Praise and Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a distinctly American holiday. More than that, it is distinctly Christian. What person, so pursued and gripped by the saving love and grace of God in Christ Jesus, could do anything but offer his or her life as a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God? Eph 5:20; Phil 4:6; Col 3:17; 1 Thess 5:18
Sin Is Sin. Or Is It?
"God loves Satan just as much as He does you and me and everyone."
That was what a prominent deacon in a church I attended long ago said during a Wednesday night Bible study. We were studying the enemy of God's people, called Satan or the devil or the serpent. I was a new seminary student at the time, and although I was not then and am not now a world class Bible scholar, I knew enough to prevent me from staying silent. I spoke up, hopefully with respect and kindness.
Ready, Set, Vote!
The United States of America is an anomaly. An historic anomaly.
Our Constitutional Republic is unique in human history. The average citizen's opportunity and ability to both access and impact public policy at all levels, local to federal, is historically unprecedented. Our freedoms to picket and protest and petition and even personally pester our elected officials is unheard of in the vast majority of the world. We are a blessed people!
Remember
"When you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" (Deuteronomy 6:11-12).
We have a tendency to forget.
It's our nature. Our fallen, sinful nature. To forget.
Burying My Heroes
I am running low on living heroes.
Men need heroes. Of that I am convinced. And not just long-dead heroes, although we need those too. Men need living heroes. "Remember your leaders, those who spoke the Word of God to you . . . and imitate their faith" (Heb 13:7).
I had four living heroes. Three were what I call my "Preaching Giants" and one is my Missionary Giant. The Missionary Giant is still living and would not want me to name him or say anything else about him at this point. So, I focus here on my Preaching Heroes. I had three. Dad. David Miller. Albert Mohler. I am now down to just one.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
By now, the picture of a bloodied Donald Trump surrounded by secret service agents with his fist held in the air has been viewed innumerable times around the world. No doubt, it will come to define the former President's legacy. It certainly does speak volumes of his fighting spirit.
God Bless America
Our Nation is about to celebrate her 248th Birthday!
Hating the United States of America seems to be replacing baseball as our national pastime these days. Sadly, this is becoming more and more so even among some Christians. While it's one thing to despise all sin, including our own and our national sins, it's entirely another thing to view our Nation as something to be denounced or abhorred or destroyed.
SBC Summary
The Southern Baptist Convention exists for exactly two days out of every year. Strictly speaking, the SBC is not a denomination. It is an association, or convention, of autonomous churches that agree to cooperate missionally, rallying around a common faith as expressed in the Baptist Faith & Message 2000. The church I pastor, Corydon Baptist Church, willingly cooperates with the SBC.
But less and less so over the last five years.
A Nation’s Heroes
"Pay your obligations to everyone . . . respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor" (Rom 13:7).
Do you ever wonder who we will think of as our Nation's heroes in fifty years? Or 100 years?
It seems to me we are running low on true heroes these days. We are tearing down statues and monuments to the past with fierce swiftness. And whatever you might think of the men or women memorialized in statues and monuments, you must ask, "Is it good for a Nation to demolish its past or seek to erase its national memory?"
Cross-Centered Motherhood
"And He [Jesus] said to all, 'If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me'" (Luke 9:23).
Perhaps nobody in our society's normal, daily ebb and flow sacrifices more and more often than mothers. Motherhood, by Divine design, is sacrificial.