persons life, so therefore, since theres no emotional or spiritual attachment, they can go from one person to the next

God says we’re to have fellowship, where we are invested in each others lives, spending time together, getting to know each other on a personal level, helping, serving and leaving no brother or sister out of our fellowship

The church has forgotten the teaching and practice of fellowship and the results have been disastrous because we have become houses of socialization instead of fellowship which has led to the acceptance of unscriptural beliefs, lifestyles, immorality and liberalism,

Alistair Begg says that the liberal left has had a bigger impact on todays church, than the church has had on the liberal left

Its Gods desire that every believer is taught how to fellowship and put it into practice in our everyday lives

and as I said last wk, God brought us into his family at salvation and he desires that there is no division in the body, but unity

There is strength in unity, and because the church didn’t practice fellowship, we have become dis-unified

And because of our disunity, we became weak and Satan began to attack us through the very system of Christian beliefs, that our country was founded upon

This country was founded upon Christian beliefs and principles and those same institutions like our schools and government is now being used to attack us

Television has been greatly used to attack Christianity and it has successfully changed how people view us

Comedy Central is quickly becoming the biggest promoter of anti-christian bigotry, and little is said

MTV has successfully changed our youths thinking from Ozzy and Harriet to Ozzy Osborn

Its fashionable and becoming more acceptable to promote hatred toward Christians

But instead of the church becoming unified and standing on Gods Word, its fracturing and trying to appease a world that hates them to become more acceptable

Theres a sign on a church by our house that says:

“Faith is a journey, not a destination”

That sounds nice, something the unsaved would like to hear, but its garbage

What good is faith if it leads you to nowhere? I thought I got saved so that I would go to heaven, my destination

Without fellowship we have no unity,

without unity we have no power, without power we have no message

without a message, we have no church

Jun 11

Heart of a Father

Sermon Preached At Fulton 6-13-10

Today is fathers day and we want to take this morning to honor them

There are some very unique things about being a man that is so much better than being a woman

We can swim without a shirt, we can eat more, we’re stronger sometimes

We don’t have to talk on the phone and we don’t care if no one calls us

We don’t have to go shopping and we can still survive

We have this gift of driving somewhere and never ask for directions & sooner or later get to where we were going

We don’t cry over movies, its just a movie!

We only have to think about one thing at a time instead of multiple things like a woman!

There are many things that being a man is so much better than being a woman

And then when we become a father, it only gets better

We go outside with the kids and go on bike rides, hiking, camping, until their cranky & crying ; and then let mom take over

we play ball in the mud and roll around on the grass & then turn them over to mom!

I can’t think of a better life than being a dad!

When our kids were young I traveled allot and I would sometimes get home late at night after the kids were sound asleep

& I would peek into their rooms and they looked like sleeping angels & I would puff out my chest and think how blessed I was to have such beautiful kids and a little tear would come to my eye

But then they get older, and things change

I came home one night and peeked in & they were sleepin with their mouths wide open, drool running down their cheeks and snoring! A little tear came to my eye and I swore I would never peek in again and I haven’t!

Being a dad is rewarding but also exhausting but I never let being tired keep me from always being on top of everything

I would always look my family lovingly and deeply into their eyes as they talked about something and explaining things to me

and I would nod and smile as I hung unto their every word

And then my wife would say “You haven’t heard a word we said did you!”

And I would say of course I have, She would ask, repeat what we said!

And I would say, it was something about, can you give me a small hint?

We dads do have a habit of tuning out at times and we shouldn’t but it didn’t change the fact that they always had my heart

A good dads heart is always for his family, even when the kids were coming unglued & the noise level was getting so high that I had to keep turning up the T.V. s volume in order to hear Judge Judy & I would finally look to see what was going on, and my wife would be staring at me & I would say “WHAT?”

Yeah we do tune out and we shouldn’t , God never meant for us fathers to tune out and do our own thing

We are to be involved, listening and helping in every aspect of our children growing up and it doesn’t stop when our kids grow up, it continues into their adult lives and then when they have children of their own. We are to have a heart for our grandchildren, loving and listening to them

Theres a father in the bible that was just like all of us, he did many things wrong as we all have but he always had a heart for his family

Lk. 15:11 And he said a certain man had two sons

Luke begins by painting a picture for us, about a man who had 2 sons, and you can see the 3 of them together in their home, theres love & acceptance

vs.;12

And the younger of them said to his father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living

All of us men know what its like to leave home for 1st time

We all know what it means to become restless and want to get out on our own, we’re no different than this young man who thought he was ready to be on his own & so he asks for his inheritance and apparently his father had a good heart, but it must have been broken as he gave him his portion

But – important thing here is because – father loved his son, he let him go

One of – hardest things to do in a fathers life is to let his children go off to live their own lives

I know how hard it is on moms, and although we men don’t show it like moms do, its equally as hard on us

We fathers are the protectors, usually the main providers and when a man has protected and provided for yrs, its difficult to let it go

I look at this father who was heart broken, but he let him go because he loved him

vs.;13

It says he gathered his stuff and left for greener pastures

We’ve all heard the saying that you think the grass is greener on the other side and you know what?

It can be

If, the reason why your jumping the fence is to honor God with your life and take responsibility with providing for yourself and your family

But is this what this young man did? Apparently not, It says that he wasted everything he had on sin. He didn’t strike out on his own to honor God and to provide for himself, he left to party

Do you think his father knew he wasn’t ready? Absolutely because of what he did and said in vs20

His father saw him a great way off

His father was watching for when his boy would show up, he knew he wasn’t ready to leave home

He knew his boy had ulterior motives

Look what he says in vs.;24

My son was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found

This father knew before the boy left, that he was leaving for all the wrong reasons but yet he never stood in his way

When I wanted to leave home, my dad in his wisdom, (that I didn’t see at the time) I just thought he wanted to get rid of me

But going into the army that my dad spent 28 yrs in, he knew that the army would either make me or break me

And I knew after 3 days in boot camp I had to either man up or stand in formation & start to cry like the guy behind me

I decided I wasn’t going to be the guy crying & I got with the program and I never went home again

Its this fathers heart that impresses me, he knew what was going to happen to the money that he had worked hard for his entire life & yet he turned it over to a son that wasn’t ready to receive it

But he was willing to spend it all if it meant that him & his son could have a relationship

This is an earthly picture of an heavenly lesson

This parable is really about God the Father and his relationship to mankind. We were dead and lost in our sins, we were living in a far country with pigs

The stink of the world was on our clothes & God says you can live there if you want

vs.;17

And when he had come to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my fathers have bread enough and to spare, and I parish with hunger

Look at the heart of God the Father who says I know who you are, I know what you have done and I know you deserve to be where you are

The Father in the parable could have said those same things to his son, you made your bed now lay in it & he would have every right to. But instead in vs.:20 it says when his boy came home his father had compassion and fell on his neck and kissed him

God the father gives us a choice, we can either live out in the world with nothing or you can come home

But wait a minute, what if this boy would have taken his inheritance & turned it into untold riches living out there in the far country?

He would still have nothing, he would still be in the far country without God, he would still be living in a pigpen of sin the pigpen of sin gives us nothing but death and separation from God for eternity.

The bible says that if anyone wants to leave the far country and come home that he will have compassion and run to meet us!

vs.;31

And he said unto him, son, thou art ever with me and all that I have is thine

Why would anyone stay in the far country away from God when you can inherit the riches of heaven?

I know we live in a world and a culture where fatherhood has taken a wrong turn

Men who prey on foolish women to have their fun, and then when she gets pregnant, the funs over & he takes off

Or the woman has had so many men that she has to go on T.V. and have dna test to figure out who’s the lucky man, and then she sits there as though she’s righteous and he’s the pig

I know many children grow up and look at their father with disgust and even hatred because their father has no heart for them

But theres one Father who says if you’ll come to me, I won’t ever leave you nor forsake you, He has a heart of compassion and love and will give you a heavenly inheritance that will never rust or rot but will last for eternity, He promises to bring us to his own home & give us a place of our own

Rev. 21 1-8

Jun 1

Hypocrites in Washington

I watch and listen to the news and all of the hypocrisy from the left and I think theres nothing they can do anymore that would surprise me but I’m wrong, they can still cause my mouth to drop in disbelief.

The latest one is where the ungodly house speaker Pelosi claimed that her favorite phrase is “the Word” as in Jesus became flesh.

Its her type of Christianity that makes me and many others cringe. With people like her spouting that their “christian” is what makes so many run for the hills, including myself.

I’ll guarantee you, that Christ himself doesn’t recognise her type of Christianity either.

Everything she votes for and tries to pass and passes, is in complete opposition to the WORD OF GOD! Its my prayer that her and her co-workers will get saved by the Word and his blood by asking forgiveness for their sin and rejection of Jesus Christ.

Just think of the change that would take place in this country if Washington fell in love with Jesus instead of themselves, their power and OUR money!!!

And it could happen, Christ went to the cross for Pelosi, Obama, liberals and republicans, democrats and the new socialist party that is currently in control, all they have to do is believe in Christ and repent of their sin and what a change that would take place in their hearts.

The second thing that made my mouth drop until I thought about it, and then I realised, what else would I expect?

Israel told some ships to stop to be inspected several times, some did but one refused, they boarded with paint guns, and the Islamist attacked the Israelis with steel bars, beating them and throwing some over the railing unto the decks below almost killing them. The Israelis had no choice but to protect themselves as anyone would.

Any U.S. soldier, or any other soldier from any country would have used deadly force just as the Israelis did to protect themselves from being killed.

And what was the worlds response? Outrage at the Israelis!! Thats outrages!!

But it doesn’t surprise me, the Jews are hated, even our current so called leadership isn’t supporting Israel, no surprise.

Our Lord and Savior came from Israel, the one we serve who went to the cross came through the Jewish race and since the World hates Christ, they of course hate his chosen people.

The bible says that those who bless Israel will be blessed by God, and I’m one that believes we need to bless the people from where our Lord came from.

The bible also says those who curse Israel will also be cursed by God.

Regardless of how much hatred is thrown at Israel, I will love and support them, and it would behoove our leaders and this nation to continue to support Israel.

The Jews are Gods chosen people and those who accept Christ as Saviour makes us Gods people also, in a very direct way, the Jews and Christians are loved by the same God, and we need to love each other.

Dr.LennieB

Fellowship

Heart of a Father

Hypocrites in Washington