| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “Think for yourself” Our Bible verse for today: “… I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” Matthew 16:18 (CSB) Our thought for today: “The sky is not falling.” Chuck Colson served as Special Counsel to the President during the administration of Richard Nixon. He was known as Nixon’s hatchet man because he was relentless in attacking and undermining the President’s political enemies. If you crossed the President, or Colson himself, he would cut you off at the knees and toss your body into the parking lot. He was ruthless. Chuck ended up going to prison for his part in the Watergate scandal and while there, he became a Christian. He then spent the rest of his life serving prisoners and their families, writing good Christian books, and being a high-profile spokesman for many Christian causes. One of the last books he wrote before he died was “The Sky is Not Falling: Living Fearlessly in These Turbulent Times”. It was written in response to the embarrassing way in which many conservative Christians conducted themselves after the election of Barak Obama in 2008. To listen to them you would have thought that Barak Obama was the anti-Christ, that the apocalypse was upon us, and surely Jesus was coming back at any moment. In short, they were running around like a bunch of “Chicken Little’s” crying that the sky was falling. But it wasn’t. And it isn’t in our day either. As difficult as our times seem – with a pandemic, with racial tensions at a high level, with riots in the streets of major cities, with an economy in the toilet, with a nasty Presidential election in the offing, with the liberals going so far left that they’re halfway to Hawaii and still going, and with the prospect of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in some important position in a Joe Biden administration – yes, as bad as all that seems, the sky is not falling. Jesus is still on the throne, you are still saved, and the kingdom of God will continue to spread all across the globe. As Colson wrote back then and as is still true today: “Only one compelling claim to transcendent truth remains, one secure hope: Christianity. The church has stood unshaken through the ebb and flow of two millennia. It has survived both the barbarian invasions of the Middle Ages and the intellectual assaults of the modern era. Its solid walls rise up above the ruins littered across the intellectual landscape. This moment, when the culture at large is facing the bankruptcy of its systems, is the worst possible time for Christians to despair. On the contrary, it is time for us to blow trumpets and fly the flag high.” Amen! What was true in 2008 is still true today. This is a time for us to claim the cultural high ground, be salt and light, serve in the name of Christ, and preach the Gospel without fear and without apology. I encourage you to resist getting caught up in the fear and hysteria being spread by so many in the Christian community (especially on social media). Think for yourself. Better still, let Jesus think for you. He proclaimed that the gates of hell itself could not and would not hinder His kingdom-building work. That is our sure confidence. Jesus wins, and therefore so do we. The sky is not falling. So please, let’s stop acting as if it is. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
| Copyright © 2020 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. |
-
Follow
Following
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Oak Hill Baptist Church 