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MINISTRIESCALENDARLISTENINFORMATIONPASTOR'S BLOGCONTRIBUTE |
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January 19, 2009Tomorrow, if the Lord is willing, history will be made in the United States as the first African-American is inaugurated our 44th President. I am truly grateful that a man of color who has an intact family, and has excelled educationally, has reached the highest office in the land. It is astounding to realize that less than 60 years ago, African-Americans were being relegated to the back of the city buses, excluded from polling places, the best schools, and lunch counters. In a few hours we will hand an African American the keys to the White House. What is troubling about the inauguration of Barak Hussein Obama is not the color of his skin, but the content of his governance. Throughout President-elect Obama's campaign crowds of admirers chanted, YES WE CAN! But the history of mankind is strewn with the wreckage of lives, and families, and nations who have said to God "YES WE CAN!" when God said, "THOU SHALT NOT!" In Eden, Adam and Eve said, "YES WE CAN" but God said, "In the day that ye shall eat thereof ye shall surely die." They said "We Can." God said, "Thou shalt not," and they, and we, have suffered since! Cain said, "YES I CAN" offer the sacrifice of my choosing. But God demanded a blood sacrifice. Cain said, "YES I CAN" but God said, "NO." We are kidding ourselves if we think that we can dictate to God the terms of our worship! Furious with God and his brother whose sacrifice was accepted, Cain murdered his brother. God is displeased and lives are at risk when men say "YES I CAN." Noah's generation was "evil continually." Mocking Noah, that preacher of righteousness, they derided his God and shouted, "YES WE CAN!" But on that day when the fountains of the deep were opened up, and the rains began to pour out of the sky, God's will prevailed! At Babel, men said, YES WE CAN build a tower that will reach to heaven. But God declared that job would go unfinished. He confused their languages, and the proud men of Babel were forced off the tower. In Sodom, men said, YES WE CAN ignore God's moral law. Drunk with their illicit craving for pleasure, they stooped so low as to call for God's Angels to come out of Lot's house so that they could gratify their perverted lusts. But God said THOU SHALT NOT and rained fire from heaven on Sodom. The ashes of the city lie today beneath the Dead Sea. On Sinai, God said, THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS, not "YES YOU CAN." God said, THOU SHALT NOT KILL, not YES YOU CAN KILL YOUR UNBORN CHILDREN...YOUR ELDERLY...OR ANY WHO ARE INCONVENIENT... Do you realize that 50,000,000 American lives have been lost to abortion since 1973. After 70 years of captivity, Judah returned to their decimated capital to rebuild. Within a short time the people began to marry the idolatrous Canaanites. The prophet Ezra called for a solemn assembly. In the midst of a drenching rain, Ezra cried, "You have transgressed...Make Confession unto the Lord God and do His pleasure, and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and the strange wives..." (Ezra 10:9ff). In this remarkable revival, the people turned from YES WE CAN to YES HE CAN! And God's will was fulfilled. Sure it was tough. Sure it brought heart-ache. But it was right! And God honored them for their willingness to say YES HE CAN! We could go on, but the point is established. Man's YES WE CAN is rejected by the GOD OF THE UNIVERSE for HE is the Creator, we are the creation. HE is the author of the laws of this universe. HE is the One to whom we must give account. It is man's PRIDE THAT IS SO CORROSIVE AND MALIGNANT. It is only when we acknowledge our dependence upon GOD that we can experience God's favor. Our President-elect said on Saturday that AMERICA NEEDS A NEW DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. I say we need a new DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE UPON ALMIGHTY GOD AND HIS WILL. HERE IS THE WONDERFUL TRUTH, WE CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST who strengtheneth us!AMERICA BETTER TAKE HEED. CHURCHES HAD BETTER TAKE HEED. FAMILIES HAD BETTER TAKE HEED. EACH OF US HAD BETTER TAKE HEED! Without HIM we can do nothing. Only with HIM can we do all things. I shudder to think what awaits this God-ordained, and blessed nation the longer we turn our backs on HIS Law, saying YES WE CAN! May God revive HIS CHURCH to declare the full counsel of GOD, and call our nation to repentance.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2009 9:30 AM Registration and Fellowship FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2009 9:30 AM Registration and Fellowship We're expecting friends of holiness from MISSOURI, ILLINOIS, INDIANA, MICHIGAN, KANSAS to attend this year's convention. We hope you'll plan to come. Very nice hotel rooms can be purchased through Priceline for only $50.00 (Ask for 4 star at St. Louis, Airport, or Westport). We are only 5 minutes from Lambert Airport, we can provide transportation.
VISION It is our conviction that the message of Scriptural Holiness, once the dominant theology of the United States of America, has lost it’s influence in our generation because: 1. We have not met the intellectual challenge of our day. Too often we have relied on literature that is 50 to 200 years old, rather than writing a sound apologetic in the language of our day. 2. We have not been aggressive. It is as though we have lost heart for the cause that we know is right. 3. We have fallen short of our profession of perfect love by failing to demonstrate that love in our churches, our homes, and our lives. 4. Our spiritual fervency has waned and our influence has diminished proportionately. Ultimately our cause is a spiritual cause. We can only prevail as we are channels through which the Holy Spirit of God can flow. It is our prayer that the 2009 ST LOUIS HOLINESS CONVENTION will be one means, blessed by the Lord to revive the message and cause of Scriptural Holiness in the 21st Century. John Wesley said, "Give me one hundred men who love only God with all their heart and hate only sin with all their heart, and we will shake the gates of hell and bring in the kingdom of God in one generation." We are praying that 100 Christian Leaders will meet in St. Louis, January 24-25, 2008 to “shake the gates of hell, and bring in the kingdom of God.” Our goals are four-fold: 1. To address the challenge of stating our doctrine in contemporary terminology 2. To identify the right means to advance the message and ethic of Scriptural holiness 3. To prayerfully consider how our message might be advanced 4. To issue a St Louis Statement SPONSORED BY THE JOHN WESLEY FOUNDATION of ST LOUIS, MISSOURI HOSTED BY FAITH COMMUNITY CHURCH, 2969 N. Lindbergh, St. Louis, MO 63074 (5 minutes from Lambert International Airport)
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