This is a post from a blog that I tried in a different area back in January. I hope that you will understand what the Lord showed me then.

(Dated January 24, 2008)

Sodom and Gomorrah
As Christians, we are accused frequently of being hypocritical. Many people who resist invitations to visit church will use the excuse, "The church is just full of hypocrites! I don't want to become a hypocrite, too!" Many Christians will immediately become defensive at that statement, when in reality the statement is not meant personally - it is just a revelation of a deeper personal issue with the person that has been invited.

Today, I read Genesis 18-19 (the acount of Sodom and Gomorrah) and the Holy Spirit caused me to consider if this could apply to the church today, churches in my area, and ultimately right in my own church. As Christians, we are so quick to mentally and verbally condemn Sodom and Gomorrah for the wickedness that they were swimming in, but we fail to take into account the overall message of this passage. In the twin-city area of Sodom and Gomorrah, you would not think that Abraham would have such a hard time finding 50 righteous souls. As the story goes, they could not find 50...40...30...20...or even 10 righteous souls in both of the cities.

Again, our pride will allow us to point our finger at these cities and proclaim that they were VERY WICKED (and they were). Yet, in our churches, if God were to scan our congregations (and He does), how many truly righteous people would He be able to find? We need to understand, first of all, that none of us are righteous by our own merit (Romans 3:10,12; Isaiah 64:6). But we are commanded to live a righteous and holy life (Romans 12:1; 1 Peter 1:15,16), not in our own power, but in Christ. This can be done, but many of us fail to take our responsibility as a Christian seriously. We have adopted the work ethic of our lazy society and have become lazy Christians (Romans 6:10-12). As a result, we should not stiffen when we are lumped together into the pool of hypocritical Christians, but, rather, we should take it as an opportunity to take Spiritual Inventory. Everyone one of us has a need to walk closer to God - we just need to be transparent with ourselves and willing to admit that we are not yet perfect. But we can't stop there. We then need to make a conscious decision to get those areas right in our lives.

Listen, any of you who know me, know that I am not the shining example that is to be held up as a standard for all mankind. I am just a person - just like anyone else. I had made some very bad decisions, and I have grown to regret things that I have done (and not done) and things that I have said. You may even think that because I go to church regularly, that I think that I am better than someone else - or that I think that I am better than you. NOT TRUE! I am a sinner, just like everyone else. The only difference is that I have been saved by the grace of God. You may have seen the bumper stickers on the back of some vehicles that states, "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven." I may not have the sticker on my van, but it is still very true. I am far from perfect, and so are you. But the love and grace of God, gives us all a purpose that have never had before. That purpose is to live our lives in such a way that we please (glorify) God in everything we do.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY: If we did a survey of your church, how many truly righteous people would we find? What are you doing about it?

Trip to PCC

We got back yesterday from a trip to Pensacola Christian College for a conference called, Enrichment Conference. It is designed for those (and their spouses) involved in music, youth, or pastoring church ministries. It was a great opportunity to see old friends from college and Becky Jenkins - our student from home, who is now attending PCC. She has met a young man by the name of Matt, who we met as well. Below are pictures of Julie and I with Becky, Matt and Greg Bryant. We saw many other friends from years gone by, but we regret that we forgot to get pictures of most of them. We will try next time. We hope to return next year along with our pastor and his wife (we think they would enjoy it also). Anyway, (to keep it short) we are very grateful to have been invited and to have attended the conference this past week. We received some very valuable teaching from many men of God, and we have returned to our ministry with a "booster shot". God's been good!