The Presidential Election and Morality

As the month of October comes to close and November looms in front of me, my mind is immediately draw to the presidential election that will be taking place on November 4, 2008. With this in mind I have called for a Sacred Assembly at our church for Monday, November 3, 2008 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm. This will be a time of worship and prayer for our nation as we seek God's will for our country's highest office.

As we go to the voting booth this year, we should do so prayerfully because so much is at stake. The next president will appoint members of the Supreme Court, direct this country's military, and set the tone for our country's level of morality.

When asked about the election, I simply tell people to vote their morality. As Christians we have a moral accountability to maintain and that moral accountability can be seen through the lens of scripture. The infallible, inherent Word of God should be the our basis for living and a guide in all matters of life for all Christians. It is not my intention to try to get people to vote for one candidate or the other but it is my desire to challenge them to know where the candidates stand on the issues of morality such as the sanctity of life. Where do the candidates stand on the abortion issue? How have they voted on partial birth abortion legislation? Where do they stand on the role of a Sovereign God in their decisions? Are they people who pray and will they seek God for decisions pertaining to all of us?

Historically the far left (liberals) have held the positions of pro-choice, separation of church and state, supporting the rights of same sex marriage, supporting the gay rights agenda, etc. On the other side of the spectrum, the far right (conservatives) has been pro-life, many openly confess their Christian faith and it's role in their everyday decisions, the far right has historically condemned same sex marriages and support the ideal of marriage as being between one man and one woman. Where does your candidate of choice stand on these issues? How have they voted in legislation pertaining to these issues?

As we go to the polls it is important to be aware of where a candidate stands on these issues and vote our beliefs through the lens of scripture. Many people will vote their pocketbook during this election but I want to challenge you to look at the issues of morality through the lens of scripture and after you have placed your vote, you will be able to walk away knowing that you have done your part. After that we will leave the results in the hands of a Sovereign God who will still be in control long after the political platforms are taken down.

One World Money

I shared a message with our congregation last night about how close we are to having a one world monetary system. The message I shared was from the Book of Micah. Of course Micah was a prophet who pronounced God's impending judgment upon both northern kingdom (Israel) and southern kingdom (Judah) prior to their destruction and captivity. But Micah's prophetic voice was not limited to that day. In fact he spoke about a coming Deliverer in the "last days."
Long story short, that Deliverer came to Bethlehem as the Prince of Peace. He was ultimately rejected by Israel, crucified on a Roman cross, but resurrected in great power by the Spirit of God. In Revelation, John saw Him in splendor and glory and the Lord gave him a message that we need to heed.
That message is that coming to the world seen one of these days ( which I believe is closer than we know) the stage will be set for a "one world ruler" who will be known in scripture as the anti-Christ. He will set up that one world system.
We used to laugh at the notion that we could be pulled into that but look at what is happening on the world scene today. The dollar is shrinking at an alarming rate. The global world markets and financial institutions are in dire straights. All it would take is for the large countries like China, who holds trillions of our greenback dollars to simply dump them and it would shake the world.
Since 1969, the idea of a common monetary system has been quietly batted around in financial circles and in presentations given at the Federal Reserve conferences.
But do not think that this is somehow a doom and gloom message. It's not, nor should it be because that means that the return of Jesus Christ is so so... close. And that means the eventual rule and reign of Christ as Micah predicted 712 years before Jesus was ever born. PTL!

Family and Friend Day

I am sitting here thinking about last Sunday and wow!, what a crowd we had between the two services. Our final numbers reflect that we had 328 people on our campus after deducting the duplicates from both services. While that is a phenomenal victory, the real victory is in the number of lives that were impacted. We intentionally set out to invite the unchurched crowd to our services and we had a great response. Pastor Lori reported that she had 26 kids respond to the invitation to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior in Kids Inc. and I had at least three respond in the second worship service. PTL!
I'm sitting here wondering just how many of those folks will be back tomorrow...or the next Sunday? Will they be drawn to get involved in one of our discipleship classes? That's the real key........discipleship. Helping people connect to Jesus and then grow into a disciple.............that is someone who is like Jesus!!

My First

Well this is my first post. Deana and I are in Pigeon Forge and we just finished participating in the annual Tennessee District Minister's Retreat. Doug Clay was the guest speaker and he did a great job. The last session tonight was probably the best where we were challenged to be a 21st Century Pentecostal Church. The idea was that the 21st Century Pentecostal Church should be activly engaged in winning the lost, focused on water baptism, being culturally engaged, totally reliant on the anointing of the Holy Ghost. There was much more to the message but that's just the summary. Great retreat! Woot, Woot! We head back home tomorrow and reengage in His Harvest!!!