Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Character and integrity”   Our Bible verse for today: “Lying lips are detestable to the Lord, but faithful people are his delight.” Proverbs 12:22 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Don’t abuse it”   This morning we will return to our discussion from yesterday regarding the theory of the righteous lie. Are there some situations when telling a lie is not only okay, but is actually the good and righteous thing to do? Or, is lying always wrong? Is the ninth commandment conditional, are there carve-outs and exceptions for it?   It’s a moral and ethical question that has been the subject of debate among Bible scholars much smarter than me for thousands of years. So, I’m not going to claim to have the definitive answer, but I will share my opinion with you.   When I look to Scripture, I see that there are some rare instances where a Biblical figure told an obvious lie, but it was clearly the right thing to do. That leads me to conclude that it is possible that you or I could find ourselves in a similar situation, and perhaps telling a lie would be the correct response for us too. However, I also see in Scripture that such situations were very rare and very extreme. They were life and death situations. The righteous lie wasn’t told as a matter of simple convenience for the individual, or for the sake of a non-critical issue or agenda.   I think that right there is the key to the righteous lie issue – is it a life-or-death situation? If you are an Egyptian midwife saving the lives of Hebrew babies; or if you are a prostitute named Rahab and you’re saving Jewish spies; or if you’re a German Christian protecting Jews from the Nazis; okay, go ahead and tell the lie. But if the situation doesn’t rise to that level of seriousness and urgency, then lying about it is almost certainly a sin, and claiming your lie to be a “righteous” lie would be an abuse of the righteous lie principle.   By way of example, back during the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic, when nobody was really sure what we were dealing with or what the best measures were for protecting ourselves and others, many establishments such as stores, businesses, hospitals, and government offices had mask mandates. If you wanted to come into their facility, they required you to wear a face mask – unless you had a legitimate health issue (with a doctor’s order) that prevented you from wearing a mask.   A tactic was quickly developed by those opposed to masks to claim they had such a health issue, when in fact they did not. They were lying, but they believed they were justified in telling the lie. Even Christians did this, believing it to be a righteous lie. In my opinion, that was an abuse of the righteous lie principle. It was not a life-and-death issue for that person. If you didn’t want to wear a mask, fine – state your position, don’t wear the mask, and deal as best you can with the consequences of your choice. But don’t lie about it.   Is there such a thing as a “righteous” lie? I think so. There are examples of it in the Bible. But in the Bible, it was rare and for extreme situations. The overwhelming weight of Scripture compels us to tell the truth, and to do so, whether telling the truth is convenient or not. We’ll think more about this tomorrow.   God bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Character and integrity”   Our Bible verse for today: “The midwives said to Pharaoh, ‘The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them.” Exodus 1:19 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Is it a righteous lie or just a lie?”   Lying is a sin. The ninth commandment is perfectly clear about that. But is there such a thing as a righteous lie? In other words, are there times when lying is not just okay but even required and approved by God? Perhaps.   The theory of the righteous lie is based primarily on two passages, both from the Old Testament. In Exodus 1:19 the Egyptian midwives had been ordered by the Pharoah to kill all the Hebrew male babies at birth. But the midwives knew it would be wrong to do that and so they let the babies live. Then, when questioned by Pharoah as to why they didn’t obey his command they lied to him about it, and the Scripture then tells us that God rewarded them for saving the Hebrew babies.   The other example is found in Joshua 2:4-7 when the prostitute Rahab conspired to save the Jewish spies and then lied to the authorities about their whereabouts. There are a few other passages in both the Old and New Testaments which are sometimes pointed to as justifications for this idea of a righteous lie, but these two will suffice for our discussion this morning.   Proponents of the righteous lie theory argue that sometimes lies are necessary and are therefore approved by God (sort of a carve-out or special dispensation from the ninth commandment). They could be right. If you were a Christian in Germany in the late 1930s and you were hiding Jews in your basement, and the Nazis were at your door demanding to know if you were hiding Jews, morally you would be compelled to say “no”. Giving the Jews up to the Nazis would be a death sentence for them and it would be the wrong thing to do. Therefore, not only is it okay to lie about it, you are morally compelled to tell that lie.   Opponents of the righteous lie theory argue that even though your lie may have produced a good outcome, that still doesn’t make the lie itself a good thing or something approved by God. That’s the position taken by the conservative Christian website “Answers in Genesis” (owners of The Ark and the Creation Museum). They contend that if we read the righteous lie passages carefully, we will find that even though the intent and the actions of the midwives and of Rahab were good, and even though the outcome was positive, the passage still doesn’t say that the lie itself was approved by God. For Him to have done so would have made the ninth commandment conditional.   So, the question before us here today, as we consider our theme of being men and women with godly character and integrity is, “Is it ever okay to lie?” “Is there such a thing as a “righteous” lie that is condoned and approved by God?”   It’s not an easy question to answer but I will offer you some thoughts about it tomorrow.   God bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Character and integrity”   Our Bible verse for today: “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping your word.” Psalm 119:9 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Stay out of the ditch”   Guardrails are protective in nature. They prevent someone or something from getting off track and possibly falling off the edge. Dangerous sections of road typically have guardrails on the shoulders to keep cars from drifting off the edge and tumbling down an embankment.   But guardrails aren’t limited to physical metal structures on roads and highways. Guardrails can also be moral, ethical, legal, and religious. Rules, regulations, laws, and guidelines are all examples of mental guardrails which guide our conduct and keep us from straying from established and approved norms.   The Bible provides us with God’s guardrails for staying on track in life. In the Bible God gives us with what we call “a Biblical worldview” which helps us to know what’s true and what isn’t, and what conduct is acceptable and which isn’t. A Biblical worldview (also known as a Christian worldview) is based on God’s unchanging Word. The Bible is true for all people in all places at all times, and therefore it does not change. It is not influenced by or modified based on cultural trends or changing societal norms. This is what Solomon was referring to in Proverbs 119:9 (above).   Therefore, as God’s people, we take everything we are seeing, hearing, and being told from politicians, writers, educators, celebrities, and other cultural influencers, and we lay it alongside the Bible to determine how what they’re saying compares to what God has said. And then we evaluate the truthfulness or the rightness of anything based upon how it compares to the unchanging Word of God. The Bible is our standard for living, and it is our standard for evaluating everything and everyone. These are the guardrails within which we live our lives.   Men and women who have developed godly character and integrity have done so by learning to stay within the guardrails of thought and deed as given to us by God in the Bible. Biblical commands, instructions, and principles are our guardrails for living the Christian life. Stay within them and you will be fine. Stray from them and you will be in danger of falling off the edge and tumbling into one of life’s many ditches.   God bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Character and integrity”   Our Bible verse for today: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Isaiah 5:20 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “We fell down the rabbit hole”   When we use the phrase “We fell down the rabbit hole”, we’re usually referring to the experience of Alice in Lewis Carroll’s classic story of “Alice in Wonderland”. Alice literally fell down the hole of the White Rabbit and it took her into the alternate universe of Wonderland. In Wonderland everything was upside down and backwards, the opposite of what you would expect it to be. Nothing was normal or made sense.     Welcome to America in 2022. We fell down the rabbit hole. What used to be good is now bad, and what used to be bad is now good. Boys will be girls and girls will be boys. Nobody knows what’s real news, fake news, or a Russian bot. Politicians and government officials lie as easily as they breathe, and the truth about anything can’t be located even by Google-earth.   So, it shouldn’t surprise us that there’s confusion regarding the essence of character and integrity. There are many in our society (including some Christians) who accept falsehoods, endorse lies, excuse sin, and all the while loudly proclaim that their side’s character and integrity is above reproach. This is true of people on both sides of the political spectrum and on all sides in the culture wars.   Not only is that untrue (in that such conduct is not an example of true character and integrity), but it also serves to further confuse the issue in people’s minds. When weak character is proclaimed to be strong; when an obvious lack of integrity is declared to be an example of integrity, and when lies and distortions are coming at us from all sides, people’s heads spin and nobody knows what’s real or true. This is life in a society down the rabbit hole. Nothing is as it seems and everything is the opposite of what it should be.   But as Christians we know the truth as proclaimed by God in the Bible. We know what honesty, integrity, and strong reliable character looks like because God has given us clear written instructions about this in the Bible. And therefore, as Christians, we have the call of God upon our lives to be men and women of godly character and impeccable integrity.   Our society needs this to be true of us. Somebody has got to come back up out of the rabbit hole of lies, deceit, deception, misinformation, and manipulation. It has to be us. We, the Christians, must be the people of honesty, integrity, virtue, and character. If not us then who?  We’ll think more about this tomorrow.   God bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Character and Integrity”   Our Bible verse for today: “Better a poor person who lives with integrity than the rich one who distorts right and wrong.” Proverbs 28:6 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “We need men and women of character and integrity”   In my opinion, in our society today, character and integrity are no longer the highly regarded virtues they once were. Instead, relativism and expediency seem to be the dominant operative values. Rather than taking a stand on principle, many people choose the path of least resistance. And, doing so is often seen as being smart rather than as evidence of weakness or of a character flaw.   Character, as I’m using it, refers to moral and ethical strength. A person of character has a personal code of conduct which they believe in strongly, value deeply, and which they refuse to compromise. Synonyms for this meaning of character include courage, strength, honor, rectitude, uprightness, morality, goodness, scrupulousness, and honesty.   Integrity is similar but slightly different. Integrity is the quality of having strong moral principles about which you are steadfast, and which then govern the way you conduct yourself. Synonyms for integrity include words like honesty, probity, truthfulness, veracity, sincerity, and courage.   Character is about who you are. Integrity is more about how you act. When your character is strong you then live with integrity. Being a person of strong character and absolute integrity is often described as having moral fiber and intestinal fortitude. People with strong character and integrity are the ones who have the courage to take a stand on principle, even if doing so is costly. Those who are weak in these areas lean towards expediency and the path of least resistance.   Our society needs more men and women of character and integrity. We have far too many who are morally weak rather than strong, and fearful rather than courageous. Therefore, they compromise and capitulate when they should stand firm for truth and righteousness. Sadly, this is even true in the Christian community.   All this month we will explore character and integrity as taught by God in the Bible, and we’ll consider what true character and integrity looks like in actual practice.   God bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Living by faith”   Our Bible verse for today: “He has also planted eternity (a sense of divine purpose) in the human heart (a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God). Ecclesiastes 3:11 (Amplified Bible)   Our thought for today: “Trust your instinct”   As we conclude our month of devotionally thinking about living by faith, I want us to end where we began – trusting what our heart is telling us is true. To do so, I have again quoted Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:11, but this time from the Amplified Bible. The Amplified Bible is a translation that uses all the English words necessary to capture the full meaning of the original Biblical language. So, it gives us a fuller understanding of what Solomon was telling us in the original Hebrew.   God created you with an understanding that He is real and there is more than just this physical dimension. There’s also an empty place in your heart that can only be filled by Him. Nothing in all creation can fill the place in your heart that is reserved for God, and it will remain empty until you have brought God into your life.   C.S. Lewis wrote about this in his great little book, “Mere Christianity”, “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”   Instinctively you know that God is real and that there is eternal life after death. Trust that instinct. Structure your life around it. Spend your life pursuing it. The fact that you yearn for something more is because there is something more.   There is good reason to live by faith. Creation reveals God; all of human history attests to Him; and instinctively, in your heart, you know He is real. I encourage you to trust that instinct. Live by faith.   God bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Living by faith”   Our Bible verse for today: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “You’re on a mission from God!”   Several times this month I’ve referred to scenes from J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic series “The Lord of the Rings”. I’ve used those scenes as illustrations of what it looks like to be part of a grand adventure and to live by faith. I love the way the unlikely heroes in the story were part of something greater than themselves. C.S. Lewis used the same literary device in his series “The Chronicles of Narnia”. We even saw it play out in the movie “The Blues Brothers”. The entire story revolves around the efforts of Jake and Elwood Blues to save the orphanage they grew up in. As Elwood described it, “We’re on a mission from God!”   May I ask you this morning, “Are you on a mission from God”? Do you see your life as being part of a grand adventure you’re involved in, something greater than yourself? You should. That is what the Christian life is. Jesus said so Himself, numerous times. We read one of those times in Acts 1:8 (above). There, just before He ascended back into heaven, He told His disciples that they would receive special power from the Holy Spirit and then they were to go out in the neighborhoods, cities, states, nations, and around the world serving others in His name and spreading the Good News of salvation. They were on a mission from God!   And so are you. That’s the grand adventure of your life. You are to be on-mission with Jesus serving others and sharing the Gospel. Perhaps your part in the adventure will be limited to your immediate surroundings of home, neighborhood, workplace, and community. That’s fine and it’s sufficient. Or, maybe your part will take you a little further, to other places in your state or nation. But if you’re really fortunate and adventurous, your involvement in the grand adventure of the Great Commission could include mission trips to other places around the world.   The point is that we’re on a mission with Jesus in this world to spread His love, to bless people in His name, and to share the Good News of the Gospel. It’s a joint effort with our fellow travelers, and it is an effort that is bigger and grander than any of us as individuals.     God has called us to be part of something bigger than ourselves. It will require faith and courage on your part, and it will often not be easy. But this is what you have been called to, and it is what God has prepared you for. You are indeed on a mission from God.   God bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Living by faith”   Our Bible verse for today: “For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.” Ruth 1:16 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Do the right thing, and trust God for the outcome”   I love the story of Ruth and Naomi in the Old Testament. Naomi was a widow living in a foreign land. Not only did her husband die, but both of her sons died as well. Ruth was one of her daughters-in-law from that foreign land. When Naomi decided to return to her native home in the land of Judah, she instructed both of her daughters-in-law to remain there in their own country and find new husbands. But as we read in Ruth 1:6 (above), Ruth refused to leave her.   So, Ruth and Naomi traveled back to Bethlehem in the land of Judah, not knowing what to expect. They were homeless and with no means of support. But if you read the story, you will discover that it turned out pretty well for both of them.   The question for us here this morning is, “Where did Ruth find the courage to leave her home and travel with Naomi to a strange land?” And the answer is that it was an act of faith on her part. She determined to simply do the right thing and to trust God for the outcome.   In what way was Ruth living by faith? Taking care of widows is a Biblical mandate. Ruth wasn’t a Jew by birth but she did marry into a Jewish family and she lived in that setting for some number of years. So, she had probably converted to Judaism and she had probably learned the basic precepts of the faith. Taking care of widows is taught repeatedly in the Old Testament by Moses and the prophets. Ruth would have known that. Therefore, in addition to her love for Naomi, she knew she had a Biblical responsibility from God to do the right thing in this situation.   So, in faith, and in accordance with Proverbs 3:5-6 (Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.), Ruth went with Naomi, took excellent care of her, provided for her, and in return, God took good care of Ruth.   Ruth is an inspiring example of living by faith. She resolved to just do the right thing and to trust God for the rest. And that’s the lesson for us here this morning: when we resolve to simply do what we know to be right, we can trust the outcome to God.     God bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Living by faith”   Our Bible verse for today: “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my female servants will also fast in the same way. After that, I will go to the king even if it is against the law. If I perish, I perish.” Esther 4:16 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “We don’t have the luxury of doing nothing”   Queen Esther was a beautiful young Hebrew woman who had been forced into an unwanted marriage with the king. No one, not even the king, knew she was a Jew. But then, Haman, the evil aide to the king, conspired to have all the Jews in the empire killed. It was to be a mass extermination, a holocaust. It was brought to Esther’s attention and it was clear she needed to act on behalf of her people.   The problem was twofold. First, it was against the law for anyone, even the queen, to come into the king’s presence without first having been summoned by him. The penalty was immediate death. Second, since Esther herself was a secret Jew, and therefore part of the group that had been marked for mass extermination, by identifying herself as such she was putting her own life in jeopardy. Apparently, in order to make the king sympathetic to the plight of the Jews, it would be necessary for him to understand that his own queen was one of them.   So, Esther ordered that the people of God (the Jews) come together for prayer, fasting, and mutual encouragement, and then she would take the action necessary. It was a bold and risky plan fraught with danger. But in faith, and with great courage, Esther did what needed to be done.     For thousands of years since then the people of God (Jews and Christians alike), have been inspired by Esther’s example of faith and courage. We have often used her example as the inspiration we needed to face our own difficult and dangerous situations when it would be much easier to be quiet and do nothing. Esther could have stayed quiet – safe and secure in her position as queen and as a secret Jew. But doing so would have been a horrible wrong. The situation was such that she needed to act. She didn’t have the luxury of doing nothing.   And neither do we. The days we live in are evil, and they’re getting progressively worse. We don’t have the luxury of doing nothing. We cannot hunker down behind the walls of our little religious forts (church buildings) and shut out the world. We have to be active in the world for the cause of Christ – and even more so as the evil increases and the times become more desperate.   Living by faith means doing the hard stuff. It means doing something when it would be easier (and safer) to do nothing. We simply do not have the luxury of doing nothing any longer.   God bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Living by faith”   Our Bible verse for today: “If the God we serve exists, then he can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he can rescue us from the power of you, the king. But even if he does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.” Daniel 3:17-18 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Living by faith makes us confident, bold, and courageous”   Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were young Hebrew men living in captivity in Babylon. They were administrative assistants to the king. But King Nebuchadnezzar was something of a maniacal narcissist with a god complex, and at one time he ordered a ninety-foot-tall gold statue to be erected, evidently of himself, and before which everyone was required to bow down and worship.   However, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to do it. They were observant Jews who took the first and second commandments seriously (have no other gods, bow down before no idols). When the king found out about their refusal to worship as he commanded, he was furious and threatened to have them burned alive in a blazing furnace. You can read their reply to him in Daniel 3:17-18 above.   Where did they get the courage to defy the king in such a bold and confident way? Simple, they were living by faith. Their faith in God was so strong that it gave them the confidence, boldness, and courage they needed to stand on their convictions, come what may.   We’ve seen other examples of that, both in the Bible and outside of it. Joseph resisted the enticements of Potiphar’s wife; Daniel continued to pray despite the king’s edict; Jesus resisted the temptation of Satan in the wilderness; the apostles defied the pharisees; Christians in Rome were burned at the stake and fed to lions; believers in China and North Korea waste away in prisons rather than deny their faith. And on and on the examples go.  The point is that when a true believer has learned to live by faith the examples of extraordinary courage and boldness are many.   Throughout this month we’ve learned many lessons about what it means to live by faith, and we have learned how to do it. Today we find that a result of learning to live by faith is that we become increasingly confident, bold, and courageous. Those are attributes Christians need in increasing measure as we live in these difficult days.   Living by faith helps us to be confident, bold, and courageous.   God bless, Pastor Jim

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