What a great day yesterday! In the AM service a precious soul was saved and another was added to the church. In the PM service we were blessed by the music ministry of Bro.Shawn Drewett —a little bit of heaven on earth! How could anything be more important or joyful? Then this morning I happened to read the following article by Pastor Stephen Davey and it reminded me, again, that most people don’t know what’s important and what’s not. Perhaps it will give you some food for thought:

What you think these men had in common at the height of their careers during the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s?

·         Owen D. Young
·         James F. Byrnes
·         Pierre Laval
·         Harlow Curtis
·         Hugh Johnson

More than likely you do not recognize the names of any of these men.  You certainly could not tell what they did or how they rose to fame.  Yet each of these men was at some point in his life Time Magazine‘s “Man of the Year.”  They were judged as the person having had the greatest impact on the rest of humanity during a given year.

It is our nature to think that we are really something special. This is why the business of celebrity is so successful.  We have a desire to be great at something, and we are even willing to be somewhat satisfied with news of the lives of celebrities—reveling in their fame by proxy. 

Think about the yearly audience of the Super Bowl; the Final Four; the NBA playoffs; the Masters; the Stanley Cup; Wimbledon; the Bowl games; the World Series.   Factor in the weekly audiences of American Idol; The Celebrity Apprentice; Survivor, and many more “reality” shows.  The American public has high hopes and watches intently to see who the winners will be.

Then you have the Academy Awards—for days before and after, water cooler talk centers on who will win/won which Oscar. Why? It’s not as if the contenders are really the characters they portray—they’re just good pretenders. Maybe that’s why we find them so fascinating—we want to be good pretenders, too.

The writers of Psalms had no illusions about who we really are. There is line upon line in the book of Psalms regarding the nature of man.

Here in Psalm 102, the days of our lives are compared to withering grass, but not so the Lord’s. He is great and His name lives for all generations—He is the same . . . His years will have no end. 

Why do we insist on plying mankind with glory and adulation when we have the God of the universe before us?   Our attention and adoration should not be focused on man’s folly, but rather upon the greatness of God.  J. I. Packer addresses this very point:

The Christian’s instincts of trust and worship are stimulated very powerfully by knowledge of the greatness of God.  But this is knowledge which Christians today largely lack; that is one reason why our faith is so feeble and our worship so flabby.  We are modern men, and modern men—though they cherish great thoughts of man—have, as a rule, small thought of God.

Let’s get real about ourselves and mankind as a whole: admit that underneath the façade the world sees, we all are sinners by nature, deserving none of mankind’s praise.

Should we really care about the comings and goings [and every detail in between] of  celebrities; stars; idols?  No!

Let’s focus our aim where it should be, and say with the Psalmist, “But You, O Lord . . . “—–

Ask the Lord to help you meditate on His greatness.  As you read the Scriptures, take time to praise God for Himself—the One whose years will have no end.

For nearly half-a -century I’ve been saying, “If you want to know where we’re headed as a nation just watch Europe. If you want to know where we are headed as Independent Baptist just watch the Southern Baptist.”

In regards to the church we generally stay conservative enough to show that we are different from the more liberal Southern Baptist. But, sadly as time goes by we find ourselves following right along the same path that they trod. Although not as liberal, we are a long way from where we were and should be.

In regards to our country we find ourselves just a few years behind whatever is happening in Europe. Because of that, we can look at the trend and see what’s around the corner–and it’s not a pretty picture. A short time ago I read an article from “AP” entitled “Riot-Torn UK Must Reverse ‘Moral Collapse’, Says Prime Minister”. Listen to this:

Prime Minister David Cameron declared Monday that Britain faces a battle to find its moral compass following four days of riots that left five people dead, thousands facing charges for violence and theft, and at least 200 million pounds ($350 million) in property losses.  Cameron said senior ministers of his 2-year-old coalition government would spend the next few weeks formulating new policies designed to reverse what he described as a country being dragged down by many citizens’ laziness, irresponsibility and selfishness. He said “the responsible majority” was demanding that the government build “a stronger society.”  “This has been a wake-up call for our country. Social problems that have been festering for decades have exploded in our face,” Cameron said in his prepared remarks for a planned Monday morning speech. “Do we have the determination to confront the slow-motion moral collapse that has taken place in parts of our country these past few generations?”

I’m not a prophet, but I am a student of the Bible and I do read the newspaper. Our way of life can be changed forever as a result of a single terrorist attack, or even a natural disaster and our response to it. If you think crime is bad now, just wait until there is a genuine food shortage. It will set neighbor against neighbor, and there are those who will kill you for a loaf of bread, just as they murder people to get their next fix concerning drugs.

Our nation is clearly divided, more than you probably realize, and we’ve already seen examples of what people will do when they don’t get their way. They will loot stores, burn cities, and murder anyone who gets in their way. In Europe and other places that is becoming more and more common. Mark it down–there will be an explosion here in America.

Around the world religious and racial tension is creating a climate that makes things ripe for an explosion that will shock and rock our nation. It should come as no surprise! Perhaps some of you are thinking,”What a way to start a day! Why all the doom and gloom? Couldn’t you write something more cheerful and encouraging?” Answer–I could and I do. Articles like this are not an everyday occurrence with me, but there are times when a wake-up call is needed. Once an explosion is set-off there is no time to act. It begins and ends in a hurry and the carnage left behind is an awful sight.

Proverbs 22:3 says, “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.” THINK ABOUT IT!

Did you read this article, called the quote of the decade?

This quote was translated into English from an article appearing in the

Czech Republic as published in the Prager Zeitung of 28 April 2011.

“The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of

entrusting an inexperienced man like him with the Presidency. It will be far

easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore

the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate

willing to have such a man for their president.. The problem is much deeper

and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails

America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast

confederacy of fools that made him their prince.. The Republic can survive

a Barack Obama. It is less likely to survive a multitude of Idiots such as

those who made him their president.”

Sadly many never see the true nature of our problem, and certainly don’t see themselves as part of the problem–it’s easier to blame Obama, or as in his case, blame Bush! This next article should be read and digested by every American–it should cause us to repent and throw ourselves on the mercy of God.

America’s Best Fuel: ‘A Moral and Religious People’

By George Scagges