In our reading in Colossians, Paul lists three cardinal virtues of the Christian life: faith, love, and hope (similarly listed in 1 Corinthians 13:13 and 1Thessalonians 1:3; 5:8). The theologian, Lightfoot, asserts “Faith rests on the past; love works in the present; hope looks to the future. I am always encouraged when I read Paul’s epistles. His focus is always Christ, and his confidence is always based in eternity. In the final analysis of every Christian, no matter the outcome of this life, the last word for every Christian is victory! The Christian ends up in the presence of the Lord for eternity! Consequently, as it has been said, “The worst thing that death can do to me is the best thing that can happen to me!”
Still, having hope for the future of America, California, and Lucerne Valley in this life can seem to be an exercise in futility. It is true we have liberal, feckless, immoral, and impudent leadership making asinine policies and decisions that have derogatively impacted and deliberately denigrated the quality of our daily lives; yet one can still do his best to look to Christ and know the last word is His Word!
As I have encouraged in past sermons and letters, we need to be people of prayer. Pray that God would expose the evil and confound the enemy’s plans. I often pray that God will change the hearts of our leaders or remove them by whatever speedy means He chooses. Pray against the giants in our land (i.e. illegal activity). Ask God to make our town safe again! Recently, it was reported that an individual was seen in one of our local establishments, whose identification and affiliations were unmistakably questionable, who sported a shirt that read, “We own this town.” These individuals are defying our laws, making our streets unsafe, stealing our resources, polluting our environment with dangerous pesticides and endangering the safety and well-being of our citizens.
Biblically, every time the enemy boldly declared he was in control, God did the big smack-down to show him who was really in control. “Lord let Your glorious ‘Smack-down’ fall!”
You can let your voices be heard by writing House Representative Jay Obernolte at repobernolte@mail8.housecommunications.gov
- Pastor Gary Schlenz
Yorumlar