Yesterday I wrote a little bit of why I am a “Passionate Conservative.”  I could have gone on, but I don’t have hours to write and you don’t have hours to read.  Bottom line is I believe that Conservative Principles when applied in a Representative Republic give individuals the best chance to be the best they can be.  As individuals prosper, the entire society is lifted up.  Indeed the results have been dramatic for the entire planet!

This morning I want to talk a little bit about why I am passionately Christian.  Bottom line is Jesus gave up Heaven so God could have a friendship with me and you!  In other words, God died so that when you die you don’t have to really die!  You can live with Him forever!

The only requirement to qualify for Heaven?  Believe in your heart that Christ died in your place and paid for your sins and on the third day rose from the dead.  Believe that in your heart and confess it with your mouth.  That’s it!  Romans 10:9 & 10.  You then exchange your earthly sin for His absolute righteousness.

Now as simple as that sounds, we all resist.  Well, most of us.  I do know a couple of wonderful people who have been Christians as long as they remember, but for most of us we decided that “having fun” in our youth was more important then being called “Jesus Freaks.”  Of course the fun lead to heartache and sometimes disease.  While we might be “good people” we are all pretty selfish by nature.  Of course God was still drawing us to Him and eventually we responded and accepted His wonderful gift of salvation.  If you haven’t and are alive enough to read this then there is still time.

For me it started in Sunday School at the First Conservative Baptist Church of Canby.  I was maybe 8 or 9 and our Sunday School Teacher was showing me in the Bible that God talked about springs in the bottom of the ocean.  Springs that scientists were just barely discovering thousands of years later.  That was enough for me to accept Jesus into my heart.  I still remember the joy I felt as I prayed and in my minds eye I saw light bursting from my heart!  It was pretty cool.

But.  I eventually stopped going to church and eventually started living more and more for my own desires.  That included increasing drug and alcohol use as a teenager and young adult.  I even shared a drug needle to inject some cocaine into my arm.  I only tried it 2 or 3 times in a one week period when I was about 20 years old, but I ended up paying a high price for the temporary rush the cocaine gave me.

I found out much later that I had Hepatitis C.  The worse kind too.  It was also about that time that God drew me back to him.  I started going to church, got baptized and started reading my Bible.  During worship at church I would cry out to God and also actually cry as He was healing my heart.  The folks around me at church probably thought I was a troubled man, but I didn’t care.  God was working while I was in His presence.

It was during one of those times that I heard God say in my heart about my Hepatitis C, “I’m going to take this from you.”  It was a word I clung to during the difficult one year of combination drug therapy.  I lost a lot of weight and some hair.  Food lost it’s flavor and I had suicidal thoughts.  All side effects of the drugs, but I hung on because I had God’s promise!

Sure enough, after a year of treatments I was Hepatitis C free!  And still am today.  That was 10 years ago.  Since then I have left my TV career and have served in a few ministries.  Mission Odessa, Family Life Radio and Teen Challenge of Arizona along with some churches along the way.  I don’t know if I will stay working in ministries as a job the rest of my life, but I do plan on ministering the rest of my life!  God has shown me a lot in His Word and through experiences with Him that I have to share.  It’s too important.  I don’t always live as I should and God doesn’t just give me what I want, but I know that He is always with me and He always gets me through.

If you want more evidence that God is who He says He is, check out this blog entry from a couple of years ago.  Stars really do sing, just like God said they do thousands of years ago!

If you don’t know Jesus and you are still alive, it’s not too late.  To say that it is awesome to know the God who created the Universe as a personal friend and Father is an understatement!

Christian Recording Artist and Lead Pastor of The Exchange, Joel Engle, wrote this on his Facebook wall this evening:

Christian, don’t fall into despair over your sinful failings! Christ has freed you from wrath, has made you holy and will give you victory!

That gets me excited! It is the Gospel message. Jesus took your punishment and God isn’t mad at you anymore. Truly this is the heart of Christianity that should be the heart of every sermon. So often we let the enemy, or the world, or ourselves, lie to us about who we are in Christ and the miraculous transformation He has done in our heart and is doing in our lives. When you receive Christ He gives you His Holiness! You are justified (just as if I’d never sinned) and God removes your sin from you as far as the east is from the west! It is a miracle and it is good news.

When we consider the story of the Prodigal Son, who spent his share of the inheritance with “loose living” and was still welcomed home by his father when he returned home then we get a glimpse of the heart of our Heavenly Father. He never looses His love for you no matter what you choose to do. Yes, sin has consequences and can lead you to an early grave and an unhappy life, but remember you can always run to a loving God who loves you more than you can ever imagine. Always.

God poured His wrath out on His Son Jesus so He will never pour it out on you. Remember that when you sin (and you do) that God isn’t angry with you. He loves you with an eternal love. Run to Him and receive your forgiveness, don’t run away in fear and go deeper into destruction.

Are sermons about the dangers of sin important? Of course they are and all scripture is God-breathed and is good for instruction and even correction. But looking at your sin is not going to bring about change in your life. It’s when you look at the Cross and what God did for you that you realize you can trust the King of the Universe to bring you safely to your destination. And you can trust Him with your problems and your secrets. He already knows and He couldn’t love you any less.

Always remember and never forget that at the core of any and all Christian messages is (should be) the complete forgiveness that you receive when you receive Christ. Joel calls it The Exchange.  It’s the best deal ever offered in the history of the universe.  You Exchanged your mess for His Glorious Kingdom! When you do that you become His kid and a part of the family! Now start acting like it :-)

The Old Testament Saints were looking forward to the cross in faith and the New Testament Saints look back.  That remarkable moment that affected future and past.  Where God righted our wrong once and for all and for all time, past, present and future.

Several years ago I wrote how God showed me that it was the joy of my salvation (and yours) that gave Jesus strength as He went to the cross.  It's a similar message that Musicianaries "Take No Glory" share in their song, "He Didn't Die in Vain." 

Check out all of their music.  They give it away for free!

John 19:30
“Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!”  And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”

The story doesn’t end there.  Jesus rose from the dead on the 3rd day!  He appeared to His disciples and many others over a period of 40 days and then He ascended into Heaven where He sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for the saints.

We are born with a sin nature thanx to the original sin committed by Adam, but God fixed it.  Only He could.  Sin (falling short of God’s perfection) demands a payment.  Death.  Jesus paid that price so God could be both Righteous and Love.

Righteous because God can’t say that sin brings death and then lie by not punishing sin.  Because of God’s Love He sentenced His Son to our death so we could live with Him forever!  It was the only way.  That’s why Jesus said that the only way to the Father is through Him.  And so it is.  Finished.  All you have to do is believe.

I had the great privilege to cover his story as part of my part time job with Teen Challenge of Arizona. It’s amazing to see God work in the lives of men and women to get them back on track of His best!

Your righteousness won’t get you any closer to God than the next fellow. Only God makes you righteous by your faith in His Son. Religion will tell you that you need to clean up your act in order for God to love you, bless you or approve of you. It’s just not true.

Sin IS deadly and will surely bring consequences in this life, but I repeat, if you have Jesus as your Savior God is not holding your sins against you. He is FOR YOU NOT AGAINST YOU!

This may be the best hour you invest all week and highly recommended for current and future Christians. It’s called the good news for a reason! Here is Pastor Duane Sheriff from November 28, 2010. Please listen:

Here are the sermon notes.

You can listen to and download all of Pastor Duane’s messages here, or just subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. You’ll be glad you did.

As I pointed out at the first of the year, you are in Good Hands when you are in God’s Hands. That is the answer to Mayhem like me.

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

This verse is often misapplied to mean that God won’t give you more in this life than you can handle. I believe what Paul is saying here is that when you are tempted, God provides a way out and the temptation is not so intense that you can’t escape it.

What is the best way to escape temptation? Apply a heavy dose of God’s Love. God has often spoken to me to, “never forget how much I love you.” For me (and I’m guessing for you too) when I start to think that God has forgotten me, and my patience in doing good is wearing thin, that’s when I get discouraged and start entertaining mayhem. Stuff that might be fun for a season, but ultimately can bring pain into my life and others around me.

How do you stay encouraged in God’s Love? Stay plugged into the vine. Spend time with Him and in His Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. As you listen to how much He loves you, and as you are reminded of all the wonderful things He has done for you, you can’t help but want to love Him back.

How do you love God back? Jesus explained more than once. It’s Love. Love God, Love People. When I teach Sunday School I tell the kids that if they forget everything else I tell them to remember one thing (which is two things). Love God. Love People. Jesus said in Matthew 22:35-40:

³⁵ One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him,
³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
³⁷ And He said to him, ” ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’
³⁸ “This is the great and foremost commandment.
³⁹ “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’
⁴⁰ “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Jesus also said to His disciples in John 14, “if you love Me you will keep my commandments.”

That is impossible to do perfectly. If we could keep God’s commandments by ourselves, we wouldn’t need Jesus to save us in the first place. Thankfully, God DID send Jesus to rescue us from mayhem.

So the practice of keeping mayhem out of our lives is a simple one, yet a daily struggle to walk out. First we have to accept the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. Once we do that we receive God’s Spirit to dwell inside of us. God’s Spirit leads us into all truth which boils down to Love God, Love People. If we Love God we will keep His commands. If we love people we won’t steal from them, murder them, talk bad about them behind their backs and sleep with them outside of marriage. When we have moments of weakness and give in to temptation we can run to a loving God who will forgive us because He has already paid for our sins on the cross. As we apply God’s Love in our own hearts daily, we will be better able to resist when temptation comes knocking. I love the saying, “when the devil comes knocking, send Jesus to answer the door.” It’s with His strength that we fight the good fight.

Mayhem like me? Unfortunately yes at times. But thanx to God that He gives me the power to say no to mayhem and yes to His love! When someone else gives in to mayhem and it affects me, thanx to God’s love I can forgive and even help restore the damage done.

Mayhem may be with us until Jesus comes back, but if we will practice His love in our lives, and share it with others, there will be less mayhem and more of God’s Love. That’s how God’s Kingdom is come to Earth as it is in Heaven.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream. A dream that is clearly a Biblical principle. That men would be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. On this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day I think it’s appropriate to listen again to that amazing speech given in August of 1963.

There are some that complain that the Bible condones slavery. Dr. King, being a preacher of God’s Word, knew that that couldn’t be further from the truth. Unfortunately slave traders and slave owners of the 18th and 19th Centuries did what they could to cloud the issue and attempt to justify their sin. They pointed to passages in the Bible that seem to approve of slavery, but left out some very important facts.

The most important is that the slavery that was allowed in Biblical times was indentured servitude. Back then if you went into debt and couldn’t repay, you became a slave to pay off the debt. Once the debt was paid, or at Jubilee, a slave was to be set free and debt free. Many servants liked the way their masters took care of them and chose to stay as Bond Servants. (just as God’s people are called to be His Bond Servants)

Meanwhile, Man Stealing was explicitly forbidden in the Law and was punishable by death:

Exodus 21:16
¹⁶ “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.

Any slave trader who tried to justify kidnapping people to sell them into slavery by using the Bible was adding to their list of sins.

Indeed it was a Christian that fought to end the slave trade in England. They made a movie about the life of William Wilberforce, “Amazing Grace.” The famous hymn of the same name was written by a former slave trader who later became a member of the clergy. The song conveys the amazing grace of God who can rescue even a slave trader from his horrible sins thanx to the sacrifice made on the cross by God’s only Son Jesus!

If you want to know God’s heart when it comes to prejudice you can look at Moses and his sister Miriam. In Numbers Chapter 12 we learn that Miriam and Aaron were upset at Moses because he had married an Ethiopian. God got upset and gave Miriam a taste of Leprosy:

Number 12:9-11
⁹ So the anger of the LORD was aroused against them, and He departed. ¹⁰ And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper. ¹¹ So Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord! Please do not lay this sin on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned.

Moses cried out to God to heal his sister and God answered, but only after Miriam stayed outside of camp for seven days. God says that man judges the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.. One of many great points that Martin Luther King, Jr. made in his speech was that man should see his fellow man as God sees him.

I have a dream that echos the dreams of Dr. King. That this nation will turn to Biblical principles. That God’s Word and Spirit would guide our individual words and actions. That lawmakers and those appointed in authority would look to God for guidance as they lead. And yes, that God would continue to bless America and that He would use His people to be salt and light always.

Like Me

I love the new Allstate commercials:

As I was pondering the new year, it occurred to me that my life has had a lot of self imposed mayhem in it. Everyone’s does, really. Ever since Adam and Eve decided to disobey God and mayhem entered the world. None of us can escape. There is none that searches after God, not one. Thanx to our fallen nature we fall short of God’s best. Also known as sin. You and I sin all kinds of different ways every day. We may mean well, but we just can’t hit the target. Then there are the times that we do what is wrong even when we know better.

Our Sins and transgressions have consequences. Mayhem. What’s worse is the people around us and their bad choices can bring mayhem into our lives! Gee. Thanx a lot. But, before we get all high minded, spiritual and self righteous about it, our sin and transgressions are bringing mayhem into the lives of people around us too. It really is unavoidable.

But wait. There IS good news! Jesus came so that we might have life, life more abundant, and God even takes the mayhem in our lives and brings good out of it for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes!

He also changes me and helps me to avoid sin and transgression!

Dealing with a little (or a lot) of mayhem? God has you covered. Now those are good hands!

Unless the group who rented the festival area also rented the 5 block area around the festival, this is an apparent violation of the First Amendment, right?  Watch the video and see what you think.  I’m going to call the Dearborn Police Department and see if they have an explanation. (I did and it’s below the video)

Just got off the phone with the Dearborn Police. The lady I talked to in the Public Information office was very nice and was glad I called to get more information. She did decline when I asked if I could record the conversation for playback here, but this is what she told me.

Apparently the City has a right to establish a “Freedom of Speech” area, which they did for this event. A designated area where all groups were welcome to pass out material.

All groups were welcome to rent booths from organizers of the street fair. Four Christian groups did just that and another was allowed to have a booth by court order (not sure what happened there).

No one was prohibited from walking around the street fair and talking to whomever they pleased. However, passing out of materials was restricted.

The group in the video was not arrested. They were detained for awhile so that the rules could be explained to them. It’s not known if they knew the rules ahead of time.

200,000 people attended the street fair and apparently it was a very successful family friendly event.

The City of Dearborn hopes to have a comprehensive response at CityOfDearborn.org in a day or two.

In conclusion, I wonder if the Christian group that made the video was being provocative? Would a better strategy have been to rent a booth and reach others through smoked turkey legs (for example) (mmmm) and the Gospel of John?

There is probably even more to this story, but I think we all have to be careful not to jump to conclusions when we see a video like this. I’m glad I called the Dearborn Police to find out more. Sheds a little different light. If the rights of the Christian group were violated, they should call the Alliance Defense Fund. If not, I would recommend they get a booth next year and see what God can do with some corn dogs (mmmm) and the Gospel of John!

UPDATE: I guess they WERE arrested.