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Sep 02

Chance After Chance

Posted on September 2, 2014 by admin

Have you ever known someone that you have given chance after chance, and they keep making bad decision after bad decision?  Or worse, they ignore the problem, pretending it isn’t there, and things continue to spiral out of control.  As a parent there have been times in which I have stepped back looked at my children who I love dearly and wondered, “how in the world could you do that?”  If you can identify with that, then you can identify with how God feels towards humanity.  In the Old Testament book of Amos, God reminds Israel of the many chances He had given them.  God had sent a famine, a drought, lack of crop production, nations coming into Israel to battle them, and yet they never turned back to God.  God sending those things was not out of anger, it was out of love.  He was desiring to get Israel’s attention, for them to recognize they had gone away from Him, and to return.  Yet the phrase “yet you did not return to Me declares the Lord” is given five times in 13 verses.  In Psalm 32:6 it says, “For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found.”  David was instructing the people to turn to God while He may be found.  In other words there is going to be a time in which God won’t be able to be found.  Right now God is still offering forgiveness and salvation freely through faith in the shed blood of Christ.  But there is coming a day, a day that we don’t know when it is coming according to Matthew 24:36 and other verses.  But there is coming a day in which forgiveness will no longer be available.  The grace and mercy God is offering will be no more.  All that will be left is what is told in the rest of Psalm 32:6, “surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto Him.”  There is a day coming in which the righteous judgment of God will come flowing down upon all mankind that has not turned from their sin to trust Christ.  Amos puts it this way in Amos 5:24, “But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.”

God desires that we would all confess our sin and turn to Him, trusting that what He did on the cross is sufficient to forgive us, cleanse us, and save us.  2 Peter 3:9 tells us that God is waiting patiently because He wants us to turn to Him rather than perish for all of eternity.  But then we get to the first part of 2 Peter 3:10, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.”  Two things about that. First, the day is coming.  Secondly, it will come unexpectedly for many.  You can trust Jesus today and be prepared for whenever the day of Christ return occurs.  You can confidently look forward to eternity, knowing you will be in heaven.  But you must turn to Him now, while there is still time.  And regardless of when Christ returns, we are all closer to eternity right now than we have ever been.  Don’t delay in trusting Christ any longer.  He loved you enough to die for you, and He loves you enough now to accept your faith regardless of your past or your present.

If you have questions about how to do this, please contact us so that we can share with you how you can have  new life today and a new eternity secured by the blood of Jesus.  Contact us at www.westlakebaptist.org or call the church office at 540-721-8784.

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him

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Aug 28

Preparing For Attacks

Posted on August 28, 2014 by admin

We have all heard it said, “the best defense is a good offense.”  There is a lot of truth to that in living out our spiritual life.  Even though God saved me many years ago, and even though I have preached on the passage several times, there are times that I get taken off guard by spiritual attacks from satan.  Paul says in Ephesians 6 to “put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles (schemes/attacks) of the devil” (Eph. 6:10).  Jesus told His disciples and us that when we focus on loving Him and serving Him, spiritual attacks are going to happen.  It is important to realize that attacks come in all different styles.  Some are physical attacks, some are interpersonal attacks, but there are also some intrapersonal attacks as well.  I believe most people are aware and prepared for physical and interpersonal attacks.  But I think the biggest area we are unprepared is when the attack is coming within ourselves.  We need to realize that satan will use whatever it takes to get our eyes off of Christ.  Some examples of intrapersonal attacks are doubt, discouragement, the blues (mild depression that isn’t all the time), and there are others.  So how do we handle these things?  The first step in handling any spiritual attack is to pray and talk to God about it.  Sometimes God is allowing things in our life because of a sin that He is disciplining us for and wants to remove from our life.  Sometimes, however God is allowing the attack in our life to grow up spiritually or to minister and reach out to someone else.  Therefore, it is vital that we talk to God and ask, “why is this occurring, what are you trying to teach me or who are you trying to reach through this?”  If it is not because of a personal sin, then we want to take it to the next step.  The second step is to trust God’s plan and purpose through this trial.  It is easy to say it, it is easy to acknowledge it when we are not being spiritually attacked, but sometimes we forget that God is sovereign over all people and all events, at all times.  Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to “trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”  Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”  So we need to trust God.  Next, we need to take an inventory of our life.  Are we being good stewards?  Times that we are the most vulnerable to disease is when our body is run down.  We are a people and a nation on the go.  We don’t eat right, don’t exercise, and don’t get proper sleep.  The end result is our body does not perform at peak efficiency opening us up to injury or sickness.  In our spiritual life, when we are not praying, studying our Bible, living our life in obedience, it is the same as not eating right, not exercising, or getting proper sleep.  We are inviting trouble into our life by doing these things.  One of the ways we are most vulnerable to spiritual attacks mentally is when we are not well rested.  When we are constantly going, moving from one task to another, we get mentally and physically fatigued.  Then we don’t do things with excellence which means we overlook details or do something the wrong way.  It is important that each day we have some downtime.  It is vital that each week we have a day of rest.  We were created this way by God.  So when you begin to wrestle with doubt or discouragement or even the blues, it is a good time to ask yourself, am I mentally fatigued or physically tired?  Do I need a little extra prayer time and physical rest?  Not always, but many times mental attacks can be dealt with by praying to get God’s perspective on the situation, as well as some additional rest to let your body and mind rest.  Finally, worship God through it all.  I realize when you are under spiritual attack it is more difficult to worship, to be joyful, and thankful.  But these are the times we need to do it the most.  In the story of Job, he lost his possessions, health, and children in a very short time frame.  Dare I say that would have broken most of us?  Many people would have been like Job’s wife and said, “Curse God and die.”  We would have asked, what did we do to deserve all of this.  We would rationalize it by saying, “I am not perfect, but at least I’m not like ________ and do what they do.”  Some may have even walked away from trusting God.  Yet we see Job do something different.  “Then Job arose, and rent (ripped) his mantle (outer shirt), and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshiped, and said, ‘Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.'”  The only way Job could do that is to have a godly perspective, which only comes from spending time with God.  A contemporary Christian group, Casting Crowns, has a song called “Praise You In This Storm.”  The chorus says, “And I’ll praise You in this storm And I will lift my hands For You are who You are No matter where I am And every tear I’ve cried You hold in Your hand You never left my side And though my heart is torn I will praise You in this storm.”

I know going through spiritual attacks isn’t easy, and it takes a lot of you.  But just know God never wastes an opportunity in our life.  He has a plan for us.  Sometimes it is a plan we don’t understand.  But it is always the right path for us to get us to Him, or draw us closer to Him.  Rest in Christ (trust Him) and get physical rest as well (it is a gift from God), and know He will guide you through this as well.

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him

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Aug 27

Enough arguing already. . .just pray

Posted on August 27, 2014 by admin

About an hour ago a new president of the International Mission Board was elected.  Dr. David Platt, senior pastor of The Church At Brook Hills, was elected by the IMB trustees in Richmond, VA.  Leading up to the election today social media and the blogosphere blew up with opinions of Dr. David Platt.  Why does the President of the IMB matter so much to Southern Baptist?  The presidency matters because this person presides over the largest missionary arm in the world.  The Southern Baptist Convention churches directly support the International Mission Board, its missionaries, and its president through the Cooperative Program.  The Cooperative Program is what SBC churches give to in order that the Gospel may spread around the world.  It was begun and continues today because of Southern Baptist’s belief that we can do more together than we can do separately.  I have heard the reasons for opposition to Dr. Platt being the IMB President.  I know his theological leanings.  I have seen the reports that the church he pastored did not directly support the Cooperative Program that will now directly support him and his work.  I am aware of these things and I want to say that this doesn’t matter now.  We as Southern Baptists entrusted the trustees of the IMB to prayerfully seek God’s man to lead us into fulfilling the Great Commission around the world.  And the trustees have done just that.  Now it is time to pray, support Dr. Platt and his family, the IMB, and for the sake of the lost who need the Gospel we must move on!

I do realize that not everyone is continuing their opposition.  In fact there is a great article by Dr. Paige Patterson, President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, that is calling on all Southern Baptist to pray for Dr. Platt and trust God’s leading.  There may be some cause for concern with the new president of the IMB, but if you read Dr. Platt’s books (Radical and Follow Me) or listen to his sermons there is one thing that is undeniable.  David Platt loves the Lord and has a heart for the lost.  Isn’t that who you want leading the world’s largest missionary organization?  Don’t you want the guy who doesn’t just tell you that we should care about the lost and go to the far reaches of the globe to share the Gospel with people, but who himself goes?  There has been for several years now brewing a showdown in the Southern Baptist Convention over theological beliefs.  I am here to tell you that if we allow this to add to this tension and boil over the following will happen.  First, satan will be happy.  Satan wants God’s children to walk in bitterness, unforgiveness, and division.  If we are focused on fighting each other, then we are not contending for the Gospel.  Secondly, the cause of Christ will be harmed because the watching world will see Christians who again love to fight more than they love each other.  Finally, and the saddest part is many people will die without hearing the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16), and their blood will be on our hands.  I understand the theological arguments.  I get that both sides are passionate, and are convinced they are right.  I am not downplaying any of this.  But at some point we have to ask ourselves, is us being right worth defaming the name of Christ and watching more and more people die and go to hell?  The bottom line is Jesus Christ did live, He did die on the cross, and He is the only hope for all who are alive.  There is no other way to heaven except by faith in Christ’s sacrifice.  That is our message.

So where do we go from here?  I would like to believe that as Southern Baptist we will rally around Dr. Platt, his family, and the IMB.   We will trust that the sovereign God led the trustees to select His man.  That we will daily pray for Dr. Platt and all those in authority over us both religious and secular because this is the will of God (Rom. 13:1-2).  And that we will all be about our father’s business-sharing the Gospel with those we meet until all in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth hear the Good News of the Gospel, believe it for the glory of God and the salvation of their souls.

By His grace and through His faith may we live for Him

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Aug 21

1 Corinthians 16

Posted on August 21, 2014 by admin

It is hard to believe that this is the last blog for the 1 Corinthians series.  Lord willing in two weeks from the time of this writing I will be preaching on 1 Corinthians 16:1-4.  However, there are a couple of important sections towards the end of this chapter.

The first section is covered in verses 13 and 14, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity.”  Paul says “be watchful” in the opening of verse 13.  He was alerting the Corinthian believers to ever present dangers. Peter would say in 1 Peter. 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”  We as Christians should always be on alert because spiritual warfare is continuously occurring.  Paul then says “stand fast in the faith.”  This phrase seems to carry a meaning of a soldier standing guard.  We are to hold our positions at all costs.  That is something Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”  Paul talked about the armor of God in Ephesians 6.  It would have conjured up images for the Ephesian Christians of the Roman soldiers armor.  Their armor was designed to protect their front.  As long as they held their position or were advancing forward, they were protected.  However, if they turned and retreated they opened themselves up to deadly attacks.  The same is certainly true for Christians.  We are to hold our convictions to the Word and the mission and constantly be pressing forward.  When we take our eyes off of our calling and mission, in a sense we are retreating and opening ourselves up to attacks from satan.  The next phrase in verse 13 in the King James says “quit you like men.”  Literally translated the phrase means to act like men.  Literally Paul is telling the Corinthians to not be timid or fearful.  He is saying don’t be a coward.  He is not telling us to be mean or hateful, rather he is again just continuing to call the Corinthians and us to press forward with our message to fulfill the mission.  Paul knew that attacks were going to happen, and so he is trying to encourage them to keep moving in spite of them.  I heard a professor say one time, “Christianity is not for the faint of heart or the timid.”  He was right.  We must stand our ground because we are standing on the truth as long as we are standing on the Word of God.  The last phrase is “be strong.”  It is similar to what Paul said in Ephesians 6:10, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”  In all things we must trust and depend on God knowing He will sustain us to the very end.  A great verse to remind us of this is Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”  Paul then says in verse 14, “Let all your things be done with charity.”  Paul talked about love (charity) in chapter 13, and that without it everything we do is really useless.  Therefore, before we do something we really need to ask ourselves, how is this going to show God I love Him or show my love for others?  1 Peter 4:8 tells us, “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”  Many times people are willing to forgive you more easily if they know that you love them.  And so that is the charge for all Christians, to do everything based on love for God and love for others, which is what Jesus commanded us to do in Matthew 22:37-39.

The second section is found in verses 19-22.  It is the names that Paul lists.  At the end of every book Paul wrote he rattled off some names.  It is a great reminder that we as Christians cannot do this alone.  We need each other.  Paul said in Romans 12:15, “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.”  Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”  We could list more and more verses on this subject, but we will stop here. God gave Christians the church not only for the work of ministry, but also to serve as an encouragement to each other.  Why do we need encouragement?  See the previous point of this post.  The Christian life is difficult.  Pastors need to be CEO’s of the church God has called them to.  In this case CEO stands for Chief Encouragement Officer. Yes pastors are to spend hours studying and praying.  We should spend time sharing the Gospel and inviting people to church.  But we should also spend time encouraging those who are already here.  So many times churches work so hard to get people into the church, but once they come in they become forgotten or a means to an end.  No one wants to feel like a project or a number.  Everyone needs to be encouraged, especially when they make a mistake.  The church should be a place for the walking wounded come in, hear about the God who loved them enough to die for them, offers them a gift of salvation, understands their pain, and is with them everywhere they go as a Christian. Churches need to preach the Word, exhort their members to live a life of holiness and obedience, and encourage one another.  Then we might be a people like the disciples in the book of Acts and have it be said about us, “these that have turned the world upside down.”

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him

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Aug 14

Why I Love Wednesday Nights At Westlake

Posted on August 14, 2014 by admin

I want to write to you today to encourage you to join us on Wednesday nights if you are able.  I know we all have a terribly busy schedule, and it seems as though we can’t add one more thing into it.  But I truly believe if you were a part of the mid-week prayer time and Bible study (at Westlake or your home church) you would be blessed.

Let me start off by telling you how we do Wednesday nights here at Westlake.  It is first and foremost a worship service, but not a Sunday morning-style worship service.  When we come together it should be to proclaim that Jesus is worthy of our love and affection.  We have a song or maybe two.  They are generally songs that we are going to do on Sunday morning that people may or may not be too familiar with.  After we have a time of worship through song, we have a time of prayer.  The most important thing a Christian or a church can do is invest themselves in prayer.  Prayer is getting ourselves onto God’s agenda.  It is asking God, what do you want to do in me and through me?  It is acknowledging that we can’t solve all of our problems, but God can.  It is thanking Him for who He is, what He has done, and what He is doing in our life, in our church, in our community, and in the world.  Our prayer time varies from Wednesday to Wednesday.  Sometimes there is one person who is asked to pray.  Other times we break up into groups of three or four and pray.  Then there are times in which I open it up to anyone who desires to pray can.  We pray for the salvation of those who don’t have a relationship with Christ.  We pray for missionaries, church plants, and church planters.  We pray for our military, first responders, and all of our elected officials.  And yes we pray over physical concerns of those in our church and in our community.  After we have poured our heart out to God, and hopefully also let God pour Himself into us we go into a time of Bible study.  I know a lot of people find Sunday mornings to sometimes be difficult.  You stand up and sit down a few times, and then you listen to a preacher preach for 30-45 minutes (some more, some less).  Sermons on Sundays are generally passive in nature, and for those who have attention problems or are easily distracted, that can be tough.  But this isn’t the case on Wednesday nights at Westlake.  I come down off the platform, and trade the pulpit for a podium.  Instead of a passive approach of preaching, I try to teach through a particular passage, verse by verse, and I ask questions.  I want an active audience who is engaged with the text we are going through.  Sometimes, I will ask a question at the beginning of the study and let people talk about it out loud before we get into the actual study. One example of that was last week when we were studying the 70 weeks prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27.  I asked the question, what is the relationship between this passage and the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict?  During Wednesday nights at Westlake, I encourage people to stop me during the teaching time and ask questions or for clarification of a point.  Then we close the night in prayer thanking God for teaching us His Word.  As much as I love Sunday mornings, I really love Wednesday nights as well, because it allows people to not just hear the Word, but to interact with it, to ask questions about it, and to really learn the Bible.  So that is how we do it, but now I want to finish this article off by answering the question, why should you be a part of it?

I think the first reason you should be a part of Wednesday night services (or whatever Bible study your church has) is to have an additional regular time in the Bible.  Let’s be honest, the vast majority of Christians only open their Bible on Sunday mornings.  A service on Wednesday night gives us another scheduled time to learn.  Secondly, I believe you need to be a part of a Wednesday night study for fellowship with other believers.  Let’s face it, the world is a tough place especially if you are a Christian.  After spending a few days getting beat up by the world, it is nice to come to a place where there are like-minded people who care about you and love you.  Although there are other reasons, I will give one more, and that is to dig deeper into the Bible, to ask questions, and get answers.  One reason I love Bible studies (whether it is Sunday school, small group studies, or Wednesday night studies) is because it takes us from being passive hearers, to active participants.  I wouldn’t mind personally, but most of the time Sunday morning worship services are not the place where you raise your hand to ask the pastor a question.  But Bible studies are a place where you can do that.  I want to encourage you one more time, if you are not actively in a Wednesday night service (Sunday school or small group study) to try it out.  I believe you will be glad that you did.

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him

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Aug 13

1 Corinthians 15

Posted on August 13, 2014 by admin

One of the most hotly contested issues in all of Christianity is also the most important issue in Christianity and that is the resurrection.  The world agrees the Jesus was a man, they agree that He did a lot of good things, and they even agree that Jesus died.  However, two points of contention about Christ is that He is God (I will deal with that in another post) and the other point of contention in on His resurrection.  This will come as no surprise, but I am convinced of the resurrection on three grounds.  First, there is the empty tomb.  If you lay a body in a tomb, it stands to reason that if you went back to it that the body would still be there.  However, that is not the case.  Secondly, I believe in the resurrection because of the eye witness testimony of over 500 people.  Over the course of His final 40 days on earth after the resurrection, Jesus was seen by many people.  Finally, I believe in the resurrection because of the change in the apostles as well as the change in my life.  I realize that many people are going to want to dispute the first two proofs, and I welcome a good discussion on them.  However, the one that no one can dispute is the change that occurs in a true disciple’s life.  From coward to courageous, from puny to powerful, from a denier to a declarer of who Jesus is.  People for centuries have set out to disprove who Jesus is, and in many cases they end up proving the exact opposite and giving their life over to Christ.  In the rest of this post, I want us to consider the ramifications for all of humanity if the resurrection didn’t happen.

**Disclaimer-the following is a transcript of an Easter sermon I preached at Westlake in 2009**

Three Truths If The Resurrection Never Happened:

–If the resurrection didn’t happen faith would be vain (v. 16).  If Jesus Christ isn’t who He says He is and didn’t do what He said He did then our faith is completely meaningless.  There are those who try to deny the resurrection.  However you can look at the biblical account given in the gospels as well as here in 1 Corinthians 15 to see that many people saw Jesus after His crucifixion.  Even science can not come up with an explanation that makes sense to explain the empty tomb.  Therefore there is no doubt of the resurrection.  That is why it says in Psalm 14:1, “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.  They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.”  Many people say, “I can’t understand or don’t understand faith.”  I don’t understand electricity but I don’t sit in the dark.  Hebrews 11:1, 2 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  For by it the elders obtained a good report.”  Simply stated, faith is believing in what you can’t see.  You can’t and most of us don’t understand everything that happens in a car’s engine when you turn the key, yet everyday we get in, put the key in the ignition turn it and expect it to start.  Therefore it is not that you can’t have faith it is you choose not to have faith in Jesus Christ.  Many people ask, “how can a loving God send someone to hell?”  It is not God’s desire for people to go to hell.  Jesus said in Matthew 18:11, “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.”  Peter writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”  Paul even writes in 1 Corinthians 15:22, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”  The Bible couldn’t be any clearer as to what God wants for every person, He wants them to place their faith in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord and have all of eternity in heaven.  If that is what God’s desire is then why doesn’t it happen?  The reason not everyone is going to heaven is because they do not choose Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord.  And please hear this, there is only one way to heaven and that is by faith in Jesus Christ as it says in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”  Those people who are telling you that everyone is going to heaven or there are other ways into heaven are lying to you!  Jesus who is God said the only way to God and heaven is through Him!

–If there was no resurrection our sin would remain (v. 17).  Many people ask the question, “If Jesus is God then why did He come to earth just to be hung on a cross?”  Let me answer the first part of the question, Jesus is absolutely God because the Bible says He is.  One of the apostle John’s favorite titles for Jesus was “the Word.”  And now look with me at John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  You’ve heard people say, “the Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it.”  That statement is a lie from the pit of hell and it smells like smoke.  The truth is “the Bible says it, that settles it,” it doesn’t matter if you choose to believe it or not!  Now the second part of the question about why did He come to the earth?  We must first understand that God is holy as He says in 1 Peter 1:16, “because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy.”  And as a holy God He can not look upon sin without judging it and He can not and will not allow sin into heaven.  As we have talked about earlier, God’s desire is that all men come to repentance which means they will be in heaven with Him when they die.  However there is a problem, man ever since Adam in the Garden of Eden is sinful as it says in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  Since God doesn’t allow sin into heaven and man is sinful, God had to make a way that the price would be paid for all the sin of all mankind so that those who place their faith in Jesus can go to heaven.  And the only way that price could be paid is by a perfect sacrifice.  Therefore God sent His Son to be born of a virgin.  Mary had to be a virgin because if she wasn’t then Jesus would have the same sin nature that you and I have and He wouldn’t be perfect.  Since Jesus was born of a virgin and lived a sinless life, He was the perfect sacrifice for all man’s sins.  The Bible tells us in Luke 23 that there was a darkness that came upon the earth three hours into Jesus’ crucifixion.  This is the time in which God the Father poured out the sins of the world upon His Son, Jesus became sin for us and shed His blood for what we have done, are doing, and will do.  When Jesus shed His blood, the sacrifice was made and the price was paid.  Because of that sacrifice all who place their faith in Jesus are not seen as the sinners they are by God, but rather God sees them as justified or just-as-if-I-never-sinned, making it possible for us to go to heaven.  And if that didn’t happen then we can never be forgiven for all the wrong things we do and therefore we would have no chance of going to heaven because we are never good enough to get into heaven.

– If there was no resurrection this life would be all there is (v. 18).  One thing that most people in the world want is a better life.  This life is full of sadness, pain, and suffering.  We all long for something better than this.  Because of Jesus’ death that is made possible.  Jesus said that He was going to prepare a place for those who place their faith in Him in John 14.  The place being prepared for us is in heaven where God lives.  There is a small description of heaven given in Revelation 21:4, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”  Everything that sums up life on earth will not be present in heaven.  But if the resurrection didn’t happen then this is all we have.  If the resurrection didn’t happen we should as it says in 1 Corinthians 15:32, “…if the dead rise not?  Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.”  But we know that Jesus did rise from the dead because the Bible tells us, there is the evidence of the empty tomb, but most of all there has been a change in the heart of every person who has ever placed their faith in Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord. **End of the Sermon

We praise God that He loved us enough to send His Son, Jesus, into this world to take our place and to take our punishment.  Where there was no way, Jesus has provided a way!  If you have never accepted Christ as your Savior, I want you to know two things.  First, you are on a path to destruction and eternal torment.  Secondly, you don’t have to go there, you can have heaven as your home.  The Bible says we must believe in our heart and confess with our mouth that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, that He was buried, and on the third day rose again (1 Cor. 15:3-4).  Acknowledge to God that you are a sinner and believe this and the Bible promises you will be saved.  I encourage you if you need to accept Jesus to stop reading right now, and make this decision.

If you have made a decision to accept Christ, would you do me the favor of letting me know.  I want to help you take the next steps in your new found faith.  If you have more questions about what it means to accept and follow Christ, I want to encourage you to contact me either by phone at 540-721-8784 or by e-mail: westlakebc@gmail.com

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him

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Aug 13

Political Correctness

Posted on August 13, 2014 by admin

For many years in America there has been a trend of saying nothing while talking a lot.  It is the age of tolerance, which means everything that we say must be tempered so as not to be construed as offensive by anyone.  And try as you may, it appears that regardless of what you say or don’t say, someone is going to get offended.  I think it is worth pointing out that we should temper our words, and we should think before we speak.  After all in Proverbs 10 we learn, “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.”  Where there are may words, sin abounds.  That is a powerful statement.  There is also James 1:19, “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.”  This verse reminds us that God gave us two ears and one mouth.  Therefore, we should do twice as much listening as we do talking.  And so in some regards being careful with what we say is a good thing.  However, there is a dark side to this as well.

The dark side of this is that people are afraid to speak the truth.  The Bible does instruct us in Ephesians 4:15 to “speak the truth in love.”  But notice it says, speak the truth.  I have been reading through the book of Mark for the last few days, and came across something interesting.  This whole idea of political correctness isn’t new to our generation.  It existed back in Jesus’ day as well (further proof of what Solomon said in the book of Ecclesiastes-there’s nothing new under the sun).  The Pharisees are demanding a sign from Jesus (something a lot of people today do as well).  They are asking Him, “on who’s authority do you teach and do these things that you are doing?”  So Jesus engages them and says, “I will answer you, if you answer me.”  Jesus then asks them the question, “The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?”  This through the chief priest and scribes for a loop.  We see their conversation recorded.  They didn’t want to say that John’s baptism is from God, because Jesus would ask them why they didn’t believe what John taught about Jesus.  But they didn’t want to say that John’s baptism was from man, because the people in Israel (minus the religious leaders) loved John.  And so their great compromise was to say, “we cannot tell.”  And so it was that they said nothing while talking.

This age of political correctness and tolerance has done nothing but keep people complacent in their lostness.  Pastors are afraid to speak the truth for fear of being labeled judgmental or for the fear of running people off from the church.  Before I go any further, let me say that this is not society’s fault, this is the pastor’s fault. We must stand up and speak the truth, and if we won’t we cannot blame anyone but ourselves.  As long as this pattern continues people will get scratch and sniff style sermons that make them feel good, all the while never really confronting the truth for every human.  That truth is that we are sinful, that we do deserve God’s wrath, and without accepting Jesus’ gift of salvation we are eternally lost.  I am not lobbying for pastors to be obnoxious jerks when preaching. But I am calling all of us, myself included, to stand up and speak the truth.  Jesus said in John 8:32, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  A great verse to remember is Ephesians 6:6, “Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.”  May we all do the will of God from our heart.

 

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him

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Aug 03

1 Corinthians Chapters 12-14

Posted on August 3, 2014 by admin

This is going to be a lengthy entry as I am going to attempt to deal with three chapters in one post.  I am going to do this, because all three chapters are dealing with the same issue.  That issue is spiritual gifts.  This is an issue that creates division between denominations fairly often.

The first issue that comes up when we talk about spiritual gifts is this question, are all the gifts still to be used in church today?  Theologically it is a question, are you a cessationist or a non-cessationist?  There are 18 spiritual gifts that are talked about in four passages (Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4).  There are 11 gifts that are referred to many times as administrative gifts (pastor, teacher, evangelist, administration, giver, wisdom, discernment of spirits, exhortation, ministering, faith, and mercy shower).  Then there are seven gifts often referred to as sign gifts (prophecy, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, healing, miracles, apostleship, and knowledge).  The question is are the sign gifts still in use today.  It is not my intent to give a lengthy argument concerning this for time and space reasons.  My conviction on the matter is this, God can do whatever, whenever He desires.  Therefore, if God chose to reveal Himself in one of those seven ways then He certainly can.  However, it is my conviction that because we have the finished revelation of God known as the Bible, that He does not reveal Himself in those ways on a regular basis.  Again, I realize that this can be an issue that causes division and that is not my intent here, it is simply my conviction.  There are two reasons I personally feel this way.  First, again we have the completed revelation of God in the form of the Bible.  Many times these gifts were used to authenticate the messenger delivering the message.  Now, we can open up the Bible and see if what someone is teaching or preaching lines up with the whole counsel of God or not.  Secondly, in 1 Corinthians 13 Paul says that certain things will pass away.  In that passage he specifically mentions prophecy, tongues, and knowledge.  Those are three specific sign gifts.  But again, I will never limit what God can do.  He can do what He desires, when He desires, and how He desires.  That is what it means to be all-powerful.  The last thing I will say concerning this issue is that with all spiritual gifts, there are certain, written absolute rules for how the gifts should be used.  Any violation of these written rules is clearly a sin and a violation of the Word of God.

Chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians generally speaking gives us the purpose of spiritual gifts.  In the chapter Paul reminds us that though there are a diversity of gifts, there is only one God who gives them in verses 1-11.  Then in verses 12 -31, Paul begins to talk about how the gifts are to be used. If you would like to know more about it, I encourage you to watch the sermon from August 10th, 2014 as we will study two reasons for God giving us spiritual gifts.

Chapter 13 is often called the “love chapter.”  It is quoted at weddings fairly often, especially verses four through eight.  The main thrust of the chapter is how we are to use our spiritual gifts.  I will give you a hint (but not all of it as I plan on preaching on it soon), the key word is love.

Chapter 14 deals with the proper use of one specific gift, speaking in tongues.  The gift of speaking in tongues is one of the sign gifts mentioned earlier.  It causes the most debate out of all of the gifts.  With regards to it as a spiritual gift, we again must realize that God gave us specific rules to follow in using the gift.  Therefore, anytime those rules are violated it is sinful (I encourage you to read ch. 14 to learn the prohibitions mentioned).  The interesting thing to note in chapter 14 is Paul is urging the Corinthian believers to use what they have to build up the church, rather than themselves as individuals.  We see that specifically in verses 3-5.  1 Corinthians 10:31 reminds us, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”  If what we are doing isn’t about glorifying God, then it doesn’t matter we are wrong for doing it.

The interesting thing to see about these chapters is how they flow seamlessly.  In chapter 12 Paul is dealing with the misusing of spiritual gifts by the Corinthian church.  The last phrase in chapter 12 is this, “yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.”  Paul says, “this is what you have been doing, but I want to show you a better way.”  He then launches into how we are to use our gifts in love for the good of others.    The breakdown of the chapters would flow something like this.  It would start in chapter 12:-13:3 talking about using our spiritual gifts.  Then Paul would describe what true love looks like in 13:4-13.  But notice, Paul in chapter 14:1 picks up right where he left off in 13:3.  Paul stops his entire train of thought to explain what true love looks like and behaves like, especially within the context of the church.  What can we learn from that?  We can learn this, as important as using our spiritual gifts to the glory of God and the building up of God’s kingdom is, if we are not motivated by love for God and others then we are really using our God-given spiritual gift to glorify ourselves.  Obviously that is never a good thing.

Regardless of where you fall on the belief of do all gifts apply to today or not, my greatest prayer for the church as a whole is this, that we would love God, love our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we would work together to reach the lost.  The world hears the church saying the word love, but it seldom sees us love each other.  My fear is that is one of the greatest reasons people aren’t flocking to churches in America.  They have seen right through us.  The fact that we say one thing, yet we live something entirely different.  I love a deep theological discussion as much as the next person, but for the sake of the glory of God and the building up of His kingdom, can we keep the main thing, the main thing?  That is there is only one way into heaven, trusting what Jesus did on the cross as our only hope of forgiveness of sins and our only hope for salvation.  How sad of a commentary it would be for us to stand before God, to see the number of theological arguments we got into and fought over, while missing the countless numbers of people dying without Christ and spending eternity in hell.  Let’s not focus on winning an insignificant battle while losing the most important war.  People need the Gospel, only the Gospel can save.  If we are going to fight, let’s fight for who is going to spread the Gospel the furthest and the fastest.  That way we and many more may win as they trust Christ as Lord and Savior and have heaven as their eternal home.

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him

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Aug 03

1 Corinthians 11:1-16

Posted on August 3, 2014 by admin

There are a lot of hot button topics within Christianity, but one that seems to really get people going is on the topic of role of women within the church.  One of the reasons that this particular section of Scripture becomes so difficult to interpret is we must determine is Paul giving instructions to be followed by all churches in all cultures, or is this specific to the church and culture of his day.  Depending on which commentator you read or which pastor preaches this particular section of Scripture will determine which way they lean.  For my own personal standpoint, I believe when it comes to a head covering in public and specifically in church, Paul was dealing with a particular church in a particular culture.  However, there is a larger issue in these verses that I believe needs to be talked about and that is the idea of submission.  Again, this is a hot button issue but I don’t believe it needs to be.  If we allow the Word of God to speak for itself and interpret itself, then it is pretty straightforward for us.

There are a series of questions to ask of this text.  First, who is to submit?  If we look at verse three we can see both men and women are mentioned.  If we go into another Pauline epistle, the book of Ephesians we see something similar in verse 21, “submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.”  We can see from both of these verses that both men and women are to be submissive.  First, they are to be submissive to God.  Then they are to be submissive to each other.  Sadly enough too often the idea of submission is just laid at the feet of women and it is in a demeaning way.  However, the command is first given to men to be submissive to God.  We as men are to set the tone for our marriage and for our family.  For a man, as I submit myself to God then it is becomes apparent that I should sacrifice my wants and needs to fulfill my wife’s.  As I put my wife first and she sees that I lovingly and sacrificially (Eph. 5:25) do that, many times she is not going to have a problem following my leadership.  Secondly, what does it mean to submit?  To submit means to willfully and voluntarily place ourselves under the authority of someone else.  Remembering that we are to submit to one another, this means that we are choosing to give control of ourselves first to God, and then to our spouse.  Finally, why does God give men the role of leadership?  This answer goes back to creation in which God created Adam first and then Eve.  We must be careful to understand that this doesn’t mean that women are inferior to men.  That is not what the Bible teaches, nor is the Bible sexist.  If we continue in the creation account we see that God specifically gave Adam the instructions concerning the Garden of Eden.  With this responsibility also comes accountability.  If we are to look in the New Testament we see that even though it was Eve who was deceived by satan, God personally held Adam responsible.

The truth about submission is that it is not meant to demean or show that one sex is superior to the other.  We are all called to submit ourselves to God and then to each other.  The clearest way to understand biblical roles of men and women is to say it this way; we are created in the image of God which makes us equal, yet we have separate, distinct roles.  I realize that there are many out there who do not like this.  However, I would say to them that after everything God created He said, “and it was good.”  God set everything in its place, created it just the right way.  Therefore, we need to realize that God’s way is the right way even if we don’t understand it or agree with it.  When we violate God’s order, we are inviting trouble into our life.  It is easier for us to submit ourselves to the fact that what God has done is what is best and what is right.

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him

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Jul 30

Friend or Foe?

Posted on July 30, 2014 by admin

In the 21st century we are more connected than we have ever been.  Technology is simply amazing.  During a recent sermon I asked how many people remembered party lines (a good deal of the congregation did).  Then I asked how many people have a smart phone, and virtually every ones hand went up.  We have come a long way in a very short amount of time.  We all know that technology is billed as something that is supposed to make our lives easier and better.  Now I will admit, I am a very well “connected” person technologically.  Personally, I have a laptop, cell phone, tablet, Facebook, and Twitter.  I made the remark a short time ago, there is no where I can go that people cannot get me, and that I cannot respond back to them.  But I have to ask, is this necessarily a good thing?  Well the answer to that is yes and no.

Technology is great because through cell phones we don’t need to fear a vehicle breakdown, or kids getting left at school, or other things that used to be a huge inconvenience.  We can call and check on people and make sure they are ok.  We can get directions in case we are lost on our cell phones, find other places we may want to go that we didn’t know were close by.  Facebook allows us to reconnect with people from our past.  Technology has also been hugely beneficial to the church and its mission.  The Westlake Baptist blog goes around the world and people that we as a church would never meet this side of heaven are able to be engaged with what we are doing as a church.  We can use our smart phones or tablets to share the Gospel (have done it recently and it is sweet).  There is no doubt that technology has been beneficial to individuals, churches, and businesses.  But is there a dark side to it?

As I have already answered for myself, I believe there is a dark side to technology.  While in some ways it has helped build community, it is also done a lot to destroy community and communication.  People don’t regularly sit down and talk to one another as often as they used to.  Here is a sad confession, I have actually Facebook chatted with my wife while I was in my home office and she was in the kitchen (don’t judge, you have done it to).  Replacing face-to-face conversations are instant message chats, Skype, Facetime, text messages, and e-mails.  Again, I will not deny that these things in their appropriate places are a tremendous benefit.  However, slowly they are becoming more the norm than the exception.  Studies are showing that although we are more technologically connected as a world than ever before, people are lonelier now than at any other time in human history.  That is because we were designed for meaningful relationships that technology simply can’t give us.  In some ways, technology has become one of the largest idols in America today.  The ramifications of our technology age are staggering.  Many school aged children are unable to appropriately spell, the art of writing a well-thought out research paper are harder for the current generation, the art of meaningful debate is diminished.  The truth of the matter is, for all technology has done to help us, it is also hurting us.  Even human relations has taken a hit due to technology.  It used to be if you had a problem with someone, you would have a discussion face-to-face with them and work things out.  Now, you go and put a passive-aggressive rant on Facebook, and get into a war of words without properly resolving the issue.  Because we are created for meaningful relationships, and people are lonely, it leads them to put their whole life story on Facebook for all the world to see.  Frankly, there are things about people that I simply don’t need to know, as there is information about me that you don’t need to know.  But people are looking for love, acceptance, and human interaction and so they post it.  We are truly seeing people live the phrase “there is no such thing as bad press” on Facebook and other social media sites.  So now that I sound like a technology hating gremlin, let’s ask the question, so what is the answer?

First, we need to realize that we were created for a relationship first and foremost with our Creator, God.  I saw a church sign on time (albeit very cheesy) that said, “prayer-the original wireless connection.”  Genesis 1 tells us that we are created in the image of God. He has the blue print to who we are, who we should become.  And so we need to start with that relationship first.  If you don’t have that relationship, I hope you will reach out to me so that I can tell you how to begin that incredible relationship.  Secondly, we need to take back control of technological lives.  We should control technology, but in many cases it is controlling us.  As a family, you should come up with a contract detailing cell phone, tv, video game, tablet, etc. use in the house.  One thing that we do in our home is that we don’t have our cell phones out or answer them during dinner together.  There are countless numbers of things you can do.  The key is to talk to one another.  Diana always asks the kids, “what was the best part of your day” to our children.  It is fun listening to their answers.  Guys, the key to intimacy with your wife, is tuning your technology out, and spending time with your wife. The bottom line is, set limits on your use of technology.  Finally, value human relationships.  Don’t settle a dispute or disagreement publicly (see a previous post entitled-Don’t Press Send or Post).  If the problem is big enough to bother you, then be big enough to go to the person and work it out.  I can’t tell you how many times someone has sent an e-mail to someone else, and it creates a problem or hurt feelings.  Body language and tone are lost in social media, e-mail, and text messages.  Always assume that if something could be taken offensively or hurtfully, it probably will and so ere on the side of caution and go directly to the person.  Only relationships with God and people can give you what you were created for.  A piece of technology can never love you the way God does.  So yes, use technology and enjoy it, but limit it.  Believe it or not, by doing this your life will become a little less stressful (you won’t have to defend what you said in a text or posted on Facebook as often), and less stress is something we can all enjoy!

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him

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