Archive for May, 2013
WHY ARE WE SO AFRAID?
Thursday, May 30th, 2013
Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed; Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause….Psalm 25:3
One message has been impressed upon me since the Good Friday service I preached it early this year, and that is the theme of “Faith vs Fear”. It happened again on Memorial Day weekend, when I was a guest preacher at a beautiful country church in Auburn, Illinois. What started off as a prepared word about the great Memorial Stones of Joshua 4:1-7, led back to the same theme – “Faith vs Fear”.Sure enough yesterday, I was having the same conversation now, three days in a row with different people from three different churches! The reason why this keeps coming back is so many good people are not just genuinely afraid by what they are experiencing in daily life, but they see and hear no hope coming from any of the places you would expect it from – churches, small groups, community organizations etc. No one I know really look up to political, academic or celebrity leaders and nobody should either.
As we see traditional institution after traditional institution fall – whether it is the late great Boy Scouts of America; or perverted movies, books or music…or whether it is one mega-church pastor falling after another or so-called responsible adults indoctrinating our public school children with graphic sex ‘education’ instead of math and science – the wheels have come off the bus. One would be tempted to say “who can blame even Christians for being fearful about the present and the future”.
Just this past month the Barna Survey confirmed what we have been observing. The amount of “Nones” – those who have no faith in any belief system, has increased five fold in the past 50 years. Because of the type of churches we run, we have run off our youth when they “escape” at age 18 as they see pastors more concerned with maintaining their fiefdom and holding on to tithers, than addressing the true needs of the congregation. The scary high numbers of those who say they will never return to church…and who have in fact, walked away from Jesus Christ, will be blamed in part on these church leaders – locally and nationally.
The gist of this brief post is not to bust on those who are falling short to teach the Sufficiency of Scripture to the flock, but to embark on, no matter how small, a drive to show us that we can be concerned without being fearful. The first thing we need to do is realize WHOSE we are. First of all – are we even saved, redeemed and rejuvenated by the Holy Spirit…that is, are we born again? I can’t even remember hearing a preacher use the word “rejuvenation” in the recent past…but this is what MUST happen.
DIXON GOLF JOINS BMIC CHARITY GOLF CLASSIC!
Thursday, May 30th, 2013
Actor/Golf spokesman Don Cheale, of the Dixon Golf company!
Business Men in Christ is pleased to welcome DIXON GOLF, of Tempe, Arizona to Springfield, Illinois. We are honored to be chosen to be a beneficiary of their innovation and ingenuity in the more efficient use of our natural resources. Dixon stunned the golf world in 2008 with the introduction of the first 100% recyclable high-performance golf ball. Since then, their product line has extended to hybrid golf-clubs and even unique professional golf hats made of bamboo shoots! Dixon Golf has major international distribution in every corner of the globe and are served by reps and golf pros in every major U.S. state. Several celebrity Hollywood favorites like actors Don Cheadle and Kevin Sorbo are spokesmen for Dixon.
Dixon Golf is not only a responsible corporate citizen, but it is their stated policy to continue to donate one tenth of their profits to charities. They also sponsor more charity golf events than any other company (golf or otherwise), in the United States. Visit the Dixon Golf website here: www.dixongolf.com or call 480-634-6028
On Saturday June 1, at the annual charity golf classic, $2 of every $10 spent at the DIXON CHALLENGE Par 3 game will go to the Inner City Mission of Springfield.
NOTE: RAIN DATE: SATURDAY JUNE 29, 2013