The Decision That Will Stop The World, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Acts 17:22-31

17:22 Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, "Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way.
17:23 For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, 'To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands,
17:25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things.
17:26 From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live,
17:27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him--though indeed he is not far from each one of us.
17:28 For 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we too are his offspring.'
17:29 Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals.
17:30 While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
17:31 because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."

One day God will make the decision He has promised. And the fouled, groaning, pained world we know will stop being what it is. His Son, Jesus Christ, will return to us. Evil will rebel, but evil will lose. That will happen one day, but none of us has any idea when, and Jesus in Matthew 24:36 assured that none of us, not even the Son, knows when.

But rather than becoming weighted down with discovering what we cannot know, as some have done, and many continue to do, we have before us a mission to preach the gospel to every soul on earth. (Mark 16:15-16) And to do it before Jesus returns.

Frankly, that becomes more and more difficult, partly because of the same things Paul found when he entered Athens, as he passed by the ubiquitous square pillars upon which rested the sculpted head of Hermes, the god of roads, gateways and the marketplace, even as he threaded his way through a forest of false gods before the markets, the temples, the houses of pleasure, the homes.

So the question is how – in the midst of what is becoming a post-Christian era – are we any different from what Paul sorrowfully found in the once-great city of Athens? That failing city of the Greeks boasted its Epicureanism and Stoicism with many, many idols. We have secular humanism that relies on scientific empiricism, and the postmodernism of New Age pantheism, along with those who believe in nothing at all beyond the human spirit. At the same time we have made worshipful idols out of sports teams, sports heroes, wealthy business moguls, men and women of fading talent and beauty, and “things.” The acquisition of the newest “thing” drives our very economy. It has become very like a religion.

How do we approach the rampantly increasing post-Christian mind, steeped as it has become in scientific logic, proof, and complete lack of faith? Listen to Paul. These minds across the ages are diverted by different priorities, but the result is the same, and the only answer, the only reasonable answer is proclaiming the Gospel with integrity, which we see Paul doing just before our scripture today, in Acts 17:16-21.

As Paul entered Athens, at that time in history populated by about 10,000 people, its great glory was gone; the city had fallen on hard times, reduced to poverty after the disastrous war with Rome in 146 B.C. The Romans allowed them to remain a “free city” out of respect for their historic past, but Athens remained a city in submission, even though it was still a shining center of philosophy, of architecture, of art, and of religion. The people of Athens worshipped every known idol there seemed to be. But with so many idols to worship, their sense of faith was fragmented. And just to ensure they didn’t miss anyone, they had one altar dedicated to “The Unknown God.”

Comedian Bob Hope used to say that he always played benefits for every religion, even though he was a Jew, because he didn’t want to miss out on eternity on a technicality. Perhaps that was the attitude of the Athenians. Perhaps that is how some people are beginning to feel today. They have no solid grounding that confirms for them the truth of the great “I Am,” the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, so they chase after this god, that idol, or they place their faith in their own human abilities.

Some today who call themselves Christians are confused about the origins of their own religion and, lacking a solid grounding in Biblical inspiration, and for whatever personal motivation, feel it would be a good thing to combine Islam with Christianity. This idea shouts of a complete ignorance of the religion of Islam, which does not co-exist with any other religion, but demands the adherents of other religions abandon their own and join with Islam.

Throughout history Islam has claimed worshippers at the point of a sword, as directed by their Koran. Although not all Muslims are religious extremists, that is still happening around the world. A few months ago, two little girls in India, walking to school, were attacked by Muslims and decapitated. Just a few days ago two of three Christian pastors meeting in what they believed to be a “safe house” in Iran were gunned down by religious extremists as they left the house. One died. Christians are dying in Africa, in Iraq, in China at the hands of Muslim extremists.

Now, there are other religious extremists in this world, and while I have concentrated on notes about Islam here, they are not the only threat to Christianity. In fact, if you know your Bible, you must accept that Islam is less a threat to Christianity and more like an inoculation to build up the Body of Christ. And this is something, as followers of Jesus Christ, we truly need to understand. For Christianity is about love, about forgiveness, about faith and belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of the Living God. As Christians we are not pointed toward anyone or anything in hate, but urged to bring everyone to Christ.

When you go to the doctor’s office for your flu shot, they actually inoculate you with a flu virus, an amount just enough to encourage your body to build up immunities to the virus. Thereafter, any attack by a flu virus is met with built-up immunities to ward off infection.

The Body of Christ, that group of Christian believers which the Book of Revelation refers to as the Bride of Christ, is forever in danger of being overcome by those machinations and strategies of the enemy of God. We are warned by 1^st Peter 5:8b, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

How do we “inoculate” ourselves as part of the Body of Christ? Through scripture. Hebrews 4:12 reminds us that “The word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing asunder the soul and the spirit, and the joints and the marrow, and is a critic of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Scripture is God-breathed, inspired of God, and is immensely comforting, giving us hope, guiding us as Psalm 119:105 teaches, helping us understand our growing faith as shown in Romans 15:4, and gives us insight to our circumstances.

We are reminded by 1^st Cor. 2:9 that the things God has prepared for those who love Him are such that “no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived.”

“… for those who love Him…” For further understanding of that, we turn to John 14:15-18, where we read, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, because He abides with you, and He will be in you. I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.”

So perhaps you can see why as children of the King of Glory we can afford to be loving and generous to those who oppose us, those who hate us, those who would do us harm. For God has put us in charge of drawing them to Him. And it’s awfully difficult to tell a man about the loving Lord of Glory when you have your knee on his neck.

There is an old song that goes, “This world is not my home…I’m just a passing through…my treasures are laid up…away beyond the blue.” And so they are. Our job is to bring as many with us as we can, to live so the love of God can show through us.

That great man of peace, the Hindu, Mahatma Ghandi, once said, “I like your Christ. Your Christians not so much.” He needed to know more Christians who practiced what they preached. The lost of this world don’t need to know how much we hate and fear them. They need to know how much God loves them.

The false religions of the world, the false religions of America, are no threat to Christians. The extremists who practice them are sinners like you and I who need to know Jesus Christ. Be the hand of Christ to someone this week. The God we know is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, among His other impressive attributes. He can handle whatever we need, and equip us for what lies ahead. Tell someone. Time is passing, and the decision that could stop the world and leave so many out … is coming.

Amen.

The Living Stone that Causes Stumbling, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: 1 Peter 2:2-10

2:2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation-
2:3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
2:4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight, and
2:5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
2:6 For it stands in scripture: "See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame."
2:7 To you then who believe, He is precious; but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner,"
2:8 and "A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
2:10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

This past week the children of the King, you who have become "God's own people" have been stressed and dressed down for not believing a lie.

The TV Cable wires, radio broadcasts and newspaper printing presses were burning up with the news that the world was ending on May 21st and the earth would be destroyed!

Oh my! Oh gosh! Holy cow! Yikes! Whatever will we do?!

The almost comical rush of media lemmings off the very edge of wisdom and sanity brought to mind the old two-line poem: "When confused, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout!"

An 88-year-old civil engineer and radio network owner, Harold Camping, had declared the world would end at 6 p.m. -- local time all over the world in a rolling earthquake beginning in New Zealand -- and he had spent $2 million dollars putting up billboards to let everyone know. TV screens filled with wide-eyed followers declaring "It's true. He knows. Make peace with God, now!"

Of course, it's easy to say all that now, right? I mean, here it is May 22nd, a day later, with no rolling earthquakes, no appearance of our Lord, and so now we can laugh and make jokes about it. Got news for you. We could do that before.

I won't go into Harold Camping's entire history, it's out there on the Internet if anyone wants to look at this late date, information that was there all along about how many times he had played this same game, and the destruction of the world never came. What do you call a prophecy that doesn't come true? I'm not certain, but you don't call it a prophecy. Prophecies happen.

But there's an even better reason we should have been able to laugh and joke about it during that "stressful" week leading up to May 21st. What's that reason? The reason is because we are children of the King. Because we believe in Jesus Christ. We believe in the inspired Word of God.

If you are going to believe in such "prophecies", such false claims, then you are going to have to forget about Jesus Christ, because you are going to have to believe that He lied to us in Matthew 24:36 where, speaking to His disciples on the Mount of Olives, sitting beside a fig tree, Jesus described what would happen during the last days, ending with, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

Jesus thought it important enough to repeat His warning just two verses later: " Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour."

In the context of that conversation with His disciples, just a few verses earlier, still there on the Mount of Olives, Jesus warns His disciples, in verse 11, that many false prophets will appear and "deceive many people." Mr. Camping has said the world was ending before, in the 1980's, again in 1994, and now, again; always false.

He has also for years been telling people not to attend church, claiming the Holy Spirit has abandoned churches, and relating how there was silence in heaven because no one was being saved. Oh please, how gullible do you have to be, how ignorant of scriptural discernment do you have to be, to be so easily led away from the guidance of the Holy Spirit in your understanding of holy scripture?

Harold Camping builds his entire false prophesy upon his private interpretation of Ecclesiastes 8:5. He takes that verse out of context and twists it to mean what it was never meant to mean. In fact, the true irony is that the context of chapter 8 is about the limitation of man's knowledge, how much we do not know, cannot know.

It's always possible, of course, that whatever Mr. Camping meant to accomplish, God meant for His own purposes, and perhaps many people came to accept Christ because of the actions of this false prophecy.

But sadly, it is more likely this debacle of false prophecy, for many, undermined what little they knew of Christ, and convinced them that, like Camping's claims, there was nothing to the claims of Christ. This is pleasing only to the god of this world, who delights in such false masquerades of the true Christ.

It is our individual responsibilities, as followers of Jesus Christ, to know enough about the inspired word of Almighty God that we can discern the true from the false. Our natural senses should alert, out of our own learned wisdom about God's word, when people begin twisting and misusing His word. For example, Camping twists scripture to change the dates of Jesus' birth and death, the times of Noah, and other events. For what purposes? Well, for one thing, to disagree with Bible scholars makes news, and Mr. Camping writes and sells books. Publicity also generates advertising sales, and Mr. Camping also has a $22 million dollar radio network.

So, how should Christians react to all this?

First, let us accept that there is a war in heaven. We have God's word that tells us that. Satan and his demons are the enemy of God. God's word tells us that. For that reason, Ephesians 6:12 explains to us, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."

When that verse was posted on Facebook recently, someone responded, "Honestly I would like this, but I don't like the war. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do, but I don't have to like it."

As I read that response, my jaw dropped. What? Do they believe we have a choice in this conflict between good and evil? Okay, that's enough, no more conflict between good and evil. We're not gonna do war no more. Satan, settle down and be nice. God, Satan says he'll behave so You and all Your angels can stand down and take a break.

Now, it is true according to God's word, that when we get to heaven there will be no more sin. But that means that those who want to do sin, who seek sin to do, they won't be there. But here in this life, we are still up for grabs by the enemy if we do not have the life of Christ within us.

But, if we do have Christ, we have a compulsion to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Love, purity, all the good things have come. As 2nd Corinthians 5:14-15, 17, tells us, "For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again ... Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the news has come!"

Those renewed in Christ have no reason to be concerned about this date or that date, but we can merely accept Jesus' word, that no man knows. Our job is to do as Jesus in Mark 16:15 instructs us, "He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.'"

Note that there is nothing there about packing up and waiting for His arrival, nothing about making arrangements for who will take care of our pets left behind, who will get our house, our car, our fortune. He who loved us first will see that we are taken care of, but first, we need to share His love with all the world. Of course, that will not always be easy, for as we do move into the end times, the persecution of Christians will increase, even as we are seeing in China, India, Pakistan, and Africa today

In the case of those described in verse 9, "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people," we will have the empowerment of the sons and daughters of God; we will have steadfastness and the living truth; the "living stone" which causes others to stumble.

The inspired Word of God makes it clear that there is "the judgment" coming, that God sees and God neither ignores those who become His enemy, nor those who accept His Son. His Word is clear, and true, and deadly to those who ignore Him, even before "the" judgment gets here. Hebrews 4:12 reminds us that "the Word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword."

Let the false prophets do their worst. We the sons and daughters of the royal family have work to do, a mission for the sake of Christ, and the Word of God, which false prophets attempt to use against us, is a two-edged sword in the hands of the believer. Know your sword. For having received mercy, through the Word we now offer Christ to the world, and His hand of mercy.

Amen.

Stained Glass Masaquerade!, by Pastor Bernie Lutchman, Jr.

Pastor Ed Evans is down with a viral infection, which gives you the opportunity to hear from an on-fire-for-Christ, spirit-filled preacher by the name of Pastor Bernie Lutchman, Jr. Enjoy and praise God.

STAINED GLASS MASQUERADE!

Is YOUR church partying with this crowd?

By Bernie Lutchman

Bernie Lutchman's Family Ministry

www.bernielutchman.blogspot.com

Many so-called Christians or even the real Children of God – the “ekklesia” (or the Body of Christ) miss out on SO MUCH! In fact WE JUST DON’T KNOW!!

We don’t know the Power of His Might.

We don’t know the Power of His Creation.

We don’t know the Presence of His Power (think about that for a second!)

We don’t know the Possibility of His Promise!

And why don’t we?

Why are we PEW-OCCUPIED but not wholly SANCTIFIED?

Why is a fat lazy nation BUT NOT a HOLY NATION?

Why do we have the most immaculate neighborhood but don’t act like a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD?

I’ll tell you why – we’ve been seduced by the god of this world and do not even know it! “What?? How dare you, an untrained and uneducated (I’m a seminary dropout – PRAISE GOD!!) street evangelist says that about our beautiful church buildings and pastors? Don’t you see we have the best carpets comforts, cafeterias and chandeliers? Can’t you see we are full every Sunday, baptize regularly and have the best youth groups in town?

“Sure they text during the sermon, but that’s the latest evangelism tool!!!”…..

First of all, I (Bernie Lutchman) did not say any of this! Read the entire New Testament and then camp of Revelation chapters 2 and 3 to see what the HEAD OF THE CHURCH – the Living Word of God – JESUS says about our churches in America and the west…..and you say “well that was 2000 years ago!!” No! A thousand times NO! That word from King Jesus was for the church for all time and apart from some weird cults and personality driven churches, almost every modern evangelical church in America lives in Laodicea!

What does this mean? Here is what Jesus Himself said in Revelation 3:17 “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked”.

The first order of business after reading this admonition from Christ is to search our hearts and let the Lord reveal our own shortcomings, so we can go about trying to fix them!!

There are many books and articles which can be written about the state of the modern church, but what I feel a burden for after a prayer meeting last evening, was the state of the modern church HEART!

PROPHETIC PASSAGE!

The passage the Lord laid upon my heart the following passage while in deep prayer over a certain other concern! I showed it to the event host who was amazed as it confirmed something for us. Here is the prophet Haggai from chapter 1: 2-9:

2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” 3 Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? 5 Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways.6 You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. 9 You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house.”

This admonition was about the Temple!! The House of the Lord here on Earth! We who are saved…truly saved….are the NEW TEMPLE…the abiding place of the Holy Spirit of God! We fellowship corporately in a man-made structure called the Church, but we ARE the true ekklesia. We are the true church….or we are supposed to be!

In the above passage from Haggai, the Lord is speaking directly to us through His living, breathing Word!

Take your average medium sized town and city – where the majority of Americans live and work. If the average unsaved individual (most people) were to look at your church building (or as Haggai says “paneled houses”), what would they say about you? Would they say that this particular church and its members care about the poor, sick, needy and lost and they would love to visit during your next community outreach?

OR…would they think we’re a bunch of well-dressed in our suits and khakis every Sunday; drive in our nice cars, leave after 1 hour and 34 mins and never say a word about evangelism, missions, outreach or the lost…until the next Sunday morning’s harmless (and technically correct) sermon?

Unfortunately, it is the latter! That’s right! We’re a bunch of stuck up elitists sitting around waiting for a non-existent Pre-Trib Rapture!! Yes, I went there – there is no such thing as a pre-Tribulation rapture…a topic for another day!

WE DON’T:

We don’t Pray – unless someone sends out a prayer chain request for a medical or other emergency on the phone or email.

We don’t even TALK about prayer. We don’t have prayer services or solemn assemblies. We even tell people they are “in our thoughts and prayers” which is absolutely meaningless as we’re lying! We don’t pray for them! If we did, we would find a place to begin the Travailing Intercession process by praying with them IMMEDIATELY!

Next, we don’t Evangelize! We talk about the Great Commission and may even write a check for $20 to Franklin Graham’s Samaritan Purse, but won’t share Christ at work or give someone a book or even act concerned if a coworker has a problem with their son/daughter flunking out of school. And forget street evangelism! That passing out tracts or being there to talk to someone about Jesus is for those “other guys and gals”.

It is no wonder that most American church leaders NEVER lead a soul to Christ, while having the best study curricula, fancy vacation bible schools and more!

We don’t do Missions. What? “But we write a check for that couple living in Ghana or Cambodia..” What ARE YOU doing? Missions is not something a selected called few do in poor Third World countries. The minute you step out your door, you’re in the biggest mission field ever! Take King Jesus….wherever he stopped, there was His Ministry – the Woman at the Well; the Rich young Ruler; the Roman Centurion etc.

It is getting so bad that the biggest mission field sign is NOT over the Exit door as we leave on Sunday morning, but the BIGGEST MISSION FIELD sign is over the door leading to the Sanctuary!

This lack of Faithfulness to the Lord Jesus and His Word…even while we have nice harmless worship music and accurate preaching…has produced some horrible fruit….and this will lead to HARSH JUDGMENT on Judgment Day!

Here is what 1 Peter 4:17 “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begins with us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?"

This should scare any pastor/elder or deacon…but it does not! Judgment will start with church leadership who see their “good” works will go up in flames and will be grateful they’re even IN heaven!

MODERN CHURCH, SAME OLD BAD FRUIT:

Here is why: First, the rate of Divorce is higher INSIDE the church than the general population! Church members are sleeping around and fornicating and watching pornography like there is no tomorrow!! They think the Grace of God will cover a multitude of their sins!

Second, abortion and premarital sex are just as bad INSIDE the church as in the general population, as a result of this mindless fornication paradigm! My friends who run a ministry dealing with pregnant teens and young adults report that almost ALL their clients come in looking for an abortion and claiming they are Christians and go to such and such church!!!!!! Do you get what this means? Are we getting it now?!

While inward looking church leadership have their heads in the sand, their sheep are in the thicket, ripped apart by the thorns…and the elders can’t see it (or won’t). So you know what happens? Say a teenage girl gets pregnant and is shamed in her own church….they just move to another church more welcoming...because not every church is full of people who are not sinners or make mistakes!

Third, according to extensive proof from massive research by Britt Beemer and Ken Ham, we already lost the next generation of youth from Grade 6 and up!! Read the amazing book “ALREADY GONE”! While these kids come to Sunday school with their parents because they have to, we have already lost the battle for their hearts for Christ and the Faith to the world! We have them for one hour per week…the devil’s playground has them the rest of the week!

This is the demographic more likely to believe gay marriage is right; abortion is okay; sex and drugs and rock and roll is fine because Miley Cyrus says she is a Christian and lives that lifestyle.

This is the demographic that will post profiles on Facebook and MySpace saying they are “Jesus –lovers”; since contemporary “Christian” songs which hardly mention Jesus if ever and will more likely than not, post a semi-nude or compromised unchristian photo of themselves on Facebook or Twitter!

Even worse, this is the proven demographic which says, according to both Barna and the Pew Foundation – 57% of these evangelicals think there is another way to heaven than Jesus! Did you hear that? Our children and youth are coming out of our nice, well-behaved conservative churches thinking only 43% of what we say is right!! What kind of preachers do we have in America???!!

What kind of church leadership would produce the next generation – 57% of them- who think the 300 millions demonic Hindu gods, or Islam or Zoroaster or that rock by the stream can get them into heaven! Remember – judgment begins in the House of the Lord – the church!

Fourth and final point – all of this spiritual incompetence – both by design and accident – is a result of the lack of proper teaching of the Creator and His Creation. When we have more and more people believing in evolution and then saying they’re Christians, we have Corruption, period! A person CANNOT BELIEVE IN BOTH CHRIST AND EVOLUTION!! A true believer saved and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, will never attribute God’s creation to some massive blob exploding off a big bang ape crawling out of the sea in ancient Egypt 300 gazillion years ago…but more and more so-called Christians believe that lie from the pit of hell, via Charles Darwin!

The reaction of several church leaders I know in my own travels locally mostly is stunning! Instead of trying to fix the problems, seek Divine Guidance so God gets the Glory or go back to the Basics of the Faith, these pastors and leaders hunker down, grab even more of what they THINK IS THEIR TURF and cut off real men of God in their congregations who are the remnant that fully grasp this evil and urgency of the hour! They cut off and ignore the hurting teens, women and men in our offices, homes and even churches... and the Quiet Desperation of their people and while continuing with their Stained Glass Masquerade!

We Are Easter People, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: 1st Peter 1:17-23
1:17 If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile.
1:18 You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold,
1:19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.
1:20 He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake.
1:21 Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.
1:22 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart.
1:23 You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.

Let me start right out with the title of this sermon. We are Easter people. We are the people of the resurrection. Jesus Christ was crucified, dead, buried and rose again. He is the resurrected Christ. When we are baptized, we go beneath the water and rise up again, sharing with Him symbolically the resurrection from death to life.

We are the people of Easter, the people of the resurrected Christ.

But Peter is telling us that if we are going to follow God, we need to follow Him all the way while we are here on this earth, living as though we expect God to be the impartial judge that He is. We need to draw near to God until His presence overcomes our pride, our ego, and our self-interest to the point that we praise Him even for the difficulties and tragedies of this life.

For we are a special people, as followers of God, set aside for His purposes. We walk in the righteousness of the Son, Jesus Christ, redeemed from sin by His shed blood on the cross. People look to us, watch how we respond, to see if God is real in our lives.

But this is not like trading in a coupon for a free bag of chips. Not something we can pick up now, lay it down when it pleases us for some special desire we wish to satisfy, then pick it back up again. This is a life given over in violence and blood, to save us. This is blood that oozed from the scourged back of the Son of God, who allowed them to do that to Him, for you and I. This is a body racked with pain as bones strained against sockets, while muscles and sinews gave way and screamed in agony. This cost the Son of Man and Son of God something, something terribly painful. Then there was the darkness of death as He was taken down from the cross and laid in a cold, borrowed tomb.

So Peter reminds us, "Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart." And it is here we stumble around so badly.

That car in the other lane cuts you off, someone grabs your parking spot, someone takes out their anger on you, you are falsely accused, you fall into temptation and succumb to it, life isn't fair. So the first time you have a chance to unleash your anger on someone else, to make their life unfair, well, there you go. So much for loving your neighbor as yourself.

There is so much evil in the world most of us have no idea what's out there waiting for us. If it were not for the protecting arm of our Lord and Savior, life wouldn't even be worth hanging around for. If we had any idea -- and some of you who have traveled abroad, perhaps in the military, indeed do -- we would not add to it. Because none of us has any idea what load the other guy or gal is being ground down with. We might wish they had our troubles, but if we had theirs, we would want ours back.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we walk a fine line where loving our neighbor is concerned. We are told not to judge one another, but we are to be conscientious with the truth, to avoid people who would tempt us, use us, and draw us away from God.

John 12:47-48 gives us Jesus' example when He advises us, “If anyone hears My words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not accept My words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day."

So on the one hand Jesus is saying don't judge others when they deny Jesus Christ, for God will take care of that. But on the other hand, He is also saying we who follow Him are to keep His words. And as to keeping His words, 2nd Timothy 2:15 gives us wise counsel: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." For if we are rightly dividing the word of truth, we will save ourselves a great deal of consternation and confusion, and be able to share truth and clarity with others.

There is across this nation at this moment a mistaken effort to align Islam with Christianity by those unschooled in the ability of "rightly dividing the word of truth." They mistakenly believe that both Islam and Christianity spring from the roots of Abraham. They do not, and the "evidence" that they use is colloquial, not historic.

Part of their argument is that Islam also speaks of Jesus, and it does. But our crucified, risen Lord is considered a prophet by Islam, not the Son of God and not resurrected. Muslims teach from their Qu'ran that Jesus will return to earth and rule the world from the Islamic Qu'ran, not from the word of God.

Anyone who has studied the Qu'ran knows it is full of deception, permission for and advice to lie, full of the abuse of young girls, the oppression of women, and advocates violence against those who will not worship their Allah.

When pressed regarding this, Muslim priests, called Imams, respond that the Bible is also full of violence. And they are correct, except the violent wars of the Bible are documented as history, not advocated against those who will not worship Jesus.

It is also worthwhile pointing out that the love, hope and peace of the Olivet Discourse and the Sermon on the Mount found in the Bible are nowhere found in the Qu'ran.

There has never been, and will never be, anything like the living word of the Living God, of which Hebrews 4:12 tells us "The word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit, and the joints and the marrow, and is a critic of the thoughts and the intents of the heart."

There is no truth or love like there is in the Living God.

There is no forgiveness like that gift of eternal life given through Jesus Christ.

There is no future, no hope, no promise like that of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

If you know the word of God, in all of its entirety and context, God-breathed, then you know that. It stands alone. Exodus 20:1-7 is a listing of God's original Ten Commandments to us, and the very first one is "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." And the second is like to it, that we shall have no images or likeness to which we will bow down and serve. There is only one Living God, and He is found in neither Islam nor the Qu'ran. Nor is His Son, Jesus who is the Christ, nor the Holy Spirit.

In days of old, the people of Islam called Christians "The People of the Book," because we held so closely to the inspired word of God. And they were right. We still must hold very closely to the true word that God has given us. For in the culmination of that precious Book known as the Bible, we find the mystery of the ages coming to fruition in the New Testament -- just as today's scripture says He was "destined before the foundation of the world" -- the virgin birth of the Son of God, His walking among us as the Son of Man, his healing and teaching, and His death, burial and resurrection; the mystery revealed. The reason we will forever be Easter people.

Now, if you are not certain that you belong to Jesus Christ, that there is enough evidence to judge you a person of the Book, or an Easter person, you need to take care of that right away. For there is only one God, creator of heaven and earth, one death on the cross that took away your sins -- if you will accept that gift from Jesus Christ -- and one destination for those who believe in Him. Everything else misses out on Easter.

Amen.