WARNING - Viewer Discretion Not Being Practiced....

This isn't really a devotional-type post, it's more of a chain of thoughts on the subject of Christian discretion.  I go onto Facebook profiles just to read some of people's information/biography stuff occasionally, and I can't help but see an inconsistency in the information presented.  It appears that tons of people identify themselves as "Christian" in the "Religious Views" portion of their profile, however as you read on you see "Favorite Quotes" laced with profanity, "Music" that boasts nothing but secular artists (who also use profanity and sinful stories/poetry), "Movies" known for profanity and sexually explicit scenes, pictures taken from questionable locations and/or situations, and statuses that need not be mentioned, much less posted to begin with.

What's the deal??

It seems that discretion is an after thought to a lot of "Christians."  I wonder why this is?  Sure, we all slip up and into things as we war with the flesh, but that's just it.  Is there a war going on?  Is there genuine, Godly sorrow and repentance for making a mistake (sin)?  From how things appear with most, it doesn't seem that way.
Even if most Christians agree that the whole "grace will abound as sin abounds" philosophy is heresy, it still appears that this is the very idea that most people are adhering to.
I will be the first to tell you that I am a sinner.  I sin every day, however it isn't premeditated.  It isn't something I look forward to or plan out.  That's the difference between a born-again Christian and a lost person. (or false convert - Matthew 7:21-23)
If a Christian, who is a "new creature in Christ", comes upon sin, he feels Godly sorrow over his wrong, he repents, and through the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit he fights against the urge to fall into that sin again.  For instance, a truly born-again Christian doesn't buy a CD full of profanity and idolatrous lyrics, feel guilty over it, and then buy another CD of the same type the next day.  A Christian recognizes the sin, hates it, and goes to war with it from then on.  Will there be occasional slip ups?  Yes, but they're not planned out.  A Christian hates sin.  Hates it. 
So again, Christians, I ask:  Where is the discretion?  It's not 'OK' to go see that rated 'R' movie with nudity, strong profanity, and a sinful storyline.  It's not 'OK' to listen to that sin-laced music because 'it doesn't effect you' or 'it just sounds good.'  It's not 'OK' do all the things the world enjoys because it's too hard to go against.  Christians are called to a much higher standard because the greatest price of all was paid on our behalf.  If we believe it, we ought to live like it.  You don't own you anymore.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."  Hebrews 12:1


It can't be said much clearer than that.

A Gentle Address to Homosexuality....

READ ROMANS 1

As a minister, I’m called, I’m responsible, and I’m held accountable for the things that I preach in any pulpit.  I, and any other minister of God’s Word, have a high calling as acting overseers of Christ’s bride, the Church.  With that said, I cannot waiver on the issue I am about to address.  But before I bring it up, I must ask everyone to please read/hear these thoughts completely through so that the message isn’t misconstrued in any way, shape, or form. 

The Bible makes it clear that homosexuality is a sin.  There is absolutely no way around that fact.  If there is anyone here who is either struggling with homosexuality or is actively living in a homosexual relationship, you are in sin.

Now, with that said, hear this:  The sin of homosexuality, burning with lust for the same sex, is an offense in God’s eyes just like burning with lust for someone of the opposite sex.  As a man who is heterosexual, I am attracted to females.  If I lust after a woman, meaning if I have sexual thoughts about her in my mind, that makes me just as guilty in God’s eyes because I’m committing adultery with that woman in my heart (because God even judges our thought life).  If I act on those feelings or thoughts and I have a sexual relationship with a woman outside of the covenant of marriage, I’m guilty of the physical act of fornication and if either of us are married, adultery. 

According to God’s standard, not mine, not yours, not the world’s, a man is to have sexual relations with a woman only (and vice versa) within the covenant of a marriage relationship.  Both the man and the woman are permitted to lust only after each other.  Both are only permitted to have sexual relations with each other and no one else.  That’s God’s standard.

So, in God’s eyes, sexual relationships and unpermitted lusts had outside of these guidelines are sin.  Whether I have sexual relations outside of marriage with another man, another woman, or even an animal, I AM IN SIN.  Period.  If I have unpermitted lust for another man, another woman, or an animal, I AM IN SIN.  (meaning if I lust outside of marriage)

Again, these are God’s standards, not mine or anyone else's.

Let me finish with this thought:  I’m not a doctor, or neurosurgeon, or psychologist.  But some studies seem to show that it’s possible that chemical imbalances in the human brain can alter the way a person behaves in regards to sexual orientation.  And maybe these findings are true, I don’t know.  And there are also environmental factors that may play a role in someone sexually orienting themselves one way or the other…..such as a boy growing up with only a mother and sisters, no male figure, or a girl is raped and she swears to never trust another man again so she finds comfort in other women.  However, whatever the case may be, I can say this with certainty…..when the Fall of Mankind occurred with Adam & Eve, when sin entered the world, the “very good” world that God created might I add, things were drastically altered on every level.  The natural world was altered in such a way that it grew weeds and thorns and natural disasters came about and animals began eating each other to survive.  We even became altered genetically.  We went from an imperishable form to one that dies.  So with the fall, we got things like cancer, mental illnesses, birth defects, behavioral disorders, and might I even suggest to you psychological problems like chemical imbalances.  When the Fall happened, everything became screwed up and the world has been messed up ever since. 

This all sounds very grim, but the wonderful thing about Jesus is that He is the Way to defeat this Fall.  Christ can and will save you and He will give you the strength to defeat the sin of homosexuality, of lust, or whatever the sin may be.   

As a teenager, it was always a tough battle for me to not lust after females and it seemed like I’d pray and pray for help and I’d try everything on my own power to keep from doing that but I never could beat it.  But then one day I realized why I couldn’t beat the cycle:  I had never repented of the sin I was battling with.  Sure, I acknowledged it, I knew it was wrong and I even asked God to help me fight it off, but I never made the decision to TURN MY BACK ON IT.  Through the power of Christ, I eventually beat my issue with lust through repentance.  Now, does it ever pop up now and again?  Sure, but through repentant faith in Christ I’m able to quickly turn my back on it and not fall back into it. As a matter of fact, I'm growing more and more each day towards hating sin altogether.  That's the work of the Holy Spirit in a person.

And if you’re dealing with homosexuality today, you can do the same thing.  You can defeat the very difficult monster that is homosexuality, bisexuality, lesbianism, etc.  Christ will give you the power to do so, BUT, you must turn to Him in repentant faith.  Make the conscious decision to turn your back on homosexuality and trust that Jesus will help you beat it. 

 If you have the Savior, if you trust Him with your life (belief), you have the power within to defeat any sin that ensnares you.  You are “a new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17) and you are no longer a “slave to sin.”(Romans 6:14)

Scientific Facts in the Bible part 3

Ok, in this post I'm going to get all "doctor-like" on you.  You know those riveting chapters in Leviticus that seem to go on and on for days at a time about what the Levites could/couldn't do for their diets, hygiene, etc. and all the laws they had to adhere to?  I'm sure "riveting" is one of the last descriptive phrases to come to mind....however, after today's series part I'm sure you'll reconsider your opinion.
Today's post is dealing with the subject of "medicine" and the Bible. (not only found in Leviticus, but in other places in the Bible such as Genesis, Exodus, and Proverbs)

Fact 1 - The Laws of Hygiene
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, in 1845, Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis discovered that the death rate of women giving birth in what were then modern-day hospitals was at or near 30%.  (3 out of 10 women would die after giving birth to a child!)  What Dr. Semmelweis noticed, was that after doctors would examine the bodies of the women, they would go straight to the next ward to examine other expectant mothers without washing their hands!  Semmelweis implored that the doctors begin washing their hands between examinations and the death rate dropped to around 2%. 
Interestingly enough, thousands of years ago God gave a set of instructions in Leviticus 15:13 which stated "And when he who has a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, then he shall count for himself seven days for his cleansing, wash his clothes, and bathe his body in running water; then he shall be clean."
It wasn't until recent history, that doctors washed their hands in a bowl of standing water, which was discovered to leave germs on the hands.  The Bible, as noted in Leviticus 15, specifically mentioned to use "running water."

Fact 2 - The Correlation of Mind and Body
Modern medicine has come to understand that there is a direct correlation/relationship between a person's mental and physical health.  However, in 950 B.C., way before modern medical practices, God said in several different places in Proverbs:
14:13 - "A sound heart is life to the body, but envy is rottenness to the bones."
15:30 - "The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and a good report makes the bones healthy."
16:24 - "Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones."
17:22 - "A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones." 

Fact 3 - Bacteria
This one is rather simple.  Exodus 22:31, "And you shall be holy men to Me: you shall not eat meat torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs." 
God made it clear for the Israelites to avoid eating certain animals, for dietary purposes, but he also made sure they knew that the eating of already deceased and/or unclean animals was far from a good thing.  Being the Creator of "all things seen and unseen", God knew that bacteria existed.  The Israelites otherwise could not have known.  Thousands of years later, modern medicine caught on and began identifying bacteria for us.

Fact 4 - Fat Intake and Heart Health
Leviticus 7:22-24 "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘You shall not eat any fat, of ox or sheep or goat. And the fat of an animal that dies naturally, and the fat of what is torn by wild beasts, may be used in any other way; but you shall by no means eat it."
The American Heart Association says:  "The major kinds of fats in the food we eat are saturated, polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, and trans fatty acids.  Saturated fats, trans fats, and dietary cholesterol raise blood cholesterol.  A high level of cholesterol in the blood is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease, which leads to heart attack." 
In reference to prostate cancer, a study done by the Univ. of Pennsylvania Cancer Center stated, "The fourth most common cause of cancer among men may be related to saturated fat consumption." 
God knew this before medicine discovered it, and thank God medicine finally did! 

Fact 5 - The Immune System
In Genesis 17:12, the Israelites were instructed to have male babies circumcised on the 8th day.  Medical science discovered years upon years upon years later that the 8th day is the very day that the coagulating factor in the blood, called prothrombin, is the highest. It reaches its peak on the 8th day, then drops.  Medical science also discovered that this is when the human body's immune system is at its peak.  Interesting.

Fact 6 - The Laws of Quarantine
Long before medical science discovered the importance of the quarantining of people with infectious diseases, the Bible instituted the system via the Levitcal Laws.  
In 1490 B.C., Leviticus 13:46 stated, "He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp."
It wasn't until the 17th Century that medicine discovered these principles and implemented them.  
"During the devastating Black Death of the fourteenth century, patients who were sick or dead were kept in the same rooms as the rest of the family.  People often wondered why the disease was affecting so many people at one time.  They attributed these epidemics to 'bad air' or 'evil spirits.'  However, careful attention to the medical commands of God as revealed in Leviticus would have saved untold millions of lives.  Arturo Castiglione wrote about the overwhelming importance of this Biblical medical law:  'The laws against leprosy in Leviticus 13 may be regarded as the first model of sanitary legislation'  (A History of Medicine)."  Grant R. Jeffery, The Signature of God

There are many gems such as medicine and the Bible throughout Scripture and we have merely scratched the surface in part 3 of this study.  Please 'stay tuned' as we continue this discovery in part 4 soon.....

 

Scientific Facts in the Bible - part 2

Here's part two of the 'Scientific Facts in the Bible' series I'm currently working on.  This post will deal with the book of Job.  Job is a very profound book for many reasons, but for reasons aforementioned we will be focusing just on the scientific.

Let me start off with a quote before we begin:
"The study of the book of job and its comparison with the latest scientific discoveries has brought me to the matured conviction that the Bible is an inspired book and was written by the One who made the stars."  -Charles Burckhalter, Chabot Observatory

Job is one of the oldest books in the Bible.  It was written around 1520 B.C. and it is filled to the brim with scientific facts and evidences.

Fact 1 - Air Mass
Job 28:25 states that there is 'a weight for the wind.'  Long before it was recognized that air had a weight (16th Century), the Bible said it did.  It also makes mention that water has weight.  As Political Science Professor Richard Gunther stated, "The fact that so much water covers the earth means that the effects of the sun and moon's gravity are balanced perfectly.  The energy is dissipated in the water - the weight of the water is precisely measured."

Fact 2 - Earth's Rotation
We learn from our high school science classes (and even in earlier grades) that it was believed by science for ages that the Earth was the center of the universe and that the sun and moon revolved around it.  Today, we obviously know that that's not true, but in fact the Earth rotates on its axis causing the illusion of the sunrise/sunset.  However, 4,000 or more years ago, it was written in Job 38:12,14, "Have you commanded the morning since your days began; and caused the dawn to know its place?......It takes on form like clay under a seal, and stands out like a garment."  We're given an illustration of a clay vessel being turned or rotated on a potter's wheel, thus describing the rotation of the earth.

Fact 3 - Springs of the Sea
Again, Richard Gunther said, "Modern deep-sea-diving cameras have discovered amazing hot-water vents on the floor of the oceans - 'the springs of the sea,' which are mentioned in Job 38:16.  These thermal vents release huge amounts of mineral-rich, super-heated water - springs in the darkness." 

Fact 4 - Light
"Sir Isaac Newton studied light and discovered that white light is made of seven colors, which can be 'parted' from the white (Job 38:24, mentioning light's 'diffusion'), and then re-combined to make white again.  Science discovered this in 1650."  -Richard Gunther

Fact 5 - Dinosaurs
As Ray Comfort states:  "Why did dinosaur(s) disappear?  Science can only speculate.  However, the answer may be in Job 40:15-24.  In this passage, God Himself speaks of a great creature called "behemoth."  Some Bible commentators think this is a reference to a hippopotamus.  However, one of the characteristics of this massive animal is that it had a tail the size of a large tree.  The hippo's tail isn't like a tree; it's more like a small twig."
The characteristics of this "behemoth" are given in the passage:  it was the largest of all creatures God created, it was a herbivore, it had strength in its hips, a tail large like a tree, very strong bones, lived among the trees, drank massive amounts of water, and was not disturbed by a raging river.  This large beast seemed unstoppable and all powerful compared to all other animals.  However, the passage says, "Only He who made him can bring near His sword."  Or in other words, only the Creator, God, can put an end to the "behemoth" and his kind.  Is this a possible allusion to extinction?  Perhaps....

Thank you for reading part 2 of this series.  Part 3 will be on the way next week.

Scientific Facts in the Bible....(a series)

I'd like to take the next several blog posts to deal with the subject of science and the Bible.  To many unbelievers and Atheists, this comment seems to be a laughable joke.  As a matter of fact, these two words shouldn't even be in the same sentence to most skeptics, because the Bible is seen to be nothing more than a book of man-made stories, full of errors and misinformation.  I am writing this series of posts for all readers, but primarily for any skeptics out there who so choose to read them.  However, any believers out there who read this series should find them very useful in the event you ever run into an "intellectual" who wants to enter into the arena of 'human knowledge/reason vs. Almighty God.' 
The majority of this information, to which I cannot take credit, comes from the research done by Ray Comfort and his team.  I will merely add some of my own commentary to the information presented.
Without any further delay, let's begin.

SCIENCE & THE BIBLE
The Bible proves to be supernatural in origin because it was written by 40 different men over a 1600 year period on 3 different continents in 3 different languages.  It has harmony, without contradiction, throughout.  How else in the world could any writing of any kind occur like that under those circumstances under man's power?  (mind you it was a time before phones, internet, and social media)  The only answer is that it is divinely inspired.  If you have ever played the game "Telephone" in elementary school, (the game where one person starts a sentence, they whisper into their neighbors' ear, and then the class sees if you can get the identical story in the end) almost every time the message comes up skewed.  Sometimes the differentiation is slight, with a word or two missing or changed, but nonetheless it doesn't harmonize identically with the original message.  (and that's usually with just 15-20 students all speaking the same language)  How much more incredible is it that we have the Word of God, working in full harmony within all 66 books, over the span of time, people and languages it went through?  Only God can do that.

FACT 1 - Earth's free float in space
At a time when the earth was believed by the day's 'thinkers' to sit on the back of a large animal (1500 BC), the Bible, specifically the book of Job, stated "He....hangs the earth upon nothing."  Job 26:7
Science didn't discover this fact until 1650.....

FACT 2 - Invisible structures

In the 5th century BC, the Greek philosophers Democritus and Leucippus proposed that matter was made up of tiny, indivisible particles they called "atom."  Around 1803, John Dalton developed the first useful atomic theory of matter. He imagined the atom as a sphere full of an electrically positive substance mixed with negative electron. Then in 1897, Thompson discovered the first component part of the atom: the electron, a particle with a negative electric charge.
This is all well and good, but 2,000 years ago the writer of Hebrews wrote "things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."  Hebrews 11:3  Score another one for the 'book of fairy-tales."

FACT 3 - The Earth is round

Aristotle wrote a book "On the Heavens" making the first major suggestion that the earth might be a sphere.  It wasn't until another 2,000 years later, at a time when science believed the Earth to be flat, that Christopher Columbus, inspired by the Bible, sailed around the world.
The book of Isaiah, written between 740 and 680 BC, at least 300 years before Aristotle's suggestion, exclaimed, "It is He that sits upon the circle of the earth." Isaiah 40:22  The Hebrew word for "circle" here is "chuwg", which is translated 'circuit' or 'compass', indicating something being spherical, rounded, or arched.

FACT 4 - Oceanography

Matthew Maury (1806-1873) is considered the 'father of oceanography.'  He read Psalm 8:8 where it is written "paths of the sea", and he exclaimed, "If God said there are paths in the sea, I am going to find them."  Eventually, he wrote a book on his findings discussing the warm and cold continental currents.  This book by the way still remains as a basic text for oceanography studies in universities today.

FACT 5 - Entropy
The Bible states in 3 different places, Isaiah 51:6, Psalm 102:25-26, and Hebrews 1:11, that the earth was wearing out and would eventually come to an end.  We know today that this idea of the earth 'wearing out' is the Second Law of Thermodynamics (the Law of Increasing Entropy): that in all physical processes, every ordered system over time tends to become more disordered.  This Law was of course discovered in recent history, far later than the books of the Bible.

FACT 6 - The water cycle

We all learned in elementary school about the water cycle:  water evaporates upward, the clouds fill with water until they get too heavy, rain falls back down to the earth, the water evaporates upwards, and so on.  This cycle came about from the discoveries of Pierre Perrault, Edme Mariotte, Edmund Halley, and others in the 17th century.  However, more than 2,000 years before these discoveries, the Bible made claims about this cycle in several different places:  "All rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, there they return again" Ecclesiastes 1:7, "if the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth" Ecclesiastes 11:3, and "He....calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth." Amos 9:6
Either God had something to do with this kind of inspiration, or the Israelites were far more intelligent than history & the scientific community gave them credit for. 

FACT 7 - The First Law of Thermodynamics (Law of Conservation of Energy/Mass)

Sir Fred Hoyle had a theory of "Steady-State" or "Continuous Creation" that claimed "at certain irtrons (points in the universe) matter (or energy) was constantly being created."  It wasn't until the Laws of Thermodynamics came about that this theory was discarded, exclaiming, "neither matter nor energy can either be created or destroyed." 
Genesis 2:1 states, "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them."  The Hebrew for "finished" here indicates an action completed in the past, never to occur again.  Evolution cannot explain the origin of life, "at least not yet" as many claim, "but we're getting close..."
Genesis tells us how everything got here and that our much later discovery of the First Law of Thermodynamics proves that God's creation is a finished work.  Nothing else was created after day 6; God rested from His work on day 7.

FACT 8 - Ship Building

In Genesis 6, God gave Noah particular, meticulous instructions on how to build the Ark.  In 1609, in Hoorn in Holland, a ship was built after the same pattern (30:5:3 ratio) which revolutionized ship-building.  By 1900, every large ship was inclined toward the proportions of the Ark. (Lloyd's Register of Shipping, World Almanac)

FACT 9 - Meteorological Laws

Ecclesiastes 1:6 states, "The wind goes toward the south, and turns about unto the north; it whirls about continually, and the wind returns again according to his circuits."  
Roughly 2,000 years after this was written in the Bible, science discovered the cycles of air currents.  Science knows that air around the Earth turns in huge circles, clockwise in one hemisphere and counterclockwise in the other.

One final thought to wrap up Part 1 of Scientific Facts in the Bible:
"In antiquity and in what is called the Dark Ages, men did not know what they now know about humanity and the cosmos.  They did not know the lock but they possessed the key, which is God.  Now many have excellent descriptions of the lock, but they have lost the key.  The proper solution is union between religion and science.  We should be owners of the lock and the key.  The fact is that as science advances, it discovers what was said thousands of years ago in the Bible."
Richard Wurmbrand , Proofs of God's Existence.

I hope will take this journey with me over these next few blog posts.

Know Your Role....

Hypocrite.

What comes to mind when you hear this word?  For most people, especially the lost, Christians or 'the Church' are associated with this word.  Why is that?  Weren't hypocrites the very people Jesus scolded?  Wasn't a life of hypocrisy one of the major issues Jesus preached against?  Paul brings up the subject of living holy, good lives so that we as Christians can be seen as "blameless."
Our pastor recently brought up a statistic in a sermon in which he stated:  "Among several different restaurant chains and employees interviewed, the #1 group of people that waiters and waitresses disliked serving the most were Sunday Christians because they were the rudest and most impatient customers they serve out of the entire work week!"  How's that for blameless?
So, what's happening?

I'd like to briefly suggest what could be the possible cause (of what could be many causes) for this problem.  We Christians, today, don't know our Bibles and when we don't know our Bibles we don't know what is expected of us.  More specifically, we don't know what our role is.  Lucky for us, Titus 2 has the answer to this question, and for each age group in the church nonetheless.
 
1st Group:  MEN
Titus 2:2 - "Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance."
-Men, we are the leaders in our churches and in our families, both spiritually and physically.  We are called to set the example.  We are called to take the stand in our homes and proclaim "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."  Men, if we aren't rule-following, respected, or self-controlled how can we expect our families and our churches to grow and mature?  If we aren't solid in our faith and in our love and patience towards our fellow Christian brothers/sisters, and to our families, how can we expect them to know how to model these things when they get older?  Our calling is to lead in every sense of the word.  Men, this is our role.

2nd Group:  WOMEN
Titus 2:3-5 - "Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.  Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the Word of God."
-Women, you are to be the example for your daughters. (And if you don't have daughters of your own, then model holiness for the girls in your church family.)  You are to teach young girls how to be faithful, Christian wives and mothers.  It's a tragic thing when I see so many teenage girls who don't know the first thing about being a woman, yet their world tells them they have to be one as soon as possible.  Many teenage girls believe their self-worth is found in a boyfriend.  If they don't have a relationship, then there must be something wrong with them.  If they aren't having sex, they must be ugly and undesirable.  Our girls today are so pressured by friends (who also have the wrong idea of womanhood), magazines, TV shows, movies, models, the entertainment industry in general, etc., yet this is the only place they find their supposed 'answers' or 'examples' of what it means to be a woman, wife, and/or mom.  Women, you have to be that influence in our younger girls' lives.  You have to be that Christian rock for them to lean on and confide in when they run into the animal that is secular womanhood.  Be that example for them.  They're always watching you whether you realize it or not. 

3rd Group:  TEENS & KIDS
Titus 2:6 - "Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled."
-This verse is perfect for our teens and kids today because they have the attention span of a fly with ADHD.  This is about all they can handle as far as rules go because as soon as they get the slightest inkling that you're about to give them a direct command/order, the mind slowly drifts into 'la la land' out of rebellion and dare I say, arrogant stupidity.  Come on, we were all teens once; we know how it goes.  So the role for teens and kids is simple:  control yourself!  Obviously there is the widely known truth that children should "obey your parents" but I think, especially in this day and age, the 'elephant in the room' here is sexual temptation/sin.  Teens are having sex at a greater frequency and at shockingly younger ages than ever before and that is primarily due to the message they're getting in the entertainment industry.  I don't know many movies nowadays that don't have some kind of sexual scene in them, and gradually our PG-13 movies have become what were Rated-R movies just 15 years ago. (and Rated-R has become what once was Porn)  This is what sin does.  If entertained, it continually grinds out "goodness" into dust, until there's nearly none left.  As our teens' hormones go crazy, so does their self-control.  It's a constant battle, but that is the role of our students: control your body and save yourself the emotional/psychological scars of those avoidable sinful mistakes.

4th Group:  OUR JOB?
Titus 2:9-10 - "Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive."
-Slaves in New Testament Biblical times weren't like the slaves during the Civil War era.  Most slaves were taken care of by their 'master', well enough in fact that most slaves decided to stay and work (once their 'contract' was up) because of the life it provided.  Similarly, we can use this rule of thumb at our places of employment.  We all have a boss (the "master" in this case) and it is our job to please that boss.  If we constantly bicker and argue with our bosses, we won't be employed very long.  If we steal from them, our tenure will be over in a flash and most likely our name will be tarnished at other jobs via word of mouth.  We want to conduct ourselves as employees who can be "fully trusted."  Why?  So that our bosses, and even coworkers, will take positive notice of the work that is being done in us through Jesus Christ. 
So at work, be a respectful employee who doesn't cut corners, waste time, or clock out early.  Always model Christ for your coworkers, employees, supervisors, and bosses so that they will be drawn to the cross.

These are our roles as Christians as written by Paul to Titus.  Let's remember these 'marching orders' and conduct ourselves daily in a manner worthy of the Gospel.

Too many 'rights' will have you going in circles......

I was reading through Colossians today and let me tell you, if there were ever a book in the Bible that sounded identical to the ideology of people in America today, this would be it!
It seems during the time Paul wrote to the Christians in Colosse, there was a great amount of compromise and 'religious stew' making going on.  People were combining Jesus with other beliefs and they were making their own systems that fit their priorities, interests, beliefs, etc.  Colosse was a melting pot of religious groups/cults, heresy, and theological disaster.  Oprah would have loved it there!  (Oops, did I say that out loud?)

Scripture makes it very clear throughout:  JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY.

Think about all of the laws God gave to the Jews to follow in the Old Testament - 613 regulations broken down into 3 categories:  Civil, Moral, & Ceremonial.  God was very specific with hygiene, diet, and His sacrificial system for His people to follow.  There was one way to do things, and it was His way.

Think of Cain and Abel.  God had a specific offering and heart in mind for them both (He required the best), yet we read He was satisfied with only one of the two offerings when the time came: 

^"3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. ⁴ Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, ⁵ but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell."  Genesis 4:3-5


Cain had the opportunity, just like Abel, to come to God as required.  Yet, Cain chose to do things his own way and God rejected it.
We have millions of people in our world who have bought into the Post-Modern ideology that 'all ways lead to God', you just find yours.  Colossians has a few instances that seem to speak directly to some of the issues we see today.  Here are a couple of them:

Colossians 2:8 - "⁸ Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ." 
What does that sound like to you?  It sounds a lot like the Evolution/Big Bang(s) of our day that are constantly being taught in our schools as scientific fact, does it not?  Evolution does nothing but discover supposed 'scientific evidences' that only raise more questions and the age-old question "How did life begin?" STILL CANNOT BE ANSWERED.  And laughably, one of the theories being brought up today is a theory that crystals compiled together and over time these crystals leaked some kind of genetic material which, over millions of years, gave us what we have today.  Are you kidding me?  So we came from crystals now?  Wake me up when Mr. Intelligence comes back, thanks.


Colossians 2:13-14 -

^"13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ¹⁴ having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."

Sadly, there has been a growing movement of Messianic Judaism and a deep search for getting back to the traditional Jewish roots, and with this movement it is being taught that although Jesus died on the cross for our sins we are still under the old Mosaic Law.  The verses above are pretty clear on this issue.  Galatians is more than clear on this issue in chapters 3 & 5, and several places in both the Old and New Testaments speak on this subject of no longer being under the Law.  Yet, there are still people, just like in Colosse, who want to mix Jesus with what they choose to believe and they want to make some kind of religious stew out of it.  It's utter nonsense.


Everything I've referred to in this post can basically be wrapped up in Colossians 2:20-23:
^"20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— ²¹ “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” ²² which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? ²³ These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh."

The bottom line is this:  A lot of people in this world have bought into the world's lies (and by lies I mean teachings that go against the teachings of the Bible and that salvation can only come through faith in Jesus Christ) and the two main reasons for that are:  1.) it's easy to buy in to works-righteousness (because it's something I can physically do) and  because  2.) I can use my 5 senses to experience science (whether it's claims are true or false....I can still see it so I find it easier to trust).  
No faith and very little trust are required in science or other religious systems because YOU are in control.  Christianity is the ONLY faith that requires a human being to give up that control.....and we humans don't like that.  The Colossians didn't like that idea, so they fabricated their own way....with a little Jesus sprinkled in to candy coat the guilt.
We have a choice today:  Give our life over to Jesus OR follow this world that will one day fade.  The choice is yours.  But rest assured reader, there is only one Way.......