What a weekend! It began on Friday as I celebrated 16 years of marriage to the love of my life. Nothing big. Nothing fancy. We were just together for a movie and a Starbucks, but as the commercial says, "Priceless." What other gift could I ever want besides her? I pray, if Jesus doesn't come, He will grant us another 16 years of marital bliss, and I can become the bridegroom to my bride that He is to His bride.
Saturday we played host to the College & Career tailgate party for the Florida/Georgia game. It was fun. Not the game, but the sights and sounds of late teens, and early to mid 20 year olds. They always bring something fresh, new, exciting and unexpected. I must say, we have been blessed with some of the most dedicated, committed and faithful young people that I have ever been privileged to pastor. Many of them are actively serving the Lord in various ministries of NBBC. I am proud of them.
Of course, Sunday speaks for itself. I preached a message yesterday morning that probably wouldn't be heard much in the pop-psychology preaching of today. In a day where we have succumbed to giving people what they want, we are producing a generation of weak-kneed, anemic, puny, malnourished, carnal Christians who don't even possess a working knowledge of the basic tenets of our faith.
Thus, the church has become everything but what Christ intended for it to be. As the great Southern Baptist statesman, R. G. Lee once declared, "We have become social clubhouses instead of being spiritual lighthouses. We have become museums that magnify the saints, rather than hospital that minister to the sinners. We have become a group of political organizers, rather than spiritual agonizers. We have become keepers of the aquarium, rather than fishers of men." It's time for God to clean house so the blind can see, the lame can walk, the deaf can hear, the captive can be set free, the bound can be delivered, and the lost can be saved.
I sensed the Holy Ghost doing a deep work in the hearts of people yesterday, both seen and unseen. I am grateful. I have asked God to clean house in my life, because He doesn't deserve to live in a dirty house. I have asked God to clean house in our church, because He doesn't deserve to be robbed of the glory that belongs to Him. I don't want to be a living thief, do you?
Of course, October 31 is known to most as Halloween, however, to me, it is a remembrance of the bravery, courage, and sacrifice of a man named Martin Luther who, in breaking from the apostasy of the Catholic church declared that salvation is by "grace alone" through "faith alone" in "God alone." Luther nailed his 95 Thesis to the door of the cathedral at Wittenburg, October 31, 1517, ignited what we now know as the Protestant Reformation.
I closed last night with these words, "Many have said that they would be willing to die for their faith. Jesus never asked us to die for Him, He only asked us to live for Him. Soldiers are willing to die for a nation, while Christians aren't willing to live for their King."
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Steve
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