Excel, Hubba Bubba, or Flattery

We celebrated my first pastor's [Pastor Art Dyck] retirement this last weekend.

It was a celebration of 37 years of ministry...it was great.

The Lord is faithful.

I love Pastor Art and his wife Marge.

After much time of people sharing great stories of giving and loving during the past years of ministry...it came time for Pastor Art and Marge to share.

One of the things that Marge said really cracked me up...it was great.

She said that she realized that people were sharing on and focusing on the good times over the last 37 years and not the hard times...and then she said...

...flattery is like chewing gum, enjoy it while it lasts, but don't swallow it.

I love that...good advice indeed.

Building the Church

Jesus said that He was building His church...and that the gates of hell would not prevail against the church.

In military arsenal the gates would be defensive.

The gates are to protect a city [kingdom] and its people [military, civilians] and goods.

Jesus says that He builds His church by overcoming Satan/strongman...by reaching into the kingdom of Satan...the kingdom of darkness...and transferring its citizens out and making them citizens of the High King...King Jesus!

We must understand the church in this light.

We must begin to understand the church as an ever growing community...a growing family.

God tells us that Jesus came to save sinners...and we often translate this into meaning, "the church needs to get out there and share the gospel...and it does need to do this.

But is there more to that mission?
How is the church operate...what is it to look like?

What is Jesus' heart toward those not yet in the kingdom...but those who He is going to bring in?

Luke 15 tells us Jesus' heart.

Jesus leaves the 99 to go and get the one!

When we think about and plan our preaching...our singing...our bible studies, our prayer times...do we do so with merely the 99 in mind...or do we ever think about how the one will respond?

Just some thoughts.

Muddled Morals.

I have heard discussions from our city council about cracking down on "prostitution" in our fine city.



As I listened to this I had to scratch my head.



Why did they want to prohibit "prostitution"...I was confused.



Don't get me wrong...I believe that "prostitution" is immoral...and illegal...that's not my point.



What confused me was this same council has no problem with our city having businesses that profit exclusively from the sale of pornographic material [movies, magazines, etc].



Are you seeing the conflict?



Look at a few definitions of what "prostitution" is;



The Free Dictionary [by Farlex]
1. The act or practice of engaging in sex acts for hire.


Dictionary.com
1. the act or practice of engaging in sexual intercourse for money.

American Heritage Dictionary.

The act or practice of engaging in sex acts for hire.

Word Net.

1. offering sexual intercourse for pay

Pornography has gone from being something viewed as wicked...abhorrent [at least people said so] to now as one of the most money making industries in North America.

But what makes pornography different from prostitution...the only difference seems to lie in the shamelessness of the whores involved.

Prostitutes offer their services by standing on the street corner...in certain areas of town...letting the wrong kind of men know what they are selling.

They receive money...in trade for sexual favors...transaction complete...no Visa please...cash only!

The porno shop sits on the street corner...advertising sex acts for sale.

The prostitutes in the porno industry trade money for sex...and then are shameless enough to have it recorded for others to watch...the pimp becomes the porno shop keeper.

We have become so blinded, by our own moral bankruptcy, that we think one is wrong...because it gives the image of our city a blemish [women standing on the street corner doesn't look decent]...while the other is viewed as a business.

How does this happen...it begins when our societies standards of sex in relationship to marriage and pre-marriage relationships disintergrates.

Thats for another day.