Tolerate This!

"Tolerance"- This nine letter word has gained a lot of momentum through the years. Maybe "intolerance" is even more common. You know, the idea that all us Christians are just "intolerant." It's amazing to me the fact that simply saying that something someone is doing is wrong is considered "intolerant," but the fact that you are telling me I'm "intolerant" is, in fact, you "tolerating" my "intolerance." Even though me telling you that you were wrong was "intolerant," you telling me that I'm wrong is just fine. Confused yet? I know I am.

I was watching Conan last night and Jesse Tyler Ferguson was one of the guests. Jesse is an actor from the comedy series "Modern Family" that is on ABC. They went through a really nice and interesting interview that was fun and comedic, and then Conan said, "I have to plug this in here. You recently started a foundation? What's that about?" Jesse then began to talk about "tie the knot." Tie the knot is a foundation that sells bow ties to raise funds and awareness for "marriage equality" for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. So I went to tietheknot.org to check it out. On the website they are comparing this fight for "marriage equality" to the civil rights movement. Now, I'm familiar with the concept, and I'm sure all of you are as well, but I was shocked that a man who seems so educated could make a claim so outrageous. Well, that comparison led me to search reasons why the LGBT community would make such claims. They state that they are a small minority that is being "oppressed" by the majority, similar to blacks being oppressed by whites. Not exactly in the same ballpark, or even universe, is it? I also came across an article that attacked a Catholic bishop, or as they say bigot, who was simply stating why he believed homosexuality was wrong and even immoral. I also watched an interview on Hardball with Chris Matthews in which Chris and Congressman Barney Frank were having a blast attacking Tony Perkins from the Family Research Council about his statements against gay marriage in which the title of the video (Barney Frank 'wipes the floor' with bigot Tony Perkins in same-sex marriage debate), calls Mr. Perkins a bigot for simply not supporting gay marriage, and rather supporting Biblical standards and definitions.

The Bible is very clear on the issue of homosexuality. Paul writes in Romans that it's unnatural. Leviticus is very harsh calling it an abomination. So clearly, to a Christian, it is immoral. Why can we not say that? Why is it "intolerant" to say something is wrong, but "tolerant" to call me a bigot for expressing my opinion? Understand this, I don't hate homosexuals, and neither does God. John 3:16 says, "God so loved the WORLD" not, "God so loved everyone but homosexuals," but that doesn't mean we simply say nothing. The world today seems to think tolerance means love, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. Tolerance is a passive word. It means to "allow the practice, or act of without prohibition." Tolerance actually is synonymous with "permitting." Would you permit your son to use drugs? Would you permit your daughter to having multiple sexual relationships with multiple men? NO! You would prohibit it! Why? Because you love them! Love is an action word, not a passive one! When you love someone, you show it by what you do. When they do something wrong you tell them because you love them. That's why Christians seem like bigots. We don't hate the LGBT community! We love them! We have our convictions that we are free to act on through the 1st Amendment, which also protects our freedom to tell you our convictions. It's in fact more intolerant to call me a bigot for expressing my beliefs, than for me to express a belief that you simply feel uncomfortable with or hostile to.

Listen Christians, this is not a license to walk out into the world and tell everyone they are a horrible person. None of us should do that! We need to look upon people with love. We need to care for and foster them. I am not trying to single out the gay community, simply open up eyes to see. Paul says in 1 Timothy, that Timothy needs to stay in Ephesus so that he can COMMAND the people to steer away from the false teachers and that his attitude in doing so should be one of love. It's not to establish dominance or fear, but to show the people of Ephesus that he loves them enough to tell them they are doing wrong. In 2 Timothy, Paul tells to "preach the Word." That is a command all of us need to take. Regardless of what people may say or think, we need to stick to the Word of God, and preach it with love and humility. Homosexuality is a sin. We all sin. None of us are better than anyone. We all at one time need to hear this message, and the homosexual community is in that same boat. Love them, care for them, and preach the Word!

To any LGBT who may read this, please don't think I'm targeting you specifically. I've written, and given countless messages, and had debates with Christians and non-Christians, Atheists and agnostics, about all kinds of topics and issues. I simply came across this subject, and was led to write about it. None of it was written with any intent to offend or demean, simply to reveal.

God Promised!

I woke up yesterday morning at 3:30am with a horrible headache. I was in a car accident when I was 18 months old, and I've lived with migraines ever since. Suffering a back injury in football and 1 diagnosed concussion, along with who knows how many undiagnosed, probably didn't do much to help my situation either. I'm used to headaches. I've lived with them all my life. In fact one time I had a headache so bad in 3rd grade that on the bus I actually threw up on a kid that was sitting next to me. I typically keep a bottle of ibuprofen or aspirin in my car and at work. If I travel any where you better believe there's medicine coming with me. Well, yesterday morning was another one of those days. It was so bad that I couldn't close my eyes to get relief, and I couldn't keep my eyes open because any kind of light was like a lazer that was trying to blind me, and on top of that I was feeling extremely nauseous and started thinking back to what happened in 3rd grade and how much I didn't want to go through that again. My typical ritual is to get up and take medicine and take a shower, so I did. While I was in the shower I remembered back to a passage of scripture that we had gone over in one of our men's Bible studies when David is speaking to God. 2 Samuel 7:25 "Now, therefore O LORD God, the word you have spoken concerning Your servant, and his house, confirm it forever and do as You have spoken..." David calls God out on His promise. David says, "God you have spoken this promise over me and my house, do as you have promised." This verse flooded my mind, and this idea flooded my mind as I then remembered Matthew 7:7 where it says, "Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you." Those are "will" statements, which indicate a promise that God will do what He has said. I finally thought about how we have been given the Holy Spirit to empower us to do the work of God, to cast out demons, to heal the sick, to raise the dead, and to profess the Word of God with boldness. Well, you know what I did? I called God on His promise. I said, "God you said if I ask I will receive so I'm asking for an empowering of Your Spirit. You said, 'seek and you will find,' so I'm seeking your healing. You said, 'knock and the door will be opened,' well my knuckles are bleeding I'm knocking so hard at Your door."And just like God is, He was faithful to His promise. I immediately started to feel relief in my head. I could close my eyes again to get some rest. I had peace.

So many times we live in fear when it comes to walking out our faith. We are perfectly comfortable talking about an omnipotent God, but when it comes to having a situation to apply His omnipotence, we fail miserably. I can't tell you how many times I've been led to pray for a sick person to be healed and I wimp out and end up asking God to do this and that without any real belief behind it, without any authority in what I say. Then I read the account of Peter and John at the gate Beautiful in Acts 3 and I just drop my head in utter disappointment. Those guys knew the authority. They knew the power they had, and compared to them I'm a failure. They didn't ask God to do anything, because they knew He would do it. They walked up to the crippled beggar and said, "Get up and walk!" That's it! Nothing more, nothing less! And what happened? The man got up, and went jumping and praising God in the synagogue! How have we gotten so lost in what, "walking in the authority of God" really means? God promised us His power, and His power is infinite and incalculable! He promised us His authority, and His authority is greater than any president, king, or ruler this earth, or even the spiritual realm, has ever known! Why don't we walk in it? Why do we allow our circumstances, our western world view, to get in the way of the potential that God has for us? The next verse in 2 Samuel 7 says, "that Your name may be magnified forever, by saying, 'The LORD of hosts is God over Israel..." Think about this. If we are calling on God's promises for His glorification we cannot fail because God will not be mocked! He's all about His glory, His honor, His exaltation! I called on His promise not simply so I could be healed, but so that I could stand before our congregation that Sunday morning and say, "God is faithful to His promise! What He did for me, He can and will do for you!" It was to glorify His name, not simply for my satisfaction! If that is our attitude, there is no doubt in my mind that God will give us what we ask. It's why the man at the gate was healed. His healing brought glory to the name of God and an opportunity for the gospel to be preached in order that more men and women could be brought into the family of God! Take the step of faith! Believe in God as David did, as Peter did, as Paul and so many other great men and women did! Then watch God work in and through you! And ultimately give glory to the God of heaven and earth! The omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God that is the one and only God! Amen!

Repentance

Recently I went on a hospital visit to visit a man who had just had a heart-attack. First off, be praying for him as he's only 49 and shouldn't be having these kind of issues. No doubt that his decision to smoke since the age of 14 plays a major role in his condition; however he has made a resolution to quit smoking so be praying for a break of this addiction that plagues his life.

Anyway, while we were visiting, his mother had asked us to pray for his salvation. Of course we explained that that was a decision that he would have to make on his own, and that we were open to talk to him about that. He said he knew he had to repent and then went on his, what I like to call, "repentance speech." This is where someone will go off listing all of their sins because they somehow think that if they simply name off what they did that they will be cleansed and in right standing with God. Usually, it's not in a way that is submitting to Christ as Lord (1 Peter 3:15), but in a way to avoid hell. Unfortunately, this isn't unusual and got me thinking. Is this what we're teaching people? That heaven is about not going to hell? That repentance is more like Catholic confession? I sincerely hope not.

Repentance is not listing your sins, it's an active attitude of turning your back to your life of sin. It's saying, "I'm no longer going to follow that lifestyle!" "I'm no longer going to keep walking east, I'm going to start walking west." It's, "I'm no longer following the ways of this world, my ways, or the ways of the devil! I'm going to follow God and live for Him, not for myself!" Repentance in scripture is always an action of following God. Saul, stopped his life of persecuting Christians, became a follower of Christ, wrote a huge portion of the New Testament, was a huge influence in the ministry of many including Timothy and Titus, and became one of the most persecuted Christians ever to have lived. Simon-Peter, left his boat, his literal lifestyle, his job, what provided his food, his clothes, his house. He left all of it to follow Christ. Think about what he did there. He was making a huge statement. His job provided everything he needed. He was saying, "Jesus, I'm leaving this thing that gets me everything I need, because You are all I need." Now, before you put in your 2 week notice, understand I'm not calling you to quit your job. It's the attitude that I'm calling you to. The attitude of Jesus is all I need. Luke 14:26 says, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Obviously Jesus isn't telling us we should literally hate these people. What He's saying is that He needs to be the center of our life. Remember telling your wife she was your world? Or maybe your children? Jesus is saying, I need to be more of your world than them. He needs to be the sun. The thing your world revolves around. The thing that without it your world would be unable to sustain life. Look at every conversion story in scripture. It's men and women stopping one style of living to living a Christ-like style of living. A Christ-centered style of living. That's true repentance.