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I have been praying about the condition of our country lately and find myself torn between two emotions. On one hand, I am grief-stricken by all the violence that has occurred as of late in Missouri and Baltimore but on the other hand I know that these are the signs that The Bible speaks of that will usher in the end times so I know that The Lord will not tolerate this for long. I have no preconceived thought or idea as to when this will happen. The Bible says ³² “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³ Be on guard, keep awake.^[a] For you do not know when the time will come.” (Mark 13:32-33) 

I am concerned that the incidents in those cities will not be the last cases of senseless death and destruction. We live in a fallen world and in a lot of cases, the law and due process is of no concern even when the law has been followed and one person is not found guilty, the rioting and looting continue. In all sincerity, I believe that rioting and looting would have happen in these cases anyway because there are people who feed off of inciting the masses and will stop at nothing to destroy the country we love for their own agenda. Just as a note of clarity, I am NOT condemning the actions or justifying the actions of the police in any case but the needless trashing and burning of buildings, vehicles, personal property or private property and the stealing of food, drinks, toiletries and other items does not bring back the dead and it only solidifies the fear and the ideals that others have of the people who are causing this destruction.

I am a proud citizen of the great State of Alabama and as a man who has lived here my entire life, I can say that we have had some incidences in our State history that I am not proud to admit that we went through. All you have to do is search online under the term “Racial violence in Birmingham Alabama” to get full insight into that era and see that we are not without blemish. Although I am certain we have many steps that need to be taken in order to put aside our differences, I am convinced that we as Alabama’s people have seen what is going on around the country and can raise our hands toward heaven and thank God that we have that in our past, not to be forgotten as some would have it and not to remember it as something to bring shame as others would have it, but to learn from it and move forward with our hearts and minds in one accord seeking the One who forgives all transgressions.

God alone is the cure for what is happening in the World! His word says “¹⁵ And what a difference between man’s sin and God’s forgiveness! For this one man, Adam, brought death to many through his sin. But this one man, Jesus Christ, brought forgiveness to many through God’s mercy.” (Romans 5:15) This verse is not saying that what happened to the young men in Missouri and Baltimore was right or that the police officers in either case were wrong. It does say that whatever the sin is that has been committed or whatever the results are from the trials as a result of all of these incidences that Jesus’ blood sacrifice is sufficient for all of our sins.

It is my prayer that this nation will fall on its knees and ask The Lord of the ages to forgive us of our sins and to ask Him to give us a country that we can be proud of once again.

God Bless You All and God Bless America!!

 

 

JUDGMENT…….

I have been on the receiving end of judgmental people. To be honest, I have also been on the other end of that slippery slope as well. The reason that I am writing about this today is because our pastor at Church of the Highlands is preaching on a sermon series about prayer and as the introduction to that series yesterday he spoke about asking the Holy Spirit to reveal any sin that has not been confessed because of our being unaware of that sin.

Here is a link to the entire service.

http://media.churchofthehighlands.com/messages/download/2014-07-20/m4v/weekend

 

Last night as I was in the office studying and preparing for a Bible study my lovely bride, Paula King, called me into the living room to ask me some questions about something that she was unknowingly a participate in when she was a teen. After we discussed this group that she was indirectly involved in and its secretive way of operating, she felt broken and remorseful. She decided to get off by herself and ask God for forgiveness. It was an amazing thing to witness. She went from being distraught and broken to feeling like a great big weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

Now, I know people enough to know that there are some that are reading this and have already cast judgment on her without knowing the details. I also know that what she experienced is complete healing from her Heavenly Daddy who loves her and is at this moment saying “What sin is he talking about?” I can tell you that I haven’t seen anything like the transformation that she experienced since I myself went through the Salvation experience. What an awesome God we serve!!

As I mentioned earlier, I have been guilty of judging others and have also been judge LOTS of times by others and I am sure I will be judged for what I about to say but I feel that God is directing me to say it for the benefit of other believers. Unbelievers will read it and some my even get it to a small degree but they will not understand it completely because just as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:14-16   “14The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” (NIV) This indicates that the “natural person” unbelievers can read the word but it will not make sense to them because they do not have the Holy Spirit with them to guide them and interpret the Word for them.

There are many examples of the unbeliever taking Scripture out of context and using against a person that they believe is far from God but the one I hear of the most is found in first Timothy, “10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money” (1 Timothy 6:10 NIV)

The first problem with this is it is not the complete verse. The second issue is that the person using this partial scripture doesn’t understand that it cannot stand on its own. The surrounding verses help us understand what this partial verse is making an argument about.  The third issue is that people relate the “stuff” people have with the phrase “The love of money”.

I will attempt to discuss these three points in a way that will cause us to all take a look at our view of this in the future. Again, if you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus as your personal Savior, you will not get this completely no matter how simple I make it but here goes a sincere attempt.

1) The complete verse says ” 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (1 Timothy 6:10 NIV) This is making it clear that it is not having stuff that is the root of all evil, although if one loves their stuff more than they love God it is the same thing. Since I am trying to argue the point of judging, I will say that the Holy Spirit will convict that person if they are in this position, if they are a believer. It is not our job to judge them and if you are I would suggest searching your heart because there is some buried sin in your life that makes you judgmental.

2) The surrounding verses paint a complete picture of what Paul is saying towards this point.

“6But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (1 Timothy 6:6-10 NIV)

These verses simply explain the issue at hand. Paul shows us here that the issue is there were some that were not content with having what God had provided for them and wanted to get rich which leads to temptation and desires for things more than God which will ultimately find that person or persons in deep trouble financially and spiritually.

I will say that some people have the means to have more stuff than others. There could be many roads to this end and it seems that the least popular way is to actually work hard to reap the results. In today’s world there are so many that want a hand out and couldn’t get off the couch long enough to get a drink of water without complaining much less get up and earn a living, however, no one should assume that those that have more stuff than they do didn’t work for it, obtained it by some other means or they are so strapped with debt that they couldn’t pay attention much less buy anything else. It is my belief that a person must put God first in the way of a Tithe and if they do that then they are under no obligation to keep them from spending the other money that God has blessed them with on stuff so long as it is does not dishonor God. Actually, this is not just my opinion, Paul writes “Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7)

Thirdly, I feel like I have already covered this but I will say just because the neighbor has a riding lawn mover and I have a Kevin propelled lawn mower doesn’t mean the neighbor is going to burn in hell. It might mean that he is up to his eyes in debt or it could mean that he has been wise with his money and can afford to pay cash for something that nice, or it could mean that it is 10 years old and he just knows how to take care of what God has so richly blessed him with.

Since I feel like I have covered the act of judging in great detail let me leave you with some verses to think about the next time the feeling to cast judgement on another rises up inside you.

Matthew 7:1
“Judge not, that you be not judged.”

Romans 2:1-3
“Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are that judge: for wherein you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you that judge do the same things.”

Luke 6:37
“Judge not, and you shall not be judged: condemn not, and you shall not be condemned: forgive, and you shall be forgiven”

 

If you have ever been to church you have probably heard the story of the Prodigal Son. This story is found in Luke 15:11-32. In this story there was a man who had two sons and one of them came to the father and told him that he wanted his inheritance now instead of waiting on the father to leave it when he died.

The story says that the father allowed the son his half of the inheritance and the son went and wasted it on things that were not Godly. After the party was over and the money was all gone, the son realized that he needed to find a job so he got one feeding the pigs for a farmer. Once he realized that he had sunk to an all time low, he decided to go back to his father and ask forgiveness so that at the very least, his father would let him be a servant because he knew that his father’s servants were treated very well.

As the story continues, we see the son walking down a long road that leads to his father’s house and while he was still a long way off, his father recognized him and ran to him. When the son started on the speech that he had no doubt practiced several times on his journey, the father stopped him and told his servants to get a robe to put on the son and a ring to place on his hand. This might seem silly to us today but it would be the same as our dad giving us the keys to his prize Ford F-150 crew cab and his favorite college jersey (Alabama of course). The ring and the robe were symbols of the family and were to be taken as more than flashy jewelry and a cover for the body.

Then the father told his servants to prepare for a party because the one son that was lost had come home and he wanted to celebrate. Now there was another son that got a little jealous but that is another story.

If you ever wonder how God feels about you then just take the time to read this story in Luke and embrace the love that the Father has for you as His lost child returning home. He will jump down from the porch and run to meet you and clothe you in His Majesty and Grace before you can say a word.

God bless you all,

Kevin

The word of The Lord came to the prophet Ezekiel and he was taken to a valley full of bones. There Ezekiel was questioned about the condition of the bones and the Spirit of The Lord if the bones could live? I really appreciate Ezekiel’s response. “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” We as Christian’s are sometimes guilty of restricting God and His abilities to what we understand but Ezekiel looked at this situation and left the answer to the question in God’s hands.

God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones and He told him what to say to the bones. Ezekiel could have looked around and thought “what if someone sees me talking to these dry bones? They will think I am crazy and will haul me off to the funny farm!” or he might have thought “This is will be the best opportunity for me to preach and not get negative feedback from the congregation!”

The Bible simple says that Ezekiel prophesied. He said exactly what God told him to say and he saw the bones connect with tendons and flesh appearing on them right before his eyes.

I like to see the humor in this story…The Bible says “I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.” (Ezekiel 37:7 NIV) I am sure that would be a humorous sight to see, especially the look on Ezekiel’s face as it all started happening.

Now there were these fully formed bodies that were dry bones that now had everything but breath in their bodies. So then Ezekiel was told to prophesy to the air and tell the winds from all direction to come and breathe into these slain so that they may live.

This prophecy was for the people of Israel but I believe it speaks to us today, especially to the men of today. We have become so complacent that we are not the leaders in our homes that we should be. We have allowed others to tell us how to raise our children. We have seen our position of head of the household, that God intended lead our families by example not by iron fisted behavior, and let others make us feel inferior to handle the role or pushed down by the thoughts that we are suppressing our families instead of lifting them up and raising them to be Godly young men and women that God wants them to be.

Men, the time is now to raise up from the valley of dry bones and be about The Lord’s business before we dry up and blow away.

Believe that God can make you what he wants you to be. It is not too late. Seek Him and His will for your life!

 

(Ezekiel 37:1-14 NIV)

I watch the news some nights when I am not busy and just shake my head at the events that are happening in our country. The President has a plan that his party backs but the Republicans don’t want anything to do with it. The Senate and The House never agree on anything and the President seems to be fixed on having his way no matter the cost to the people they are suppose to be working for, which has been the way it is for several years.

I’m not going to get into personal opinions here but I will say the people in Washington need to put aside personal agendas, throw partisanship out the window and do what is right for our country and HER citizens.

I have heard Christian’s asking what do we need to do or what happens if the government stays shut down? I am always surprised when I hear Christians ask such questions. The Bible plainly states “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:34 NIV)

The Bible is also clear when it comes to the Christian doing what the Government ask of it’s people. “Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him. (Mark 12:15-17 NIV)

Now my question to you is this, should we not be concerned with what is going on in Washington?? I believe that we should with out a doubt be concerned about every issue that Washington makes a stand on but we should not worry. We, as Christians, know what the end of the story is and who truly holds Washington and the rest of America in His hands, so why worry.

We can and should exercise our rights and vote out anyone that holds office that doesn’t consult The Word of God everyday but especially as they consider law that will impact our great country and we should vote those in that do. if we go to the polls and vote only based on a persons skin color or religious background or only on who they think should have rights or who shouldn’t have rights then we are committing a great sin. We should elect those who trust in God and lead according to His rule in their lives.

 

As we celebrate Memorial Day this weekend and Monday, please take a moment away from cooking on the grill, enjoying the day at the lake, planting flowers, or just doing nothing in general and remember those who fought and died to give you the Freedom that we all take for granted. Most of the people I know have never slept with a finger on the trigger hoping that the enemy doesn’t sneak into their space and cut their throat before they realize they are there. Most people that I know haven’t gone days since their last meal wondering when they will be able to stop marching and eat the next meal of soggy bread, cold meat, and weak coffee just so they can have enough strength to fight the next battle that they come across.

Most people I know have never had to wonder about what their family is doing or if they will ever see them again. Even the guys that I know that are in the military today can, for the most part, contact their families from anywhere in the world most days.

Now, I’m not minimizing their service or the sacrifice of them or their families. Speaking from experience, if your son or daughter calls while serving in a foreign country the last call was too short and the next call is too far away. What I am bringing to your attention is the sacrifice of those that have gone before us. I have been privileged to have known some good men that fought in those great wars and I know for them, just like those that serve today, that they didn’t like to talk about what they did over there because they didn’t want to bring attention to themselves. The true hero’s, they would say, are the ones that were buried over there. They just happened to have survived.

This past week we lost another of those great hero’s. You may not know him but I had that privilege. I remember when I found out he was a Colonial in the Army it blew my mind because I never knew that he had served much less that he was a Colonial. He died at the age of 80 and was truly a great man. God bless you Colonial Dwight Gill and God bless America!!!