Just Between You, Me, & God 9/4/2012

Well the political table has been set, the hors d’ oeuvres have been served, (the primaries), the first course is being served up, (the conventions), and before you can say I’m full of this, it will be time for the main course, the election. Before you throw your napkin down and storm away from the table let me tell you that I am not going to tell you who to vote for. That choice is yours, in fact, choice is one of those amazing gifts that God has given us and that we have not quite perfected yet. Adam and Eve had choices, the Jews under Moses had choices, Daniel had choices, the Disciples and Paul had choices, and yes we have choices. For all of us, some of our choices are good and some of them are not so good. I wish I had chosen to be a better student in school but I have been delighted with my choice for a wife for over 40 years now. There are consequences or rewards for our choices and they affect our lives and often times the lives of others. In order to make better decisions, whether voting or other issues in your life, it is important to get all the facts that you can. Important decisions require knowledge of the issues and truth about the outcome. God talks about the results of the lack of knowledge in Hosea 4:6, “…My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.” Our knowledge comes from the Word of God, the scripture of the Bible. If we are not listening, reading, studying, and following God’s Word then we have no right to complain about the outcome. The Church has decided to take a role of competing with, instead of standing apart from the rest of the world. We worry more about the bottom line than the line outside the door. We’ve become more about entertainment than enlightenment. Some churches look more like playgrounds, gymnasiums, or amusement parks than churches. We have turned the sharing of the Gospel into an exclusive club instead of benevolent movement giving the message of hope with not just a hand out, but also a help up. The government is not our Messiah, no matter who is in office, Jesus is our Savior and He is waiting for His Church to stand up and pick up where He left off, sharing the Gospel with love and authority. Before you open your ballot to vote this year, open your Bible and take a look at what we have given up to the government that we the Church should be doing. God selects our officials through the choice He has given us. Let’s get some Bible knowledge and make some informed choices and get the Church back on the right track of serving God by serving others instead of serving ourselves at whatever cost to the Gospel. Pastor Dean