Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “The longer the trial lasts, the more you need the Lord.”

 

What makes many problems so difficult to deal with is that they are seldom quickly or easily resolved. At least that seems to be the case in my life, and it’s probably true in yours as well. As a difficult problem or trial drags on and on, I tend to do the very things Isaiah tells me not to do, I give-in to fear and discouragement and I start wondering if this is ever going to end.

 

If fear and discouragement are allowed to take root, I then tend to convince myself that the problem is not going to end – ever! Instead it’s going to continue for days and weeks and months and years and probably on into eternity with my luck! And then I get fearful. I begin to imagine how bad it’s all going to get as it continues to drag on and on.

 

And then comes a deep-seated sense of dismay. I start feeling (and acting) as if the weight of the world is on my shoulders. (My dog just died, the kids have the flu, the car is on the fritz, my neighbors are mean, and you have no idea how hard it is to be me ….)

 

The truth however, is that nothing lasts forever. Beyond that, it’s probably not really as bad as I think it is. Plus, Jesus is still on the throne; I am still saved; I can get another dog; the kids will get better; the car will get fixed; and it’s really not any harder being me than it is to be you, or to be anyone else.

 

The fact is that we all have problems, and God has the answers. Isaiah 41:10 is just one of the Biblical answers to our multitude of life issues.

 

God says, “Do not fear.” Why should we not fear? “Because I am with you.” That’s right, the God of the universe is with you in this. He is fully aware of your problems and He is all-powerful to help you.

 

Therefore, “Don’t be dismayed.” He is God and He is with you, and that’s a pretty good reason to hope and trust.

 

“I will strengthen you and I will uphold you.” That’s the answer right there. Go to God for strength and upholding. The tougher your situation, the more strengthening and upholding you need, and therefore the more you need to be going to God.

 

The key to persevering, regardless of who you are and what your current situation is, is to bring it to God. And then stay there with God so He can strengthen you, uphold you, give you courage instead of fear, and hope instead of dismay.

 

The harder the trial and the longer it lasts, the more you need the Lord.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.” Genesis 2:15 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “We are to persevere in our work.”

 

Two days ago our devotional message was on the subject of retirement. In that message I joined with Pastor John Piper in urging you not to retire. By that I did not mean to imply that you can never leave your career. I myself am a “retired” Naval Officer. I also did not mean to imply that we must always be engaged in an activity that results in a paycheck. If you have reached the point in life where you no longer need to earn wages, good for you!

 

However, barring poor health and physical incapacitation, we do need to remain as productive in meaningful activities as our circumstances allow. Not only is that important for our physical and emotional well-being, but it’s Biblical. Nowhere in the Bible does God make provision for His people to be idle and unproductive – at any age.

 

In Genesis 2:15 we find that even in the pre-sin world, even when creation was still perfect and Adam lived in paradise, God gave him work to do. Adam was to “work” the Garden. He was to tend it and care for it, watching over it and taking whatever action was needed. Adam had a job and along with everything else in God’s creation, it was good.

 

Work is important. Whether you are doing it for a paycheck, as a service to your church or community, or simply for the pure pleasure of accomplishing something worthwhile, work is good. As David Platt writes, “As we produce goods and provide services through all sorts of jobs, we are contributing to our culture in a way that serves people and honors God.”

 

Our world is so diverse that innumerable products and services are needed for the basic good of society. Food needs to be grown, processed, packaged, shipped, sold, and prepared. That requires farmers, factory workers, truck drivers, warehouse workers, salespeople, and cooks. All of those professions are needed and important. And that’s just one example. We need teachers and nurses, bus drivers and construction workers, counselors and secretaries. All work is good if it benefits other people and makes society a little better for everyone.

 

And so, we must persevere in our work. Whether we’re earning a paycheck or doing volunteer work, all of us are expected to, and even required by God, to be productive in meaningful ways.

 

If you would like to read an expanded teaching about the value and importance of work, see chapter thirteen of my book “Walking with Paul”. If you don’t have a copy you can get one at www.JimMersereauBooks.com, or visit with us at Oak Hill Baptist Church and I will be happy to give you a copy.

 

The Bible is clear that God expects us to utilize our time in constructive ways that benefit others and helps to make the world a better place.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “If anyone has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need but closes his eyes to him – how can God’s love reside in him? 1 John 3:7 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “We have been blessed so we can be a blessing.”

 

As I write this I am knee-deep in planning two mission trips, one for our church to the coal-mining region of northeastern Kentucky and the other for CERT International to the Andes Mountains in Peru. In Kentucky we work with a very small church which has a heart for ministering to some of the most impoverished people in that region of Appalachia. In Peru we work with a Peruvian missionary pastor who has made it his life’s work to minister to the Quechuan Indians who live in remote villages in the mountains north of Cusco.

 

What’s interesting to me is that we sometimes receive almost identical criticism from American Christians for our work in each of those places. It goes like this, “Why do you go so far away to help people over there (Kentucky and Peru), when we have needy people right here?” The implication is that we should just stay home (in Cumberland County, TN, and in the USA) and do all of our charitable work here, and let those people in other places take care of themselves.

 

Yes, Cumberland County, TN does have its share of poor people, but not like in Hazard County, KY – the need is much greater there. As a church we do minister to our own community first, but we don’t stop here. Also, here in our county there are a large number of big churches, and food banks, and relief agencies, and rescue missions, all focusing large amounts of resources to help the poor in our community. Hazard County, KY has almost none of those resources. The people in our partner church are every bit as poor as the people in their community who they’re trying to help. When we bring a big load of supplies up to them, it makes a world of difference – a much bigger difference than it would make here in our own county.

 

And with respect to our standard of living here in the USA compared to that of remote villages in Peru, let me quote author David Platt in his new book “Counter Culture”, “By any measure, we are the richest people ever to walk on planet Earth … We need to open our eyes to the reality that when most of the people in the world hear the word “rich”, they picture us. Indeed, average, ordinary, middle-class, working Americans are an extremely wealthy aristocracy in a world surrounded by billions of extremely poor neighbors.”

 

And even though we are the wealthiest people on the planet to begin with, we then direct more than 80% of our charity inward on our own society. We, the richest society in the world, send less than 20% of our charity to places like the Andes Mountains in Peru. Instead we spend almost all of our charitable dollars on ourselves.

 

My point in all of this is that as followers of Jesus Christ we have to identify the neediest of the needy, and then persevere in helping them as we can. By ourselves we can’t meet all the needs of all the people. But we can make a meaningful difference in the lives of some. And that’s enough.

 

The people of God have been tasked by God to engage in physical ministry to take care of the poor and destitute. It’s not easy; it does require sacrifice; and we will need to persevere.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:20-21 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Live until you die”.

 

I’ll admit to being a Jimmy Buffet fan. I like his music. He writes about life on the open sea and at the beach, and about the adventures of traveling. Those are all things that I love. In one of his songs there is a line that goes, “I’d rather die while I’m living than live while I’m dead.”

 

Yes, live until you die. Really live. Too many people don’t. Far too many people, as they get older, retreat from life. They spend more and more time in the Lazy-Boy in front of the television, or endless hours, day-after-day, on the golf course, on in a fishing boat. What a waste!

 

I recently read a great article about retirement from Pastor John Piper. It was titled, “Hillary, Bernie, Donald, and Me”. The thing that Pastor John found admirable about Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump was not their politics, but the fact that each wants to spend their 70s performing the most difficult job in the world – that of President of the United States.

 

Pastor John isn’t running for President, but at the age of 70 he is determined not to retire to a life of long naps and afternoon golf. He intends to continue preaching, teaching, writing, and serving. The structure of his activities may change a bit, but not the significance. He’s not going to waste his remaining years of life on trivial pursuits. Me neither. And I hope you also won’t do that.

 

In that article John notes that at 70 Benjamin Franklin helped to draft the Declaration of Independence. At 70 the great Bible teacher Oswald Sanders wrote his first book. He then wrote one book a year until he was 89. At 76 Ronald Reagan stood at the Berlin wall and challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to tear it down. At 77 Astronaut John Glenn traveled in space. At 81 Winston Churchill was still serving as the Prime Minister of Great Britain. At 89 Albert Schweitzer was still running a hospital in Africa and at 99, Strom Thurmond was still serving in the U.S. Senate.

 

Ralph Winter, who actively served in the cause of world evangelism until he died at 84, once wrote, “Most men don’t die of old age, they die of retirement.”

 

Yes sir, be careful of that retirement stuff, it’ll kill ya. Recently I heard John Piper’s point expressed in a slightly different and very practical way. The man said “Don’t retire, instead rewire.” In other words it’s ok to shift gears, but don’t waste your years.

 

Regardless of your age, there’s a very good chance that your best years are still ahead of you. Even if you’re 40, that means you have just arrived at half-time in the game of life. You probably still have the entire second half in front of you!  I’m a firm believer in the truth that the final measure of a person’s life cannot be determined until that life has been fully lived.

 

Every day you’re still alive is another opportunity to do something meaningful with your life. I encourage you not to blow it or waste it. Persevere in life. Do all the good you can, for all the people you can, for as long as you can.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Don’t give-up on wayward loved ones.”

 

Shortly after Linda and I joined our first church, we were in a Sunday night service when the Pastor was preaching about committed Christian marriages. At the end of the sermon he invited all the couples who would like to rededicate their marriages to come forward. Linda and I went forward, as did many other couples. It was a touching and powerful conclusion to a very good sermon.

 

As we were headed back to our seats I saw a middle-aged woman sitting alone in a pew quietly crying. At the time I didn’t understand what she was upset about. Later, as I got to know her, I discovered that her husband had drifted away from the church and for many years, had been cold and hard and completely uninterested in anything to do with the Christian life. But this woman never stopped praying that the Lord would get hold of his heart and bring him back into right relationship with Him, with her, and with the church. At that point she had been praying that prayer for years, but with no discernable effect.

 

However probably within six months of that night the man suddenly did have a change of heart and decided to begin attending church again. Slowly he was drawn back into right relationship with the Lord and with his wife. Not long after that, he became active in ministry again. After a few years he started moving into positions of leadership within the church. That was over twenty-five years ago and as far as I know, that man has walked closely with the Lord ever since.

 

We’re all familiar with stories like that, probably more than we can count. The lesson we learn from those examples is that we must never give-up on our wayward loved ones. As long as a person is still breathing there’s still a chance the Holy Spirit can break through to them.

 

Whether it’s a spouse, an adult child, a teenager, a brother, sister, parent, or friend, don’t stop praying for them and also, don’t shut them out of your life because of inappropriate behavior.

 

When inappropriate behavior is involved, it’s important to make clear to the individual that we don’t endorse or approve of their choices; and it may be necessary to erect boundaries and put in place safeguards to protect ourselves from the impact of the other person’s bad behaviors; but it is also important to maintain lines of communication as well. As long as you have an ongoing relationship of some kind with that person, the Lord can still use you to influence them.

 

We all have people in our lives who we’re worried about because they’re not in right relationship with the Lord. Don’t give-up on them! It may take many years for the Lord to reach them but as long as you keep praying, and you take advantage of your opportunities to gently, lovingly, and subtly guide them in the right direction, then there is still hope.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “I was sick and you took care of Me…” Matthew 25:36 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Persevere in caring for those who are sick.”

 

Some of you have probably been following the touching story of country music artists Rory and Joey Feek. Joey has cervical and colon cancer which is terminal and the hospice nurse says she will die any day now.

 

Rory and Joey have been very open about their long journey together as Joey battled this cancer, even blogging about it and posting pictures along the way. Their love for each other, and Rory’s total devotion and commitment to his wife as he cared for her through this, has touched the hearts of many millions of people. This is how it should be.

 

Years ago I read the story of the President of a Bible College who was also a popular author and conference speaker. His wife developed Alzheimer’s disease which progressed rapidly and it quickly rendered her an invalid. Even though this man was at the height of his career, he left his position at the Bible College and devoted his full attention to caring for his wife. He explained, “At this point in my life my ministry is to my wife.”

 

Providing long-term care for a close family member with a serious illness can be difficult and wearing on the primary care-giver. It requires perseverance over the long-term. There was once a family in our church in California who had a severely disabled son. The boy was so physically and mentally handicapped that he was unable to communicate or even to feed, dress, or bathe himself. Many parents would have placed that child in an institution for long-term care. Not them. They committed to caring for him, day-in-and-day-out, for years on end, even into adulthood. I once asked Bill how he did it. His response was, “I begin each day asking the Lord to give me the strength to care for him again today. He always does. Then tomorrow I pray that again.”

 

In Matthew 25:36 Jesus said that when we care for the sick in His name, as far as He is concerned we are providing that care directly to Him. Helping to care for the sick is always the right thing to do, but that’s especially true if that sick person is a close family member. The Apostle Paul made reference to this in 1Timothy 5:8 with respect to a family’s responsibility to care for widows in their family.

 

In yesterday’s devotional message the focus was on persevering through your own times of sickness. Today it’s all about perseverance for those who care for the sick. Let me offer you two suggestions:

 

First, let others help. You don’t have to do it all yourself. And second, take care of yourself. In order to take care of others you have to first take care of yourself. The more worn and frazzled you get, the less effective you will be at caring for those who need you. You won’t have much to give to others if you don’t first take care of yourself. So give yourself plenty of breaks. Rest, eat well, exercise, and make sure you have times just for you.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away from me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” 1 Corinthians 12:8-9 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Persevere in times of sickness.”

 

The Apostle Paul was a man with a mission. He had been tasked by God to help establish and spread the Christian faith in the Middle East and Europe. It was a huge undertaking. It would require him to travel constantly, to eat strange foods, sleep in borrowed beds, and endure bad weather, bad roads, and bad people. It would be a hard life and he needed his health.

 

But Paul was not healthy. He had some sort of sickness or disability which hindered him. We don’t know exactly what it was, Paul never said. Bible scholars believe it was very poor eyesight, almost to the point of being legally blind. What we do know is that Paul pleaded with God to please take the sickness away. But God said “no”. God decided that Paul would need to learn how to live with it, and even to thrive and succeed despite whatever that physical limitation was.

 

The apparent reason, according to 1 Corinthians 12:8-9, was so that it would be clear to everyone that the great things that were happening in and through the life of Paul were due to the power of the Holy Spirit, and not because of any greatness on Paul’s part. “Power is perfected in weakness”. God got the glory, Paul didn’t.

 

Over the years I’ve seen examples of this more numerous than I can count. There was Bob, a man who was dying a terrible and painful death from emphysema. It was a great struggle just to get his decimated body out of bed. But he was in church every Sunday, wheelchair, oxygen bottles, adult diapers – in church right up until just a couple of weeks before he died and happy to be there. What an inspiring example for the rest of us!

 

There was the Christian woman, a friend of mine, who suffered through a terrible and excruciatingly painful form of cancer – the treatment for which was more uncomfortable and painful than the disease itself. But she never complained, she never whined, there was no “Woe is me!” or “Why me?” She got the treatment she needed and she got on with life.

 

Losing your health is one of the scariest and most difficult circumstances any of us will ever face. When it happens it’s natural to want to give-up and shut down. We want to just curl-up in bed, pull the covers over our heads, and do what we can to minimize the pain and discomfort. But if we allow it to, sickness can quickly come to define our lives.

 

A better response is to do whatever you can to push through it and to continue to live the fullest life you are capable of under the circumstances. Like Bob, that could be little more than just showing up at church for an hour on a Sunday morning. But that’s ok. You do what you can, but you do all that you can.

 

Being sick stinks, but we have to persevere through the sickness. Don’t give-in and don’t give-up. Live life as fully and as completely as you can under the prevailing circumstances.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Don’t give-up!”

 

The great British preacher C.H. Spurgeon once wrote, “By perseverance the snail reached the ark.” That’s funny but true. It’s only by perseverance that a snail gets anywhere, ever. And yet, snails do get places. Somehow, someway, eventually, they do get there and it happens because they don’t give-up.

 

Giving up is a primary reason that so many people end up living lives that are much less than what they could otherwise have been. On day one of a college student’s freshman year, acquiring that Bachelor’s degree seems like an impossible dream. But if that student will focus on completing one class at a time, and then the next one, and then the next one, slowly but surely they will complete them all and one day they will find themselves on a stage wearing a cap and gown and being handed their degree. “By perseverance the snail reached the ark.”

 

Persevering is the key to succeeding. It means that we push through obstacles and hardships and we just keep moving forward. That’s what Paul was writing about in Philippians 3:14. Nothing was ever easy for Paul. He faced obstacle and hardship after obstacle and hardship, but he never gave-up. He just kept going. He had a worthy goal that was worth the effort and so he never stopped trying, he never stopped moving forward.

 

Paul’s life was a success largely because he never gave-up, and the same will be true for you. Your issues and challenges will be different from Paul’s, but if you will just lean into it and keep moving forward, the Holy Spirit will guide, empower, and protect you just like He did with Paul.

 

Whatever difficult situation you are dealing with today, I encourage you to stick with it. Persevere. Push through it. At the moment it may seem insurmountable but that is seldom the case. With time and tenacity and lots of prayer, most things can be handled.

 

I once read a statement made by a man who had been held captive by terrorists for an extended period of time. Despite his long and frightening ordeal he never lost hope and he never gave-in to despair. After he was rescued he was asked by a reporter how he kept his spirits up through all of that. His response is a great lesson in how to stay focused and hopeful in difficult circumstances. He said, “Nothing is over until you give-up!” And I believe that to be true. As long as you continue to try, there is still hope. It’s not over until you quit trying.

 

So, don’t give-up!

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews 12:1 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Let’s learn to persevere.”

 

The word “perseverance” is a close cousin to the word “endurance”. The words are often used interchangeably. The dictionary says that persevere means, “To persist in or remain constant to a purpose, idea, or task in spite of obstacles.” To endure is, “To carry on despite hardships; to suffer patiently without yielding.”

 

Synonyms for both include, “stamina, backbone, courage, grit, pluck, guts, diligence, resolve, and determination.

 

In the Bible God tells us that we have to learn to persevere and endure. Why? Because life is hard. Nobody said this was going to be easy – and it isn’t. The Christian life is a great adventure, true, and we have wonderful rewards waiting for us at the end of the journey, but the journey itself includes many peaks and valleys along with lots of trials and struggles. And so, we must persevere, we must endure.

 

That’s the point the writer to the letter of Hebrews was making in 12:1, but he didn’t stop there. In verse 2 he went on and told us how to persevere, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

 

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.” Life wasn’t easy for Jesus either. He had to endure and persevere too. But, as we see in the Gospels, He also had great joy along the way. There was much He enjoyed about life, there were many people that blessed and pleased Him, there was much work that was richly rewarding, and then there was that eternal reward (He sat down at the right hand of God).

 

He is our example. He is also our cheerleader. He has completed the race and is now in heaven waiting for us to complete ours. He urges us onward – telling us to just keep our eyes focused ahead, focused on Him, and to just keep moving forward.

 

Do you know people who fit the dictionary definition of those who persevere? These are people with stamina, backbone, grit, and courage; people who carry on despite hardships and who suffer patiently without yielding. People like that are inspiring for the rest of us. Maybe you are one of those people. Or maybe you would like to be.

 

This month we will explore the important Christian virtue of perseverance. We will learn why it is so important for us to persevere and we will see how we, and those around us, benefit from our perseverance. We will look at many passages of Scripture which teach about perseverance and we will consider inspiring examples of perseverance.

 

Hopefully, by the end of the month we will all be stronger, more confident, and more determined to persevere through out own trials and struggles – just keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus and always moving forward towards the prize in heaven.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Playing by the Rules”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: ‘Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your fathers to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.’ But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the Lord their God. They rejected his decrees and the covenant he made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.” 2 Kings 17:13-15 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Pray for our nation”

 

Those words in 2 Kings 17:13-15 were written about the nations of Israel and Judah but they could just as well as have been written about the USA in our day. God gave us a Christian heritage. Our nation was founded on Biblical principles. They’re written into the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. This was intentional on the part of the Founding Fathers and for most of our history, as a nation we lived by those principles.

 

That doesn’t mean that all of our citizens were or are Christian, they’re not. And it also doesn’t mean that all of the Founding Fathers and the leaders since then were all Christians, some of them weren’t. But it does mean that Biblical principles were recognized as being the best principles to found our nation upon and for our citizens to live by, and for more than two hundred years we have thrived because of it.

 

Not so much any more. We have become like those ancient Jews who rejected the Word of God. We have turned from His decrees and the covenant He made with our Founding Fathers. And our nation is largely not heeding the warnings He has repeatedly given to us. We idolize and worship worthless principles, worthless leaders, and worthless objects, and as a result, like the Jews in ancient Israel and Judah, we are ourselves are becoming worthless. And yes, we too could certainly be described as a “stiff-necked people”.

 

As we conclude this month of devotional messages on the theme of “Playing by the Rules” I want to encourage all of us to pray for our nation. To a large extent we no longer plays by the rules God so clearly gave to us and as a result, the very fabric of our society is unraveling.

 

Whereas our laws were once intentionally Biblically based, we now live in a time when many new laws are diametrically opposed to Biblical principles, and that is celebrated by many as being a good thing. Standards of conduct which for hundreds of years of our history were recognized as being good and decent are now ridiculed and even condemned; while conduct that used to be widely condemned is now celebrated as good and normal. Our standards and expectations have become confused and twisted and the moral fabric of our society is unraveling.

 

But, Jesus is still on the throne and He is still sovereign over the affairs of nations. And, prayer still works. So please pray for our nation. Regardless of whether or not society as a whole lives by Biblical rules, we as individual followers of Jesus Christ can. So I encourage you to be force for good in your sphere of influence. In your home, in your neighborhood, in your school, and at your place of work be the one who does play by the rules.

 

Each of us can make a difference right where we are and if enough of us do that, it will make an impact on society as a whole. So don’t despair and don’t give up. Regardless of what others do, you be the one who does play by God’s rules.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim