If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he (the evil fool) rage or laugh, there is no rest. Proverbs 29:9

This verse is like a universal shotgun blast. There are so many aspects to what wise and foolish are. The text is an analysis of the reaction of the foolish to wise. The reaction is generally dissension. You cannot convince the unwilling.

In a specific application, consider the hardened Atheist. Romans 1 is clear that rejecting God as creator results in chaos as the absolute moral mooring of God’s authority in the individuals life is rejected.

One day, I will stand in His glory,
He shall wipe my tears away,
from the hurt and memory
of those who reject Him today.
With love abounding, I witness His story.
With hardened hearts, they spite Him to stray.
Then will the past have lost its grasp eternally.
Then will the future no longer be tainted by today.

Paul Sudbrock

In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 2 Timothy 2:25

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Our church was broken into last night.  The perpetrators tried to force the back door and thereby warped the door, but didn’t gain access.  They then turned to a window through which they heaved a large stone with such force that it not only broke the window but shattered a lower cabinet door, across the room from the window, into splinters.

They then reached through the broken window leaving a trace of skin on a shard of glass.  They used our tools from our storage room to attempt to take the TV and its wall mount from the wall.  As the mount screws holding the frame to the wall are very long, they left the mount and took just the TV.  They also took our video projector, our newly installed LED pulpit light and about $8 in change, leaving through a side window.

Please pray that the police will find the thieves and that the insurance with fix the damages and replace what was stolen quickly.  All in all, no one was hurt.  It is just not the way you want to start a Sunday morning.

 

 

 

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When we allow politics to determine what sin is, politics with all of its instability gathers unto itself a power that will ultimately lead to a tyranny that will undo the very fabric of justice in society.

Those who use politics to qualify their sin are the enemies of “Liberty and Justice for all.” Those who yield without a fight are accomplices to that end. Liberty and Justice are basic gifts of the Creator and the promises of the once great America.

One of the greatest misunderstandings about the nature of God is: “He is so above us that He has nothing in common with us.”  This can be manifested even among “Christians” in the statement: “God is too busy with the big problems of the world to have time to be concerned with me and my problems”.  

This philosophy is propagated through the actions and beliefs of man whether they are believing or non-believing.  Most of the world religions preach or at least support this twisted view of who God is.

When man begins to loosen the reigns of God on his life, all kinds of evil are possible.  This is the very point made in Romans 1 and II Peter 2 & 3.

We finished up Peter today.  So powerful and relevant.  The tools of our mind, whereby we form rational thought, are the words of language.  Jesus is the word spoken at creation by whom all things were made and exist. Language is a gift from the creator which allows us the ability to think, understand and communicate with He who is logic.

Yesterday evening, after our teen activity, Chelli was taking one of the girls home.  During the return trip something “slipped” in the front end of our car.  Chelli, then took the rest of the girls home, but as she was leaving our drive, the front end made a terrible clunking sound.  She then came and picked up the rest of the boys and myself from the church.  I very carefully drove home, deciding to take a look at it in the morning light.  

bushingI went out to look into the issue the next morning to find that the lower A-frame bushing had worked it’s way out and the A-frame pin was free of the constraint that the bushing provides in the bracket.  There was no chance I was going to be driving it any further.  The chance that the other end would work it’s way out of the it’s bracket was just too risky.

For my birthday Chelli and the kids invited friends and acquaintances to surprise me that Sunday morning.  It was great!  I thoroughly enjoyed preaching to a full house of guests, many of which have never been to a service and normally wouldn’t come to church. 

Two weeks later, at our annual teen meeting one of the young people was still commenting on the sermon from that week.  The Theme of the teen meeting was “Discernment – How to make good decisions” focusing on God’s leadership. 

There was a lot of good feed back such as; “that was really good”, “spot on”, “I really needed that”, and ”I will be back!”  Tonight one of those teens is bringing a guest.  The parents of the young teen that was so impressed with the sermon on my birthday are bringing him and his sister from a neighboring city.

The words of Christ are the mantra of those who graciously give.

Acts 20:35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

They are the bases of the Gospel. Christ gave so that we might live and know His name is above all names. He was not forced to give.  He gave willingly. It was his offering for us. The Father elevated His name due to this voluntary sacrifice.  Therefore, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Him.

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