Sunday Sermonette

December 29, 2013
Negatives to the Unsaved
“Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20)

 

How good it is to experience victories in spiritual warfare, to see God’s values triumph, and to see an ungodly scheme thwarted! We especially rejoice if we somehow participated in the process.

 

The prophet Elijah saw “big” victories over the forces of evil—the defeat of hundreds of Baal’s prophets, and the bold confrontation of wicked Ahab and Jezebel (1 Kings 18). Elisha did likewise in the stunning and overcoming of Syria’s army (2 Kings 6:8-23). Yet many of Elisha’s victories would be ranked “little” by modern newspaper journalists, like rescuing an ax (2 Kings 6:1-7), curing a pot of stew (2 Kings 4:38-41), and helping a poor widow’s cashflow crisis (2 Kings 4:1-7). God works out spiritual victories in “big” crises, but He also works in seemingly “little” problems.

 

God even cares about the artistic details of each snowflake, the inner structure and workings of each humble pine needle, and the edible seeds needed by desert-dwelling songbirds. Much more so, He cares for our “big” and “little” needs and problems (Luke 12:22-31). Yet our most basic need was to be created in the first place, and our greatest problem was (and is) our sin. Both of these are solved in Christ! He is our Creator (John 1:3) and He is our Redeemer (John 3:14-16). To be “in Christ” is always our main cause for rejoicing; its victory hangs on the Lord Jesus alone, not on changing circumstances or the outcome of our latest earthly skirmish. Put today’s problems in perspective. Rejoice when a victory is won; thank God with promptness. However, prioritize appreciation for Christ creating us, and for His greatest victory for us, saving our souls forever (1 Corinthians 15:57). JJSJ
h/t: JJSJ, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

December 22, 2013
A Lesson from the Stork
“Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.” (Jeremiah 8:7)

 

The migratory behavior of birds is fascinating. If it only occurred once, we would call it a miracle. Yet we see bird migrations twice a year, so we are desensitized to the Creator-designed magnificence of these journeys.

 

Geographically, Israel sits center stage among the great continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Many birds migrate from European and Asian winters to Africa, with the migrations reversed prior to summer. Yet which bird is famous for its early return home? The stork! So faithful is the stork that its very name (Hebrew chasidah) means “faithful one”!

 

Jeremiah lamented the ignorance and unfaithfulness of God’s people, and during his lifetime Israel was called to exhibit faithfulness to God. Except for a faithful remnant, Israel refused to repent, bringing the prophecy of judgment. Sadly, most of Israel stayed in the path of oncoming judgment, neglecting their opportunity to escape the just consequences of their sin. God chastised Israel’s unfaithful and ignorant behavior, contrasting their failure to “return” to Him with the wisdom and faithfulness of the returning migratory birds.

 

God’s people need to learn a lesson from the early-to-return-home stork, for our true and safe home is none other than God Himself. When we drift away from Him, distracted by the world (or ourselves), let us be quick to recognize that it is time to admit our wrong (1 John 1:9) and return to Him, our true refuge. JJSJ
h/t: JJSJ, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

December 15, 2013
Doing Righteousness
“Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.” (1 John 3:7)

 

Every genuine Christian knows that part of the salvation gift is the promise of being made “unblameable in holiness” (1 Thessalonians 3:13). We sometimes have trouble, however, with the concept of present-tense holiness in our everyday lifestyles.

 

John speaks of the abiding Christian who “sinneth not” (1 John 3:6). Indeed, such a Christian “doth not commit sin” (1 John 3:9) because, John notes, the “seed” of God “remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” Furthermore, “whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not” (1 John 5:18).

 

It’s accurate to translate those passages with the “continuing” implication of the Greek structure (i.e. “does not continue in [the practice of] sin,” etc.). However, the emphasis is on an obvious, continuous, clearly embraced lifestyle of righteous living!

 

The visible transformation from a worldly conformity (Romans 12:2) begins with a desire for “the sincere milk of [God’s] word” (1 Peter 2:2), fashioning ourselves after God’s holiness “in all manner of conversation” (1 Peter 1:14-15). Neither are we to let sin reign in our bodies, but we are to yield ourselves as “instruments of righteousness” (Romans 6:12-13). Since we are “risen with Christ,” we are to “mortify” the fleshly appetites, “put off” emotional outbursts that reflect an ungodly nature, and “put on” godly attributes so that whatsoever we do is done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Colossians 3:1-17). HMM III

h/t: HENRY M MORRIS III, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

December 8, 2013
The Seventh Day
“For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” (Exodus 20:11)

 

God’s word is omnipotent, and He could just as well have created an entire universe, fully populated and functioning, in an instant of time. Instead, He chose to do it in six days, with a seventh day to be set aside as a day of rest and remembrance of His completed, “very good,” creation. Since that time, it has been the universal practice among monotheists—those who believe in one Creator God—to measure time in seven-day weeks, with one of those days observed as a day of rest and worship of the Creator.

 

This divine assertion was inscribed with “the finger of God” on a table of stone (Exodus 31:18), clearly settling, once and for all, the ancient question of the age of the cosmos, at least for those who really believe in the inerrant perspicuity and authority of the Holy Scriptures. Not only did the Lord precisely equate the six days of man’s work week with the six days of His own work week, He then pronounced it all “very good” and “sanctified” the seventh day (Genesis 1:31; 2:3). This would have been an unthinkable thing for Him to say if there were, at that time, a great mile-deep graveyard consisting of the fossil remains of dead animals from the so-called geological ages extending all around the globe. These fossils must all be dated as post-Eden, after human sin and God’s curse brought death into the world (Romans 5:12).

 

Today, those who believe in God and creation should certainly continue to remember Him by observing every seventh day as a day of rest and worship in honor of their Creator, who has now also become their Redeemer and who will soon come again to reign as eternal King. HMM

h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

December 1, 2013
Proofs of the Pudding
“If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.” (1 John 2:29)

 

The little book of 1 John provides a treasure trove of “proofs” that demonstrate the reality of the invisible spiritual change brought about by the new birth.

 

There are two emphases: proofs based on personal experience and proofs based on intellectual awareness.

 

Here is a short list of proofs we experience:

• Obedience to God’s commandments (1 John 2:2-5)
• Experience of God in our lives (1 John 2:13-14)
• Obvious “antichrists” in the world (1 John 2:18)
• Worldly ignorance of Christianity (1 John 3:1)
• Sinners’ ignorance of righteousness (1 John 3:6)
• Our love for fellow Christians (1 John 3:16-18)
• The indwelling Holy Spirit (1 John 4:13)
• Our love for godly behavior (1 John 5:2)

Here are proofs we have intellectual confidence in:

• The Holy Spirit’s anointing (1 John 2:20)
• The holiness of Jesus Christ (1 John 2:29)
• The Father’s love for us (1 John 3:1)
• Our eternal bodies to be like Christ (1 John 3:2)
• Hating a brother is like murder (1 John 3:15)
• Scripture’s message of eternal life (1 John 5:13)
• Assurance that we belong to God (1 John 5:19)
• Assurance that Christ has come (1 John 5:20)

These evidences are primarily for the believer—that is, they are intended to assure the believer’s heart and mind of his security in Christ. John’s list is not intended to be complete but only to focus our thoughts on the obvious. When you count your blessings, remember these. HMM III
h/t: HENRY M MORRIS III, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

November 24, 2013
The Dayspring from on High
“Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us.” (Luke 1:78)

 

This is an unusual, but beautiful, name of the coming Savior given Him by Zacharias when he was “filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied” (Luke 1:67). In that same prophecy, Zacharias also called that coming one “the Highest” and “the Lord” who would “give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins” (vv. 76-77). Just six months later, Jesus was born.

 

The Greek word here translated “dayspring” is so translated only this one time. It refers to the metaphorical spring from which the sun springs forth each day, and so is usually translated simply as “the east.” It is interesting that it is used three times in connection with the story of the wise men “from the east” who saw “his star in the east,” and then, when they reached Bethlehem once again, “the star, which they saw in the east,” led them to the one who was Himself “the dayspring” (Matthew 2:1-2, 9).

 

There is one other sunrise appropriately presaged here. Many years later, the women who had tearfully watched the Lord being crucified and buried came to His sepulcher to anoint Him with sweet spices “at the rising of the sun” (Mark 16:2) immediately after He had risen from the dead. Here a closely related word is the word translated “rising.”

 

There is another great sunrise coming, as promised in the last chapter of the Old Testament. “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings” (Malachi 4:2). He who is Himself “the light of the world” (John 8:12) will someday even replace the sun in the new Jerusalem. There will never be another sunrise after that, for “there shall be no night there . . . neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light” (Revelation 22:5). HMM
h/t:HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Constitutional Convention

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/indiana-senate-leader-working-toward-u-s-constitutional-convention/article_21f801b9-2ea4-56a5-b0d4-e3ea00b10968.html

Sunday Sermonette

November 17, 2013
Dead Works
“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and a faith toward God.” (Hebrews 6:1)

 

The phrase “dead works” can be found only twice in the New Testament. In the first (our text), it refers to the deeds of the unsaved sinner from which he must turn away in salvation, while in the second, later in the same epistle, it refers to unprofitable deeds accomplished by the believer, from which we must also turn away (Hebrews 9:14).

 

Dead works are certainly not good works, but neither are they necessarily evil works. Rather, they are ineffective, useless acts that count for nothing. They are as different from evil or good works as wildfruit is from good fruit or bad fruit. In this analogy, while bad fruit looks unappealing and would never pass for food, wild fruit may have the appearance of good fruit, but lacks flavor and nutritional value and would provide no useful function, even if it were eaten. In just the same way, dead works, which may be of some humanitarian value, lack life—not stemming from proper motives and not being propelled by love (1 Corinthians 13:1-3), and thus accomplish nothing of lasting value.

 

The non-Christian can pridefully indulge in such works, but this must be repented of at the point of salvation. Likewise, the Christian must replace his useless dead works with good works, through the power of the Spirit of the living God. “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:14).

 

May we continually submit all our efforts to Him, recognizing that service to the living God does not entail our dead works. JDM
h/t: J D MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Veteran's Day, 2013

A blessed and happy Veteran's Day to all who served and their families who also served! God bless those who lost loved ones, and may the Prince of Peace give you and we all the true peace that only comes with Christ in your hearts!

Sunday Sermonette

November 10, 2013
Filled and Fulfilled
“For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” (Colossians 1:9)

 

In this precious prayer, Paul sought for the Colossian Christians the full knowledge of the will of God. For the Christians at Rome, he prayed that they might be filled “with all joy and peace in believing” (Romans 15:13). For the Ephesians, he prayed that they “might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:19), and then urged them to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). He wrote to the Philippians, “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; . . . Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-11). For the Colossians, he also prayed for their “full [same as ‘filled with’] assurance of understanding” (Colossians 2:2).

 

Together, all these prayer requests constitute an ideal description of a complete Christian—an ideal for which we should all strive and pray—both for ourselves and for others. Summarizing again, the list is as follows:

 

“Filled with all joy and peace in believing.”

 

“Filled with the fruits of righteousness.”

 

“Filled with the knowledge of his will.”

 

“Filled with the Spirit.”

 

“Filled with all the fulness of God.”

 

“Filled with assurance of understanding.”

 

It is also worth noting that the Greek word for “filled” is the same as for “fulfilled.” When a Christian is “filled” with all these wonderful realities, he becomes a “fulfillment,” as it were, of God’s purpose in creating and redeeming him. His ultimate goal, of course, is to measure up to “the fulness of Christ” Himself (Ephesians 4:13). HMM
h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

November 3, 2013
The Truth
“. . . God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3-4)

 

The verses preceding our text encourage believers to be in prayer “for all men” (v. 1), including “all that are in authority” (v. 2), that our own lives might be “quiet and peaceable,” as well as for their salvation.

 

God, who abhors and promises to judge sinful individuals, does not desire to punish anyone. His desire is for “all men to be saved,” and He has done all that is necessary to bring this about, by paying sin’s awful penalty of death. While not all will avail themselves of this opportunity, choosing instead to continue in their sin, our prayers somehow are used by God to bring some “to the knowledge of the truth.”

 

The truth necessary for salvation follows: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all” (vv. 5-6).

 

In order to be saved, we must embrace the fact that there is only “one God” who alone holds the key to eternity, and that there is only one way by which we can reach that God, “the man Christ Jesus.” We, in our natural state, are at war with God, estranged from Him, and separated by the presence of sin in our lives. Christ Jesus, acting as our mediator, our peacemaker, our advocate, being both fully God (i.e., “one God”) and fully man (i.e., “the man”) bridges the gap between the Father and all men. As Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me” (John 14:6).

 

How has He bridged the gap? He “gave himself a ransom for all” (v. 6). The Bible teaches that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) but that “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3). Since He willingly “gave himself” as a punishment for our sins, we can stand before God the Father in Christ’s sinlessness. JDM

h/t: J D MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

October 27, 2013
Knowing Him
“And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20)

 

John uses two words for “know” in this short letter, both of which are used in the final instruction to his readers. The Greek word ginosko is used 25 times throughout this epistle, stressing knowledge that is gained through personal experience. The other word, ei’do (or oi’da), is used an additional 17 times, emphasizing mental understanding and comprehension.

 

The Intellectual Confidence

 

We “know [ei’do] that he was manifested to take away our sins” (1 John 3:5). We “know that we have passed from death unto life” (1 John 3:14). We “know that [we] have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). We “know that we are of God” (1 John 5:19). We “know that the Son of God is come” (1 John 5:20). All of this “head knowledge” is, of course, straight from the Word of God. These are the basics of our belief in the work of Christ.

 

The Personal Experience

 

We “know [ginosko] that we know [ginosko] him, if we keep his commandments” (1 John 2:3). “There [are] many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time” (1 John 2:18). “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments” (1 John 5:2).

 

Thus, our intellectual “knowledge” of God’s Word is “experienced” as we “work out [our] own salvation” (Philippians 2:12). Being “born again” is just the beginning. We should “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). HMM III
h/t: HENRY M MORRIS III, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

October 20, 2013
The Father of Lights
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (James 1:17)

 

God, Himself, is both author and finisher of everything we have that is good. This, of course, is the testimony concerning His creation in the beginning, which was both “very good” and “finished” (Genesis 1:31; 2:1). The unique name “Father of lights” seems to suggest a remarkable scientific insight. Since light is the most basic form of energy, and yet is equivalent also to all other forms, and since literally everything in the physical universe is energy in some form, it is singularly appropriate to speak of the totality of all God’s good and perfect gifts in creation as “lights.” And, since all these energies are not now being created (only “conserved”), their original source can only be from the Father of lights!

 

There even seems to be a hint of both of the two great laws of science here, energy conservation as well as energy deterioration. The term “variableness,” used only here, means literally “transmutation.” Just as God is immutable, the total amount of His created “lights” is conserved—neither created nor destroyed. The Second Law states that, in all energy conversions (that is, in everything that happens), the entropy of the universe increases. “Entropy” means “in-turning,” coming from two Greek words, en and trope—the second of which is used in this verse. Entropy is a measure of disorganization, and its inexorable increase is a result of God’s curse on the creation following man’s rebellion. Thus, although the total energy of the universe is conserved (by the First Law), the available energy is decreasing (by the Second Law). Nevertheless, God Himself is not bound by this law that He has imposed, for a time, on His creation. With Him is not even a “shadow” of any “turning” (trope). God never changes, and His purposes can never be defeated! HMM

h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

October 13, 2013
God's Final Word
“The LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.” (Zechariah 14:9)

 

God cannot be defeated in His creative purpose for this earth and its people. In the beginning, there was only God. In the ending, there will be one Lord, and His name one.

 

In the meantime, He is working out His great plan of reconciliation, as revealed in His Word. In the magnificent book of Revelation, especially the last two chapters, we are carried forward in the Spirit into the never-ending glories of the renewed earth, with the great Creator and Redeemer dwelling there with His people eternally.

 

But in that final chapter, there are some final words from the Lord to guide and warn us until He returns. There is one final invitation, for example: “And let him that is athirst come” (Revelation 22:17). Then there is a final warning. This completed book of Scripture contains all that man will ever need to know concerning salvation, the Christian life, and God’s great plans, so let no man “add unto these things,” or “take away from the words of the book of this prophecy” (vv. 18-19). There is no salvation, except through His Word.

 

Next, there is a final promise. “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly” (v. 20). Of all the promises of God, there is none more “exceeding great and precious” than this (2 Peter 1:4). In response, there is a final prayer, teaching us that this should be the climax of every believing prayer: “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (v. 20). This is our greatest need!

 

Lastly, there is a final benediction, the same as the close of each of Paul’s epistles, and the most wonderful of all the words of a holy, yet loving, Creator, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen” (v. 21). It is fitting that God’s Word, which began with His creation, should end with His saving grace! HMM
h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

October 6, 2013
Seven Outgrowths of Faith
“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” (2 Peter 1:5-7)

 

“Having escaped the corruption that is in the world” (v. 4) through our “faith” in Jesus Christ as our Savior, we must now grow spiritually, conforming our nature and practice to His. We must put to use the divine nature we now possess, recognizing that He has provided all the resources we need.

 

In this passage, Peter assumes we already have “faith,” thus here our spiritual lives must begin. Peter instructs us to “add to” that faith seven character traits: virtue, knowledge, temperance (self-control), patience (perseverance), godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity (agape love).

 

There seems to be, both in the text (i.e., “add to”) and in practice, a progression here. As new Christians, we should strive for virtue, eliminating sinful actions and thoughts from our lives, as the Holy Spirit brings conviction. A commitment to growth in knowledge, first the basics of the faith and then deeper doctrines, enables us to exercise wisdom in life’s choices. A self-controlled, disciplined lifestyle exercisesperseverance, even strength in the face of adversity, which in turn produces godliness—an attitude of reverence toward God that strives to please Him by developing His attitudes and priorities. Our relations with others will thus be marked by brotherly kindness toward believers andagape love (self-sacrificing, undeserved love) for all.

 

Such spiritual growth does not come without effort. He has provided all we need, but we must “give all diligence” to the process, much more than simply allowing the Holy Spirit to reside in our hearts to work on our character and habits. Any lack of spiritual growth is our fault, not His. JDM
h/t: J D MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

A Constitutional Convention-A way to take back America

http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2010/04/12_lessig.html

April 12, 2010

The following op-ed, co-written by HLS Professor Lawrence Lessig and Daily Beast contributor Mark McKinnon, appeared in the Apr. 6 edition of the online publication.

How to sober up Washington

by Mark McKinnon and Lawrence Lessig

Washington is hopelessly addicted to money and thus to the status quo; drunk with power and incapable of getting sober and fixing itself. It’s time for an intervention—by the states.

Politically, we two disagree on just about everything. But the one thing we do agree on is that the institutions of government in Washington have become corrupt, held hostage by well-funded special interests. It’s no wonder that only 17 percent of the American public in a recent Gallup survey said they had a favorable opinion of Congress. American voters believe, and rightly so, that corporations, labor unions and moneyed special interests have a chokehold on politicians. Voters are disillusioned and discouraged because they don’t believe Washington represents the will of the people. And the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. F.E.C.—which permits unlimited independent corporate campaign expenditures—will only make this worse.

And so too many throw up their hands and say, “We give up. Congress won’t fix itself. And there’s nothing that we can do about it.”

But there is something we can do. We, the People, can take back the power we gave to Congress. We can take it back through the states.

The framers left open a path to amendment that doesn’t require the approval of Congress: a convention. Article V of the Constitution requires Congress to call a convention to propose amendments if 34 state legislatures demand it. Any proposed amendment would then have to be ratified by both houses of 38 state legislatures (three-fourths of the states). This entails 76 separate votes in the affirmative by two houses of 38 state legislatures. (Nebraska, with its unicameral legislature, would be an exception.)

Easy to do? No. But possible? Certainly, yes. There hasn’t been a time when there has been such anger and frustration directed at our nation’s capitol. There hasn’t been a moment when the opportunity to organize to build a movement among the states has been as real. The beauty of a convention is that it would provide a forum of possibility for conservative Tea Party types who might want an amendment calling for a balanced budget, or a line-item veto for the president as well as progressives who would like to amend the constitution to make it possible to enact meaningful campaign finance reform. The only requirement is that two-thirds of the states apply, and then begins the drama of an unscripted national convention to debate questions of fundamental law. It would be a grand circus of democracy at its best.

Even if 34 states don’t call for a convention, history teaches that a real threat is often enough to get Congress to act. The only amendment in our history that changed the structure of Congress (the 17th, making the Senate an elected body) was proposed by Congress because the states were close (just one state short) to calling for a convention. If nothing else, the possibility of a body they can’t control is enough to get Congress to pay attention.

Some will resist the idea of a convention because they fear a “runaway” in which fringe elements would take over the agenda and propose radical amendments. But the framers anticipated such a danger and established a very high bar against it. Amendments are ratified by legislatures (or state conventions), not by referenda. And if even one chamber in 12 state legislatures refused to ratify an amendment, it would die. There will always be twelve solid blue states and twelve solid red states in America. There’s thus no danger that one extreme can overtake the other.

Conventional wisdom will argue that constitutional conventions or amendments are just impossible. Just like it was impossible to wrest a republic from the grip of monarchy or abolish slavery. Or impossible to elect Ronald Reagan or Barack Obama. But conventional minds are always wrong about pivotal moments in a nation’s history. And this is a pivotal moment in ours, when a movement to restore democracy is possible.

Indeed, the movement has already begun. Legislators in South Carolina, Virginia, Oregon, Rhode Island and Florida are already throwing sparks that could soon become a brush fire across the country. More and more are coming to see that if reform is necessary—as most all of us, whether from the right or left believe—this is the only way.

Congress has perfected the art of defending the status quo because it is dependent—for its campaign funds—upon the status quo. If we are to break this dependency which holds our nation hostage, we’re not going to do it in Washington. We’ve got to start handing out pitchforks in the states and organize a national convention. From there we will scale the federal ramparts and regain some sense and accountability.

Making America Free, Again!

I believe it’s time where we convene a Constitutional Convention! It may be the only way to correct the many errors and disregard for the Constitution. There are some amendments that need to be made such as term limits, vague laws that allow the gov’t. to run roughshod over the states as well as the people’s rights. Certain well written Amendments, and the removal of other (not to include any of the Bill of Rights) could go a long way towards fixing some of what is going on now! The “good ‘ol boys club” in DC must be put on notice, both parties, that the American people are tired of “business as usual”! The proposed new Amendment requiring all elected officials to live withing the confines of all laws they pass, must also be included! It takes 2/3 of the States to convene a convention, and the results of said convention must be ratified by three fourths of the States. I think it’s time to “get crackin’!”

Also stronger wording regarding America, "One Nation Under God!" needs to be affirmed!

Sunday Sermonette

September 29, 2013
What Do Fig Trees Do?
“Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.” (James 3:12)

 

The answer to these rhetorical questions obviously is: “No.” A fig tree cannot become an olive tree in one growing season, or in a million of them. Nor can a grapevine evolve into a fig tree, no matter what happens to it (grafts, mutations, chemicals, radiations, anything).

 

In the very first chapter of the Bible, each kind of plant God created was given the genetic information by its Maker to “reproduce” only its own “kind” of plant, not to diverge into some other kind, although its offspring could develop into many varieties of the parental kind (but even that only within strict limits). The same was true with the animals. Ten times in Genesis 1, God, in five verses, tells us that each created kind of plant and animal was coded to reproduce just its own kind (Genesis 1:11-12, 21, 24-25).

 

Just in the event that some skeptic might reject Genesis 1 as factual, the same theme is reiterated in the New Testament, not only in our text but in Paul’s great chapter on death and resurrection. “God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed its own body. All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds” (1 Corinthians 15:38-39).

 

This biblical truth is confirmed by every scientific observation ever made on plants and animals—whether living, dead, or fossilized. No one has ever seen a frog evolve into a prince, or a vine into an olive tree, either in the present or in the fossil record of the past. “I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that man should fear before him” (Ecclesiastes 3:14). HMM
h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday sermonette

September 22, 2013
Propitiation
“And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2)

 

Most of the words in the King James Bible are words of one or two syllables (our text verse, for example, has 21 such short words and only one big word; but that word, “propitiation,” has five syllables, and so has elicited much complaint from folks who don’t like to use dictionaries). What does “propitiation” mean?

 

The Greek word is hilasmos and occurs just two other times. These are as follows:

 

“Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (Romans 3:25). “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

 

As an aside, note that these two verses contain two words of two syllables, three of three syllables, and 48 of one syllable. But both also include “propitiation,” and that seems to be a problem. Nevertheless, “propitiation” is certainly the most accurate word to convey the meaning of the original. The dictionary gives “expiation” and “conciliation” as definitions, but that probably doesn’t help much.

 

In any case, the action of the Lord Jesus in submitting His body to be a substitutionary sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins and to endure God’s wrath against all the sins of the world, thereby enabling Him to be reconciled to us, with Christ’s perfect righteousness credited to our account, is seen in these three verses to be a basic theme of this great truth of Christ’s propitiatory work on the cross. And surely, as John says: “Herein is love,” that God would so love us that He would offer up His Son, and Christ would so love us that He would die for us. Surely, this is love! HMM
h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

September 15, 2013
The Pragmatic Life
“And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.” (Luke 19:13)

 

This “parable of the pounds” indicated to His disciples that they should not wait idly for the second coming of Christ, thinking “that the kingdom of God should immediately appear” (Luke 19:11), but that they should stay busy, using whatever abilities and opportunities they had in the Lord’s service until His return. The word “occupy” is an unusual word, the Greek pragmatenomai, from which we derive our modern word “pragmatic,” meaning “practical,” and it only occurs this one time in the New Testament.

 

There is another related word, however, also occurring only one time, in2 Timothy 2:4: “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” Here the word “affairs” is the Greek pragmateia, and Paul is cautioning those who would be “good soldiers of Jesus Christ” against becoming involved in the pragmatic affairs of civilian or business life, if they would really be pleasing to their commanding officer.

 

At first, there seems to be a contradiction. Jesus says to stay busy with the practical affairs of life until He returns. Paul says not to get involved with pragmatic things.

 

There is no real contradiction, of course, if motivation is considered. Whatever may be our vocation in life, as led by the Lord, we are to perform that job and all the other daily responsibilities of life diligently and faithfully, for His sake.

 

If we allow these things to become an end in themselves, however, or use them for other purposes than for His glory, then we have, indeed, become tangled up in the affairs of this life, and this displeases Him. He desires that we be diligent in whatever He has called us to do until He comes, but to be sure it is for Him, not for ourselves. HMM
h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

September 8, 2013
Bearing and Helping to Bear
“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. . . . For every man shall bear his own burden.” (Galatians 6:2, 5)

 

This is one of the most commonly cited Bible “contradictions.” The apostle Paul commanding us, almost in the same breath, to bear other people’s burdens and yet to bear our own burdens. There is, however, no real contradiction, and both commands are equally valid and important.

 

The problem is partly one of translation. There are two Greek words used here, baros and phortion, respectively. The first means “heavy load,” the second, “responsibility.”

 

When a Christian friend has been stricken with a great burden—whether sickness, financial need, death of a loved one, or even a grievous sin in his life which he has been unable to overcome by his own strength (see verse 1)—he needs desperately the love and support of his Christian brethren. The Scripture assures us that when we help relieve this burden, we “fulfill the law of Christ.” The previous chapter also notes this: “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14).

 

At the same time, the privilege of having Christian friends who will share and help with an otherwise unbearable load does not at all absolve us from the responsibility of doing our own part in carrying out our God-given responsibilities. There is no place in the Christian warfare for Christian beggars or Christian crybabies. “Study to be quiet, and to do your own business. . . . That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without” (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12).

 

The preceding verse (Galatians 6:4) had urged that “every man prove his own work.” Since God has both created and redeemed us, we can be sure He is concerned about us and will not allow trials, or place upon us duties, which are greater than we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13). HMM
h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

September 1, 2013
Boldness in Prayer
“In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.” (Ephesians 3:12)

 

There is a wonderful exhortation and promise in Hebrews 4:15-16: “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted [that is, ‘tested’] like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

 

We are not to come presumptuously or arrogantly to God in prayer, but we can come boldly! This is not by virtue of our own merits, of course, but because Christ Himself has opened the way for us. “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:19-22).

 

Because He has been fully tested yet free from sin, and because of the shed “blood of Jesus” and the opened veil “through his flesh,” if we come “by the faith of him,” we do have “access” to God’s “throne of grace” and can boldly present our petitions. These must, of course, be dependent upon His will, for “this is the confidence [same Greek word as ‘boldness’] that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And . . . we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (1 John 5:14-15).

 

But, whether a particular request is granted or denied in accord with God’s greater wisdom, or whether the answer is delayed until God’s more propitious time, we can always “find grace to help in time of need.” He is our great high priest, our mediator, our advocate with the Father, our intercessor, and we can surely pray with “boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.” HMM
h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

August 25, 2013
Delusion from God
"And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie." (2 Thessalonians 2:11)

 

This is a startling declaration! Why would God want to deceive people and cause them to believe a lie? The "cause" which would activate such an extreme decision on God's part must be very serious. The preceding verse states it plainly. It is "because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved" (2 Thessalonians 2:10). Because they "resist the truth" (2 Timothy 3:8), they will "believe the lie"!

 

The specific context refers to those who elect to follow the coming "man of sin," but the principle is timeless. It tells us that God's attitude toward men is determined by their love of the truth, rather than by their knowledge of the truth. When people love God's truth, there is no limit to the amount of truth and blessing they may receive from God. Note the attitude of the writer of Psalm 119: "How sweet are thy words unto my taste!" "Thy testimonies . . . are the rejoicing of my heart." "I love thy commandments above gold." "Thy law is my delight" (Psalm 119:103, 111, 127, 174).

 

But when people begin to exhibit a disdain for God's truth, there may soon come a time in their lives when they find it impossible even tocomprehend the all-important truth of God's saving gospel (creation, salvation, and reconciliation through Christ).

 

Because they refused the love of His truth when it would have been easy to believe, a blindness gradually engulfs their minds until they love the deceptive philosophies of the world, and they never escape the strong delusion which God has allowed to engulf them. Henceforth, though they are "ever learning," they are "never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Timothy 3:7). How important it is, as early in life as possible, to receive from God His proffered gift of the love of His truth! HMM
h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH