Religion & Spirituality
Well - we are living in an interesting time right now.There is no shortage of opinions and commentary,On everything that is happening right now.And it is easy to get caught up in all of the misinformation,And all of the ‘shade tree medical professionals’,(Those who are not professionals but want to tell us what and what not to do).Now I am not going to get into what we should and shouldn’t do concerning the corona virus this morning.I do have some thoughts on it, but I am not going to voice them here.I will do that outside of this virtual pulpit,Because the pulpit, wherever it is, should not be for public service announcements.It should be for the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,And that is what I am going to do this morning.In 1 Corinthians 1 this morning, you heard Kristi read that the Cross of Christ,Is foolishness to those who are headed for destruction.But to those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God!God has seen to it that the world will never know God through human wisdom.And instead uses the preaching of the foolish to save those who believe.To that I say - Praise God!Not because I am a preacher, but instead because God proves Himself in this,Because through the preaching of those who are only able to preach,Because of the foolishness of their faith,God draws people to Himself and saves them!That is foolishness to those that do not know the saving grace of Jesus Christ.But to a wretched sinner like myself, that is the most glorious thing I have ever heard.The Wisdom of God confounds those who do not know Christ as their Lord and Savior.Yet, you and I were once among them.You and I were once sinners being drawn by a loving God,Even when we didn’t know that was what was happening.God doesn’t wait for us to realize what He is doing,Before He does a thing.God’s Wisdom is to reach down and draw us to Him even while we are his enemies.And that is the message of the Cross of Christ…That while you and I were yet sinners - enemies of God - God sent His Son,Jesus Christ to live among us, to suffer in our place, to die in our place,And to defeat death and the grave and sin so that we may live with God…So that we may be resurrected with Christ, right here, right now!So that we can be made brand new,With the old sinful man gone and the new creation alive in Christ!You see, like it said in Ephesians 2 this morning,Once we were dead because of our disobedience and our many sins.Some would stop there, because the next sentence is offensive…You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil.Well, the truth is that we are for Christ, or we are against Christ.There is no middle ground.I hear people say they are riding the fence,Well I am here to tell you - the devil owns the fence.And God is calling you and I to get off that fence…trying to leave one foot in the world…And get fully committed to Christ.Now, I am not saying that we cannot enjoy all that God’s creation has to offer.What I am saying is - trying to keep that sinful heart, while at the same time trying to honor God.Church, you cannot serve two master