Early Saturday Morning Prayer...

“Justify my soul, O God, but also from Your fountains fill my will with your fire. Shrine in my mind, although perhaps this means “be darkness to my experience,” but occupy my heart with Your tremendous Life. Let my eyes see nothing in the world but Your glory, and let my hands touch nothing that is not for Your service.

Let my tongue taste no bread that does not strengthen me to praise Your great mercy. I will hear Your voice and I will hear all harmonies You have created, singing Your hymns. Sheep’s wool and cotton from the field shall warm me enough that I may live in Your service; I will give the rest to Your poor. Let me use all things for one sole reason: to find my joy in giving You glory.

Therefore keep me, above all things, from sin. Keep me from the death of deadly sin which puts hell in my soul. Keep me from the murder of lust that blinds and poisons my heart. Keep me from the sins that eat a man’s flesh with irresistible fire until he is devoured. Keep me from loving money in which is hatred, from avarice and ambition that suffocate my life. Keep me from the dead works of vanity and the thankless labor in which artists destroy themselves for pride and money and reputation, and saints are smothered under the avalanche of their own importunate zeal. Stanch in me the rank wound of covetousness and the hungers that exhaust my nature with their bleeding. Stamp out the serpent envy that stings love with poison and kills all joy.

Untie my hands and deliver my heart from sloth. Set me free from the laziness that goes about disguised as activity when activity is not required of me, and from the cowardice that does what is not demanded, in order to escape sacrifice.

But give me the strength that waits upon You in silence and peace. Give me humility in which alone is rest, and deliver me from prise which i s the heaviest of burdens. And possess my whole heart and soul with the simplicity of love. Occupy my whole life with the one thought and the one desire of love, that I may love not for the sake of merit, not for the sake of perfection, not for the sake of virtue, not for the sake of sanctity, but for you alone.

For there is only one thing that can satisfy love and reward it, and that is You alone.

Thomas Merton

Doubt...

A faith without some doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it. People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless against either the experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic. A person’s faith can collapse almost overnight if she has failed over the years to listen patiently to her own doubts, which should only be discarded after long reflection.

Timothy Keller, The Reason for God (2008, p. xvii)

“Any belief worth having must survive doubt”

I grew in a very secure Baptist church with godly parents and my faith was grounded in the Bible, and grew in knowledge and love of God. This was great. But, my faith in God or the Bible was never really challenged. I lead a remarkably pain free existence, never had any major traumas that caused me to question God. I also was never really faced with any intellectual challenges. I went to public school, but my teachers all taught evolution with a wink and were believers who did not press the issue hard. So, my faith continued to flourish unchallenged protected in a cocoon. It really was not until college and seminary when I started to share my faith with people who had real issues with God. They had faced major heartache and doubted God’s love, they had some real apparent intellectual objections against God. I was unprepared. There doubts and there issues took me back. I tried refusing to think about them, because I had already moved “all in” in my devotion to God. But, these little tiny doubts and questions continued to grow.

Now, I never had a moment of just thinking about throwing it all away. But, my doubts caused me to move closer to God to find the answers. These new doubts moved me away from Christian apathy; a refusal to deal with doubt or not to respect the real doubts of others. You see doubt is not the opposite of, or enemy of faith. Apathy is the opposite and enemy of faith. If you doubt you are at least engaging with the truth, and I believe that God will honor that engagement. Apathy is the real faith-killer, not doubt. I don’t have all the answers, but being honest and open about doubt is healthy. Besides what good would an untested faith be, anyway? An untested faith is an unproven faith. Many, who say that they believe in God, that they trust in God, are only speaking mere words that mean nothing. Faith, by its nature, must be tested; and faith, to be tested, must bear suffers hard times. We learn the extent of our faith by seeing how well it stands up to the traumas of life. A strictly fair-weather faith is no faith at all.

C.S. Lewis after the death of his wife and struggling with the pain of lose and questions about the love and consolation of God said “You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.” Or like the father of the young boy having seizures who told Jesus in Mark 9:24 "I do believe! Help my unbelief." Understand that the attitude of trust and confidence that the Bible calls belief or faith is not just something we can obtain without help. Faith is a gift from God Eph 2:8-9. No matter how much faith we have, we never reach the point of being self-sufficient. Faith is not stored away like money in the bank. Growing in faith is a constant process of daily renewing our trust in Jesus. So remember let us be open and honest with our doubts, the faith that have is a gift from God and that faith is essential because Hebrews 11:6 “Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.” Sorry to get long winded, anybody have any doubts or times of you doubt you want to share feel free.

Got to get back to work, Pastor Phillip

Who Are You In Christ?

I was working on Sunday’s Sermon (Gen 11:1-9) and the people of Babel found their identity in their city and in the great tower they were building (not a good idea). So, I wanted to make the point we are to find our identity in Christ. So, here are the results of who you are when you are in Christ and how it affects you life and calling.

YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO GOD

I am reconciled to God - 2 Cor 5:18

I'm a child of God - He is my Father - 1 Jn 3:1,2

I am a saint - Eph 1:1; 1 Cor 1:2; Phil 1:1

I am Christ's friend - Jn 15:15

I am a fellow citizen in God's kingdom - Eph 2:19

I am born of God - 1 Jn 4:7

I have been brought near to Christ - Eph 2:13

I have been adopted by God - Rom 8:15

I'm to be righteous and holy like God - Eph 4:24

I have direct access to God - Eph 2:18

YOUR INHERITANCE GIVE FROM GOD

I am a citizen of heaven - Phil 3:20

I am an heir of God - Rom 8:17

I've been rescued from Satan's domain - Col 1:13

I am a joint heir with Christ - Rom 8:17; Gal 4:7

I am hidden with Christ in God - Col 3:3

I am blessed with every spiritual blessing - Eph 1:3

I am chosen of God - holy, beloved - Col 3:12

I am a child of promise - Rom 9:8; Gal 3:14

I am a child of light, not darkness - 1 Thess 5:5

I've been given great promises - 2 Pet 1:4

I am a partaker of Christ - Heb 3:14

I'm one of God's living stones - 1 Pet 2:5

YOUR LIFE TRANSFORMED BY GOD

I'm a member of a royal priesthood - 1 Pet 2:9

I'm redeemed and forgiven - Eph 1:6-8

I'm to be a stranger to this world - 1 Pet 2:11

I've been justified - made righteous - Rom 5:1

I'm an enemy of the devil - 1 Pet 5:8

I have eternal life - Jn 5:24

I died w/Christ to the power of sin - Rom 6:1-6

YOUR CALLING FROM GOD

I am free from condemnation - Rom 8:1

I am to be salt on the earth - Mt 5:13

I have received the Spirit of God -1 Cor 2:12

I am to be light in the world - Mt 5:14

I have been given the mind of Christ - 1 Cor 2:16

I'm chosen and appointed to bear fruit - Jn 15:16

I have been crucified with Christ - Gal 2:20

I am called to do the works of Christ - Jn 14:12

I am a new creation - 2 Cor 5:17

I am to do what Christ commanded His disciples - Mt 28:20

I have been made alive with Christ - Eph 2:5

I have been given spiritual authority - Lk 10:19

I am God's workmanship - Eph 2:10

I have received fullness in Christ - Col 2:10

I am a minister of a new covenant - 2 Cor 3:6

I am a minister of reconciliation - 2 Cor 5:18,19

YOUR POSITION IN REALTIONSHIP TO GOD

I am to be an expression of life in Christ - Col 3:4

I am connected to the true vine - Jn 15:1,5

I am a partaker of a heavenly calling - Heb 3:1

I'm a willing slave of righteousness - Rom 6:18,22

I am a temple of God - 1 Cor 3:16; 6:19

I am one spirit with the Lord - 1 Cor 6:17

I am a member of Christ's body - 1 Cor 12:27

That’s a lot! Pastor Phillip

Encouragement For The Day

Do you not know? Have you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never grows faint or weary; there is no limit to His understanding. (29) He gives strength to the weary and strengthens the powerless. (30) Youths may faint and grow weary, and young men stumble and fall, (31) but those who trust in the LORD will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:28-31

Philippians 3:12-14 Not that I have already reached the goal or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. (13) Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, (14) I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

"Press on and keep pressing. If you can't fly, run; if you can't run, walk; if you can't walk-crawl." - Martin Luther King, Jr., March 31, 1956

Have A Great Day! Pastor Phillip

I Like This Priest

Check out this story from the Greenville News. This is only a short part of it and the whole article is worth reading.

"Priest advises penance for Obama voters
Parishioners shouldn't take Communion until they do because of president-elect's abortion view."

The priest at St. Mary's Catholic Church in downtown Greenville has told parishioners that those who voted for Barack Obama placed themselves under divine judgment because of his stance on abortion and shouldn't receive Holy Communion until they've done penance.

The Rev. Jay Scott Newman told The Greenville News on Wednesday that church teaching doesn't allow him to refuse Holy Communion to anyone based on political choices, but that he'll continue to deliver the church's strong teaching on the "intrinsic and grave evil of abortion" as a hidden form of murder.

At issue for the church locally and nationwide are exit polls showing 54 percent of self-described Catholics voted for Obama, as well as a growing rift in the lifestyle and voting patterns between practicing and non-practicing Catholics.

In a letter posted on St. Mary's Web site, Newman wrote that "voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."

Catholics who did so should be reconciled to God through penance before receiving communion, "lest they eat and drink their own condemnation," Newman wrote, echoing a I Corinthians admonition for anyone who partakes "without recognizing the body of the Lord."

Newman calls abortion the "chief battleground" in the so-called culture wars, and different from "prudential" matters such as health care, education or the war on terror. A Catholic who gets an abortion, encourages one or assists in the procedure is automatically excommunicated from the church, Newman said, a penalty he said doesn't apply to other forms of killing.

"The reason is that abortion is usually murder in secret and it lays axe to human life at its root," he said. With nearly 50 million abortions since Roe v. Wade, Newman said Obama would seek to make "hidden murder" a legally protected right, and anyone who voted to give him such power "will be complicit in the legal holocaust which will follow."

No matter the intention of the voter, Newman said a vote for Obama is "material cooperation" with his goal of extending the use of lethal violence against unborn children.

What are you thoughts on the action of this priest? I have some old-school southern democrats in my church, who probably voted for Obama, should I deny them communion?

Always Impressed With The Catholic Church's Stance On Protecting The Unborn! Pastor Phillip

Stupid Preaching...

Being a pastor and working with people who are supposedly Godly can be difficult. I have worked all kinds of jobs and had all kinds of problems with employees and customers and always let roll of my back. But, church folks can be so mean and rude it is really disappointing. I mean these are folks who have been in church their whole lives and they can’t even be civil, polite, kind, or nice. I expect the world to treat people like this, but church folk! Come on! Now, I realize that in passing judgment on church folks who act ungodly, I seem to be implying that I am never ungodly and always treat people right. Now, ask my wife this is not always the case.

But, I guess what hurts the most is that church people hear sermons, sermons that preachers put lots of work, prayer, and dedication into that seemingly fall on death ears week in and week out: it is just kind of depressing. I am reminded and somewhat encouraged by 1 Corinthians 1:21 “Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never find him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save all who believe.” Foolish preaching sounds about right. But as discouraging as it maybe sometimes, it is God’s method of saving the world. Wow, stupid preachers, foolish preaching, and salvation of the world. God seems to have confidence in preaching to bring about eternal change, so if God has never given up on preachers or preaching than neither shall I.

Ephesians 6:18-19 With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and stay alert in this, with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints. (19) Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.

Got to get ready to preach tonight! Pastor Phillip