Recently I visited some family members in Florida after having attended a Bible conference. One of my cousins brought over a box of books that were free for the taking. Among them was a prayer journal with insights from Billy Graham. One in particular really made an impression on me.  The aged evangelist wrote,

Think back to your own childhood for a moment. When you were young, did you talk with your father in a series of carefully memorized sentences? No, of course not. You talked with him freely and openly about everything – and he delighted in that. The same is true with God, your heavenly Father. He delights in the prayers of His people! Don’t worry whether you’re eloquent enough; your father didn’t turn you away when you spoke baby talk – and neither does God.

Though I’ve been a Christian for nearly four decades, I still feel as if I’m given to “baby talk” in my prayers. The more I know of God’s holiness, majesty, sovereignty and glory, the more inadequate my prayers seem. How good it is to be reminded that God is not only the High and Holy One, but He is also my heavenly “Daddy.” As such, He longs for me simply to come and share my heart with Him.

The apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 8 that “those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (vv. 14-16 NIV).

We hope that you‚Äôll keep this in mind as you pray, too. Most likely you have struggled with the same sense of inadequacy at one time or another. Perhaps this is one reason that Jesus taught us to begin our prayers with ‚ÄúOur Father….‚Äù What a great reminder. What a great and loving God!

Last week I was in Orlando for a Bible conference. ¬†After it was over, I hung out for an afternoon with some family members who live in the area. ¬†One of them brought a box of books that were free for the taking. ¬†I sifted through them and found one entitled Is God on America’s Side? ¬†It was published during the 2008 election season. The author was Erwin Lutzer (Senior Pastor of Moody Memorial Church in Chicago), with contributions from other evangelical leaders such as Philip Graham Ryken, James MacDonald, Kay Arthur, Jim Cymbala, R.C. Sproul and others.

The so-called Religious Right had great plans to reverse the moral trends of our nation. ¬†We are told that we have helped elect presidents and have impacted public policy and even the selection of judges. ¬†But by identifying these gains as those won by the “Religious Right,” namely, Christians who are in cahoots with a particular party, we have made this nation believe that the church is a political base rather than the dispenser of the Gospel. ¬†Any gains we have made (mixed at best) came about at the price of the loss of the Gospel in the wider culture. ¬†We have cheapened Christ before a watching world.

Unfortunately, Christianity, in the minds of millions of Americans, is right-wing politics. ¬†I believe we are under judgment because we have cast about for a solution to our nation’s problems and thought that it lay with political muscle and even with a specific political party. ¬†By becoming publicly partisan and implying that one party is more “Christian,” we have clouded the issues of what Christianity really is. ¬†Religion is being redefined as politics; the flag has replaced the cross. ¬†And we are feeling the negative repercussions.

Today evangelicals are in the news not because of the Gospel but because of their political support or endorsements. ¬†The scenario of various religious leaders endorsing one political candidate or another is truly deserving of tears. ¬†Some Christian leaders have formed coalitions to “take America back.” ¬†They want to “put God back” into our political, legal, and educational institutions…. ¬†In identifying ourselves with a political party and battling for civil religion, we have lost our identification with Jesus Christ.

Yesterday the pastoral staff, along with one other gentleman from our church, got back from the national conference of Ligonier Ministries. The theme was The Holiness of God.  We are so thankful for a church body and elder leadership that allows us to attend such conferences so that we can be fed and, as a result, better feed the the souls of those under our care.

Mr. Joe Capozzi:

Prior to attending the Ligonier Conference, I always considered that I had a high view of God. Well, hearing from these men and their description of God through The Word, has elevated my present understanding to an even higher level. Oh, how I now revere God and His Holiness! The Friday morning sessions were the most special, as Sinclair Ferguson, Steve Lawson and Alistair Begg, proclaimed Hallowed Be Your Name: The Holiness of the Father; The Holy One of God: The Holiness of Jesus; and The Breath of the Almighty: The Holy Spirit; all in rapid succession. Magnificent!

I don’t want to leave out RC Sproul’s “I Am The Lord, There is No Other”. Even the Q&A sessions were inspiring. I’m so glad that I attended the conference – The Lord knows that I needed to hear about Him in this way, especially during such a trying time, now that I’m unemployed for the past four months.

Pastor Nick Jones:

Conferences are always hard to describe afterward. You get to travel to another city, meet many new people, and take a break from your daily routine. In this sense, it seems like a vacation. But then you have the other side. At this year’s Ligonier Conference, we had seventeen sessions spread out over three days. You start out early and end late; when you’re not sitting in a session, you’re waiting in line for the bathroom or food, and there is very little “free time.” In this sense, while it’s not work, you’re often more tired after the conference than before! Nevertheless, it was well worth it, mainly because of what happened during those seventeen meeting times. The speakers were not just salesmen or businessmen giving the latest updates or news on gadgets, but they were instead pastors and teachers who care very much for the Church and for us. Most of them didn’t just teach, they preached, and with that God moved in great and many ways. Again and again we were taught, hammered, and massaged with the theme of this year’s conference: the holiness of God. It was so devastating and encouraging to be shown anew the greatness of our God. His holiness calls for, inspires, demands, and even enables our complete love and affection throughout every facet of our lives. In this sense, the conference was a magnificent grace of our Redeemer, and I thank you so much for letting us take part.

Pastor Paul Tessari:

The Ligonier‚Äôs Conference was outstanding on many levels. From a biblical prospective I learned much about the Holiness of God. R.C. Sproul‚Äôs sermon entitled ‚ÄúI am the Lord, There is No Other‚Äù was a reminder to me of the transcendent Holiness of God and that He is worthy to be worshiped. In an evangelical culture where God is often painted as a “buddy,” this conference exalted the Lord to His rightful place as Creator, Redeemer, exalted Father, Son, and Spirit. It increased my reverence for a Holy God and caused me to wonder again at the words, ‚ÄúI saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple‚ĶHoly, Holy, Holy is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory‚Äù (Isa. 6:1-3).

From a ministry perspective I was challenged to spend more time in the Word learning about this wonderful God in order that I might paint this picture to all who will listen. The preaching was so outstanding that I was also challenged to be a better communicator of the Word—to preach with powerful simplicity.

From a fellowship perspective I had the joy of getting to know Pastor Nick‚Äôs humility as he kindly put others before himself … Joe Capozzi’s ministering to us daily in renting a car and driving us wherever we needed to go … and Pastor Matt‚Äôs leadership as he organized much of what we did. It was wonderful to see the same Spirit of God moving in believers in such a way that you could sit down next to perfect strangers and feel as though you‚Äôve known them all your life.

Finally, while sitting in a Wendy‚Äôs eating lunch after the conference and pondering the awesomeness of our God, engaged in biblical discussion, we had the joy and privilege to meet Jeff. Jeff (who was in a wheel chair), was sitting next to us as we began to eat. We noticed that he lingered much longer than those around us as we continued in our discussions. Upon finishing eating and getting up from the table Jeff said to us, ‚ÄúThank you guys‚Ķ‚Äù to which we replied, ‚ÄúFor what??‚Äù and he said, ‚ÄúFor your conversation, it really spoke to my heart.‚Äù We quickly discovered that Jeff had received formal theological education at Word of Life Bible Institute and Appalachian Bible College. ¬†But soon after entering the ministry as a youth pastor, he went through a series of trials which culminated in domestic crisis and heartache. ¬†Jeff was forced to leave the ministry, saddened and dejected. ¬†Yet in God’s providence, he had overheard everything we said and, unbeknownst to us, was encouraged by our talk of the Lord. At that point we all gathered around Jeff and prayed for him. This proved to be one of the greatest blessings of the conference.

Christians want to be generous, and that’s as it should be. ¬†But we can learn from our predecessors who emphasized that generosity is only the first step. ¬†If we act without discernment, our generosity may actually be selfishness that give ourselves a warm glow but hurts others. ¬†

We can learn from the oldest charity still existing in the United States, the Scots’ Charitable Society of Boston, founded in 1657. ¬†The Society from its start resolved to “open the bowells of our compassion” but to make sure that “no prophane or diselut person, or openly scandalous shall have any part or portione herein.” ¬†They viewed poor people not as standing at the bottom of a ladder but halfway up, capable of ascending to independence and even wealth if they saw themselves as created in God’s image and were willing to work and live accordingly, but likely to descend into abject dependence and despair if they started to see themselves as animals.

Boston pastor Cotton Mather three centuries ago asked his church members to be charitable but also careful not to “abuse your charity by misapplying it.” ¬†A half-century later prominent pastor Charles Chauncey instructed leaders of the Society for Encouraging Industry and Employing the Poor to be careful in “the Distribution of Charity” so they would not “dispense in promiscuously” and “bestow upon those the Bread of Charity, who might earn and and eat their own Bread, if they did not shamefully idle away their Time.”

Two centuries ago Americans did not subsidize others in self-destruction. ¬†Some 23 Boston charity societies declared in 1835 that recipients should believe it “disgraceful to depend upon alms-giving, as long as a capacity for self-support is retained . . . [To] give to one who begs . . . or in any way to supersede the necessity of industry, of forethought, and of proper self-restraint and self-denial is at once to do wrong, and to encourage the receivers of our alms to wrong doing.” ¬†The groups declared that relief should be given only after a “personal examination of each case,” and “not in money, but in the necessaries required in the case.”

Similarly, the Boston Provident Association (established in 1851) gave food, clothes, and coal to those willing to work but in temporary need. ¬†The association refused requests from drunkards and asked supporters to give beggars not money but cards proposing a visit to the Association’s offices, where volunteers would examine needs, make job referrals, and provide food and temporary shelter. ¬†It also developed a list of “impostors” — able-bodied persons who refused to work!

Before heading off to prayer meeting last evening, I checked my e-mail and logged on to the Internet.  My home page is Fox News, and the cover story was about Fred Winters, a pastor in Illinois who was gunned down in the pulpit while preaching in morning service.  You can read all about it here.

Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.

- Psalm 90:12

At eighty, I ought to have some sage advice to give to the young. ¬†Let’s see, if I were to pick one thing only, that might be of importance, what would it be? ¬†Hmmmm . . .

I know one! ¬†Prepare for old age. ¬†True, you may never make it; for there are former students of mine who have died already. ¬†If you don’t have some activity that you can engage in for the Lord, you will probably end up a sour and regretful old person. ¬†There’s always something one can do so long as he has control of his basic faculties. ¬†If he is bedridden, he can pray. . . .

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.  And there was found no place for them.  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened.  And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.  And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.  The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them.  And they were judged, each one according to his works.  Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.  This is the second death.  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

- Revelation 20:11-15

Each week Focus on the Family sends out a Pastor’s Weekly Briefing filled with all sort of newsy tidbits. ¬†There were a couple pertaining specifically to evolution that I found interesting:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Professing to be wise, they became fools. . . .

- Romans 1:18-22

Just for kicks, I’m doing something a little different for this blog posting – something wild and dangerous. ¬†I’m venturing into the political arena (dangerous enough), but more than that, I’m also getting a public opinion poll (more dangerous still). ¬†It has to do with the stimulus package just approved by President Obama and (barely) both houses of Congress.