My old Seminary president, Dr. Danny Akin, tackles the question alcohol consumption by Christians very skillfully. He writes a two part series on the issue that can be read at the Between The Time Blog. There are links to both parts below.
He argues that we need to ask a series of questions to determine the rightness or wrongness of drinking. Also these questions could also work for tobacco use or many other "gray areas" of the Christian life.
1). Will this action be helpful to me? (1 Corinthians 6:12; 10:23)
2). Will this action potentially enslave me? (1 Corinthians 6:12) 3). Will this action encourage my brother or sister in Christ? (1 Corinthians 8:13; 10:24, 32)
4). Will this help or hinder my gospel witness? (1 Corinthians 9:12, 19-13; 10:32-33)
5). Is this action consistent with my life in Christ? (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 19)
6). Will this action violate my conscience? (I Corinthians 10:25-29)
7). Will this action follow the pattern of the life of Jesus? (1 Corinthians 11:1)
8). Will this action show love to others? (1 Corinthians 13:1-13)
9). Will this action honor my body which belongs to God? (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
10). Will this action glorify God? (1 Corinthians 10:31)
Going to pop the top on a diet Mountain Dew, Pastor Phillip
Also, for what it is worth, I agree with the conclusions that Dr. Akin makes
On the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 we should stop and pray for the families of those who lost loved ones that day. These families will never be the same and need much prayer. We should also be thankful that God has kept us safe. Also we should pray for our leaders and our military that has protected us since that awful day. Likewise, we should also be outraged at those who say that this was deserved and those people who follow and subscribe this kind of hate filled rhetoric. Just to jog your memory about the sermon Barack Obama's pastor preached. Here is the sermon below by Jeremiah Wright insinuating that all those people who died on that terrible day got what they deserved.
America’s chickens are coming home to roost. We took this country by terror, away from the Sioux, the Apache, the Arowak, the Comanche, the Arapahoe, the Navajo. Terrorism. We took Africans from their country to build our way of ease and kept them enslaved and living in fear. Terrorism. We bombed Granada and killed innocent civilians, babies, non-military personnel. We bombed the black civilian community of Panama with stealth bombers and killed unarmed teenagers and toddlers, pregnant mothers, and hardworking fathers. We bombed Qaddafi’s home and killed his child. Blessed are they who bash your children’s head against a rock. We bombed Iraq. We killed unarmed civilians trying to make a living. We bombed a plant in Sudan to payback for the attack on our embassy, killed hundreds of hardworking people, mothers and fathers who left home to go that day not knowing that they would never get back home. We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon and we never batted an eye. Kids playing in the playground, mothers picking up children from school, civilians, not soldiers, people just trying to make it day by day.We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and Black South Africans and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost.
Our nation is not prefect, but I believe as others have said"America is the world's last best hope!"
First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, (2) for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. (3) This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, (4) who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:1-4
My wife is awesome. First, she cooks great, last night she made my favorite meatloaf, corn casserole (like cheesy and corny corn bread), and a broccoli salad. It was amazing (Ask Pastor Kyle for a second opinion)! But, today we are in Greenwood. She cleans houses one day a week in Greenwood. She makes some extra money for us and we get to see our parents. But, here recently I have been helping her clean other people's homes. But, one of the hard things is when you are cleaning someone else's house, is that you never know what to throw away. You wonder if you should leave something that looks out of place alone, or if you help organize. After all it is not your house and you don't want to lose something. You also get to see all there stuff, not that you snooping, but if they have a DVD you can just borrow it and bring it back later.
But, this got me thinking, about 1 John 1:8-10 says "If we say, "We have no sin," we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (9) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (10) If we say, "We have not sinned," we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." You know we have all kinds of stuff in our life. We have good deeds, love, and kindess, but we also have dark sins that most people don't see. Sins that maybe we struggle with and people would never know that we do. But, Jesus, the one who cleans us up, knows all there is about us. There is no need to pretend the sin is not there or try and hide it from Him. We are fully exposed and we cannot hide. What is there in you life that needs to be cleaned up? A gossping mouth, a lustful heart, covetness, greed, hatred? Jesus knows he sees it and he is willing to remove them all if you will only let Him? Will you let Him?
Got To Get Back to Dusting Before Rebecca Catches Me Not Working, Pastor Phillip
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1
Tonight we will be studying the Word of Faith movement. It is what you see on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. This is not just a different denomination, but a fairly heretical theological movement. We will be focusing on the theology behind these luxurious lifestyle. I will give him from this video, he is an excellent tipper! The video is worth ten minutes of your time.
But godliness with contentment is a great gain. (7) For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out. (8) But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. (9) But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. (10) For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. (11) Now you, man of God, run from these things; but pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. (12) Fight the good fight for the faith; take hold of eternal life, to which you were called and have made a good confession before many witnesses.1 Timothy 6:6-12
Sadden By What Passes As Christianity In Our World Today, Pastor Phillip
Here is a helpful graphic way to think about the seven days of creation we talked about Sunday Morning. This is a study note from the new NLT Study Bible. The NLT is a great reading translation: I don't use it for study as I like a translation to be a little more literal. But, it is accurate and refreshing to read. I have new NLT Study Bible coming to me in the mail now. You can check it out, with the notes and all online for free for 30 days. I will post a review on the Study Bible in the next few weeks after I receive it.
Below Is Taken From The NLT Study Bible
The Structure of the Creation Account (1:1–2:3). God transformed chaos into the present cosmos. In the first three days, he transformed the formless void into the structured universe—the HEAVENS (outer space), the WATER and SKY, and the EARTH (cp. Exod 20:11; Ps 135:6). In the second three days, he populated each empty realm. The seventh day (2:1-3) stands apart: As God’s day of rest, it provides the weekly pattern for human activity (Exod 20:8-11; 31:12-17) and speaks of the rest that God promised to those who live by faith in him (see Heb 3:7–4:11).Be Ready For a Sabath Rest and the Creation of Man On Sunday, Pastor Phillip
I love fresh bread and rolls. Just think Red Lobster cheddar biscuits (my wife has a great recipe for those), yeast rolls at Ryan's, hush-puppies at T's all very good stuff. But, imagine if that bread was cooked over a fire that was fueled by feces. Not very pleasant is it! But, this is exactly what God called Ezekiel to do.
Ezekiel was a wild dude. God called him when he was a young man to be a prophet. Ezekiel was to speak the necessary, unpopular truth of God’s coming judgment to the people if they refused to repent and turn to God and stop living like the rest of the nations around them. God wanted to use Ezekiel’s life to embody the message he was called to preach. In other words, what Ezekiel said would be backed up by the life he lived, he was to talk the talk and walk the walk. This included living on bread that God first asked him to be cooked over his own feces (Read it in Chapter 4). Ezekiel rightly replied, “God come on now, that is crazy!” So, God relented and allowed him to use cow dung, what an awesome and kind God we serve. God was not just being crazy or wanting to make Ezekiel’s life hard, he wanted Ezekiel to show the people how hard life was going to be if they did not repent. You see God was at the verge of allowing Babylon to come and conquer them. Ezekiel’s oddness would stand out and people would want to know why he was different?
So, here it is for us, how far will you obedience to go. For most Christians, we are Ok, with not murdering our neighbor (although being angry at hating, many struggle with). We do Ok, with giving a little to God (but we are usually trying to give the bare minimum). We do Ok with coming to church (but living it out all week long is a different story). What I am trying to say is that obedience to God will make you appear to be different that the world! Hopefully God does call you to eat poop bread, but living out God’s word will mean you will have a radically different life that your non-Christian friends. If your life is no different that your non-Christians then maybe you should see in what areas of your life you are calling to obey God. Obedience may mean making completely different decisions than you have been making, this will not be easy, but unless you are willing to be like Ezekiel and walk the walk and talk the talk you will always lead an anemic Christian life. People will not see Christ in you and sadly neither will your children who will develop the same half hearted Christianity you practice. So if poop bread sounds nasty to you, imagine how a half-hearted Christian sounds to Jesus? Oh, but wait we don’t have to imagine he has already told us in Rev 3:16“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth.”
Praying God’s Gives Me Grace & Strength To Always Obey, Pastor Phillip
