October and November Messages Planned

I haven’t blogged in a couple weeks because I have been traveling part of each week.   But now that the schedule has returned a little more to normal, I will try to catch up a little.  As you can see, the plan below is already in progress.    Our October series was planned to go with election  season when our country is talking about values and issues.   The church needs to be relevant and enter the conversation.  But my take is a little different ffom some.  Here is a quote from the introduction to the series on Christian Values for Today.

      “I believe that Christians are called to tell the truth about the chaos of values today.  Our task is to call our country back to the values of the Bible.   As we undertake this task, we cannot help but seem political at times. But that is not our first intention.  As one person has put it, ‘God is not a Democrat or Republican.’    God’s values apply equally to Democrats and Republicans.  He calls both parties to forsake their sins and walk in his paths.   It is up to us as followers of Christ to use our discernment and our influence to encourage all parties to take stands on contemporary issues that reflect the teaching of the Word of God.  Using our vote as best we can is part of our responsibility to use our influence.  At times in this series, I expect that the Republicans will feel somewhat smug.  But at other times I expect that the Democrats will feel the same way.  But that is not my issue. My responsibility is to preach the word of God wherever the chips fall.  My responsibility is to pick issues that I feel are of extreme importance in the Bible, our lives, and in our country and preach on them.   And God helping us that is what we will do in this series called Christian Values for Today.”  

The November series  will focus on the close relationship between the Thanksgiving season and the Christian value and practice of generosity and stewardship.   It will also be a great lead-in to the Christmas season with its emphasis upon giving.