This weekend we are involved in a wedding with some old friends, we use to live next door and our daughters grew up together and became best friends, although they have been separated due to our moving so much. But they kept in close contact and now our daughter is her maid of honor as she was at our daughters wedding.

Her husband is from London England, they met (of all places) the internet! A match made in cyberspace! He had quite an ordeal trying to get into America in order to get married and stay living here. I guess only Mexican nationals have a right to come and go as they please.

But him and his family flew in and we met them all and then had dinner together after the rehearsal, and they are some of the nicest folks you will ever meet.

I’m not too sure about this internet dating stuff, I want to see the whole LIVE package, they could send you a picture but when they show up, it could be Jack the ripper in drag!!!

But they seem to be a good match and very happy, and all of them have a great sense of humor.

But for me, I know one of the most important things about marriage isn’t if you are a good match and seem happy, but are you both saved?  Or both lost?

I will do a wedding for either, but I won’t do one where one claims to be saved and one is not, the bible says that we are not to be unequally yoked (married) together.

The two should never marry because one is of Gods family and the other is of Satans family and the two cannot mix, one is heaven bound and the other is hell bound.

I know in our new politically correct society that even churches have fallen into and away from God that its not a nice thing to say that either your in Gods family or Satans.

But the truth is many people want to come to God but they don’t want to come to God through Jesus Christ. But God himself said that there is no other way to him except through his son.

So unless you have come to God through his son Jesus then you are not in his family, leaving you in Satans family, so therefore, you have to make a choice to either come into Gods family by accepting Jesus or stay in the family where you are currently a member.

Therers not a Muslim god, or a Buddhist god, or a Catholic god, there is only but one God and he made the rules for us to either accept his son Jesus to come to him or reject him and stay out of heaven, again, he has given us the way to him, but he’s left the choice up to us, that folks is a loving God.

No pressure, no arm twisting, no threats, just the facts,  this is the way to him and its up to us, but if we choose to meet God through his Son, he says he’ll not turn you away, he will welcome you into his family, not difficult is it.

Whats difficult is, mankind doesn’t  like Gods terms, for one thing his Son came through the Jewish race, the most hated race in all history,  but thats exactly why he chose the Jewish race, to see if your choice is legitimate.

You see, if you can come to God through an avenue that the world hates,  that pretty much proves your love for God is real.

God has always used the weak, the hated, and the outcast to do his work, the Jewish people was indeed the best choice.

I love the Jewish people and any true born again believer will also love the ones that our Father loves and if you can love the Jewish people, you can be on your way to heaven, but the choice is yours.

Lst wk. I asked – question, are fundamental, conservative Christians too narrow minded ?

& I spoke about how Jesus himself said that he is – only way to enter heaven and – entrance into it is very narrow and few will find it

in todays society we have all kinds of people preaching their beliefs of how one goes to heaven

there are some whose concept of heaven is a place that does not include Jesus

 

some believe its a place where a man gets 70 virgins for his eternal pleasure

some believe its a place of perfect peace and where meditation and self realization

for some it only includes 144,000 and the rest will stay on earth and transform it into a new Eden where everyone is of – same religion and anyone not of their religion are annihilated

for others its just a place where you go and then sent back but in a different type of life and eventually you’ll experience what its like to be a different life form

but for those who believe in – biblical account of heaven, its a place where God and his Son live

and we have to make a decision before we die if we want to spend it in heaven with God and his Son

or reject them 1

3). & this morning we’re going to take a closer look at – narrow way

 

We are living in an age of relativism = Relativism is sometimes identified (usually by its critics) as the thesis that all points of view are equally valid. In ethics, this amounts to saying that all moralities are equally good; in epistemology it implies that all beliefs, or belief systems, are equally true.

We of course reject this, because not all points of view are equal, not all beliefs are valid, not all morality is good and not all belief systems are equal

some are not based on truth, some reject God which causes inequality

We also live in a time of tolerance = The heart of tolerance is self-control. When we tolerate an activity, we resist our urge to forcefully prohibit the expression of activities that we find unpleasant.  More abstractly, toleration can be understood as a political practice aiming at neutrality, objectivity, or fairness on the part of political agents. These ideas are related in that the goal of political neutrality is deliberate restraint of the power that political authorities have to negate the life activities of its citizens and subjects. Related to toleration is the virtue of tolerance, which can be defined as a tendency toward toleration. Toleration is usually grounded upon an assumption about the importance of the autonomy of individuals. This assumption and the idea of toleration are central ideas in modern liberal theory and practice.

When you look at – definition of tolerance, we agree

But how our government is forcing its view of tolerance upon its citizens, we disagree

Our government & its agencies like schools & colleges views are, we are free to do anything we want & no one has – right to say its wrong or sinful

but – American people must be tolerant of those things

but then they take it farther, not only do we have to be tolerant, but we must agree and accept how others choose to live, no matter how outrages and sinful it may be

this is what has been called political correctness

 

+Political correctness or politically correct; both forms commonly abbreviated to PC) is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,

According to our Government any ideas, gender race, culture, sexual orientation, other religions beliefs one has to be tolerant of

but this is where Christianity & our world comes to a disagreement

there are many things with-in these areas that – bible describes as sin

Biblical Christianity begins with an understanding of sin which has been rejected by todays world

today we no longer have sin, we have disorders, addictions, mental health issues, personality quirks, a failure to conform to societies rules or behavior but no one has sin

Sin is real, it began when Lucifer decided he wanted to take Gods throne & rule Gods creation, God wouldn’t allow this rebellion by Lucifer and cast him from his position

and God cursed him & he became Satan

Sin came into – world and as a result, we are all born under – penalty of sin

We must be truthful about our sinfulness, when we deny that we sin, we remove – possibility of receiving forgiveness from God

but when we acknowledge our sin, this allows us – freedom of walking in – light of our salvation

I Jn. 1: 5-8

In every courtroom a question is asked of – accused, How do you plead?

But – words “I’m Guilty” is seldom heard

no one today feels responsible for their own actions, its always someone elses fault, their parents, society, school or – dog

Dr. Karl Menniger wrote a book called “Whatever Happened to Sin?”

He said” sin was a word that once was on everybodys mind, but now, rarely if ever is it heard, no one has committed sin, where did it go? What became of it?

What happened to it is, its been explained away

today – criminal has become – victim

In NY , Bernard McCummings mugged & brutally beat an elderly man in a subway, as he ran away, a cop shot him & he was permanently paralyzed

he sued & won 4.8 million – man he mugged a cancer patient is still paying doctor bills

• court said – mugger became – bigger victim

In San Francisco a man murdered a fellow worker because he ate too much junk food especially twinkies, it caused him a hyperactivity that he could not control

 

• jury agreed & reduced his charge

   

we live in a society plagued by victimization in which no one is willing to plead guilty for his actions or take responsibility for – things he does

no one has sinned, we’re all helpless victims of – forces around us

Can science simply explain away our failures so that we no longer have to deal with them?

One by one – evils of this world and – sins of mankind have fallen prey to – most powerful of all scientific weapons,

• explanation

anthropology, psychology, and sociology have cast aside sin and guilt for more tasteful alternatives such as:

political repression, poor living conditions, dysfunctional families and bad inherited genes

one by one human failings have been removed from – classification of sin & have been replaced under – classification of disease or disability

I’m sick or I have a disorder is much more preferred than saying I’m a sinner who is committing sin

But heres – problem when we say we don’t sin, we become self deceived

 

I Jn. 1:8

if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us

you see when I can no longer admit that I have sin then I no longer have to take responsibility for – things I do

& if I can convince myself that I’m not responsible, then I no longer have to feel guilty over how I act

When an entire generation can no longer say they are a sinner, – way into heaven becomes impossible

for only those who can say, dear Lord, I’m a sinner can receive forgiveness and find their way through – narrow gate that leads to eternal life

Yesterday in my sermon we were speaking about the Apostle Peter and how God transformed his heart and desired a relationship with him and then I ventured into the area of how the church is a reflection of marriage.

Christ died and shed his blood for the establishment of the church, he is the husband and we who are saved are his bride, and the church itself is a reflection of a woman while Jesus is a reflection of the man.

Its a picture of how he wanted a marriage to be, the husband a man and the wife to be a woman and then bear children just as the church is to enlarge itself with more followers.

Of course today, there is an attack on marriage from people shacking up together to homosexuals shacking up together.

I told my congregation, man keeps preaching that we don’t need marriage,  that if two people are in love and committed to each other regardless of what sex they are, then its a matter of love and equality.

Lets say, for arguments sake,  what man is preaching is correct, it has nothing to do with the church, or pastors or God, and they don’t want to impose any of their beliefs on the religious people or church, alright that would be great.

Go ahead and do your thing and the church will do theirs, no problems.

BUT WAIT, if that was true, then why do they keep demanding to be recognized and married in the church?

The truth is, all of this is a direct attack on God and his church.

God established marriage and the church, he told us how it is to operate, man has said to God, your wrong, we don’t need what you’ve established.

It goes deeper, its not about love and equality, its about how Satan wants to stop the church of God.  If he can destroy marriage, it stops people from needing or going to church, which stops people from receiving Jesus as Savior which ultimately stops the church.

And its working, the more people who are in a homosexual relationship and the more people who shack up together, the more they don’t go to church and church attendance continues to drop now in the 30 %  range.

America is fast becoming an anti-God and anti-church country.

Satan is very subtle he does his damage using his followers who willingly do his bidding while still believing that God is blessing them.

God established marriage for one man and one woman for their happiness, anything other than that is an attack on God himself.

I was studying for our bible study at church in the book of Acts about the Apostle Paul. He was quite an amazing man, regardless of any circumstance he was in, he remained faithful.

Even in the face of brutal opposition, he would never back down from what he believed, he wouldn’t change his mind in order to appease an angry crowd, he would stand strong and tell them exactly what they didn’t want to hear.

I wonder if any of us would have the courage to tell people that they have to accept Jesus Christ as Savoir in order to go to heaven when that crowd wants you dead?

Today we continually hear that there is many ways to heaven and that anyone can get there, no, thats not true.

There are many who “WILL NOT GET THERE” no matter how many ways they try.

God himself said that no man will come to him except through his son Jesus Christ,  and only those who have been transformed by the renewing of the blood of Christ which means:

No murderer will enter heaven unless he has been transformed (changed by accepting Jesus Christ through asking forgiveness of their sin)  and no longer is a murderer.

No homosexual will enter heaven unless he has been transformed and is no longer a homosexual.

No liar will enter heaven unless he has been transformed and is no longer a liar.

In essence:  NO SINNER will enter heaven unless they have been transformed by Jesus Christ.

And the bible says every person is born a sinner and has to accept Jesus and be forgiven in order to go to heaven.

The Apostle Paul preached that message to a world that rejected Christ, but he stood boldly in the face of opposition.

Today there is an assault on Christians who believe what God and his bible says that there is only one way to heaven, we’re told that we’re hate mongers, bigots, and racial, but the facts are if we believe what Jesus said, then the world is accusing God of the same things.

Why would they want to go to heaven and be with a God that is hateful, a bigot and racial?

And the sad truth is, they don’t want to be in heaven with God and thats why they reject him,  they much rather spend eternity in hell with their god.

Have courage to stand in the face of those who hate and accuse you. Be courageous when they tell you their way to heaven is the right way when you know that their condemned according to Gods word.

Be brave as the attacks against your faith escalate in the near future, as Steven said as they stoned him to death,

I see God standing to welcome me in.

I was looking at my wifes facebook page, which by the way, is a huge waste of writing space about trivial things that don’t amount to a hill of beans that no one cares about!!!

Who gives a rip what your eating or what your dogs doing for evening entertainment?

What you had for lunch is about as interesting as Nancy Pelosi.

But what I did find curious, there was a link to a young woman who attended our first church up north with her family, she was just a kid then.

But I clicked on her name to see what great things she’s done for herself and for the Lord.

I was dis-heartening to see the pictures of her with her beer and cigarettes, foul language and apparently shacked up with some dude who is just as lost as she is.

It reminded me of what the bible says about the Pharisees when they said Lord Lord, haven’t we done all these great things for you?

And Jesus looks at them and says depart from me, I never knew you!

Its so sad to see some of the kids who grew up in church and were told about how to be saved and go to heaven, but as they grew up, they threw away what they were taught to serve the Devil.

I know, just because people go to church, doesn’t mean they’re going to heaven, only those who have received Christ as Savior and serve him will enter.

I don’t know if she’s ever been saved, if she has sometime in the past but has walked away from a right relationship with Christ, then she’s travelling a very dangerous road as our Lord will bring correction into her life at some point, and it won’t be easy.

If God never corrects her, then in all probability, she’s never been saved, she was just a pew sitter for awhile.

The Bible says that in the church there is both wheat and tares, which means those who are saved (wheat) and those who are on their way to hell (tares).

But theres going to be a day, when God is going to remove his wheat and usher in judgment on the tares, and its not too late right now to become the wheat.

It is sad to see kids that have grown up in church, to throw away heaven for a beer.

Satan has quite a pull,  but beer, cigarettes and fast living doesn’t last and neither does your body.

Pray that our kids who attend church, really do know Christ as Savior so that they will continue to live for Jesus instead of living for Satan, like this young woman up north.