November 11, 2020
Leadership Notes
On this Veterans Day, we offer a prayer of thanksgiving for those who served. We respect all you did.
And now, some notes from underground:
1. As of this writing, Biden has received 76 million popular votes, while Trump has received 71 million. America is evenly divided, which I see as neither a negative nor a positive. It's just the way things are. Let's see how that plays out.
2. Psalm 115:1-3:
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
3. Ephesians 1:3-6:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
So? We've had another election. God is Sovereign. And the church continues to worship God, love each other, love our communities, serve the needs of our communities, cherish Jesus Christ above all others, and honor God's Word. In other words, no matter what happens around us, we continue to be the church. We have been chosen for nothing less.
4. Charles Spurgeon once said, "Do not give yourselves up to party spirit…to live for a political party is unworthy of a man who professes to be a Christian."
5. As my lovely wife and I were putting up Christmas lights last Saturday, we noticed a neighbor doing the same. Only difference? They are already turning them on, complete with a beautiful tree in the window. Can't say we're bothered by it. Actually, it's quite nice.
6. In-person worship attendance has been in the 70s this fall. We will be making seating changes to accommodate the increases heading into Advent. As always, we will be careful, cautious, and unafraid.
7. Have we been blessed with a better stretch of weather this late into fall? Every day, I send a text to my brother in Carlsbad, California, mocking his west coast weather, which isn't better than ours! I know this won't last.
8. Sibling mockery aside {for something beyond his control, which shows how irrational siblings can get!}, every day we thank God for life and breath and the opportunity to enjoy our place in our little corner of His world.
9. What will you be doing for Thanksgiving? Many states have issued guidelines for holiday gatherings. Some of them are really weird. I've got a 20 pound turkey in the freezer just itching for the roasting pan! That's my major guideline.
10. I loved this from Samuel Sey: "Truth divides our evil culture more than lies do. And lies unify our evil culture more than truth does. We should remember that when we make unity in our culture our biggest priority."
11. As talk of "economic justice" {whatever that is} abounds, here's something to remember: "If you're mad because you're getting richer but not as fast as your neighbor, you're not oppressed. You're envious and greedy." Those are topics of Biblical proportion.
12. Sunday worship isn't primarily for seekers. It's for followers of Jesus Christ to give praise and thanks to God for salvation.
13. Sunday worship is primarily for seekers if by the word "seekers" you are talking about Christians, because the New Testament tells us that the only people who seek after God are those who have been converted by the Holy Spirit.
14. Finally, UNC-Greensboro Professor Pat Sawyer observes:
If you believe you are part of what Jesus was doing on the cross, understand - You weren't Jesus' friend that He was delivering from the unjust tyranny of an oppressor; you were His enemy that He was delivering from the just wrath of God. {Romans 5:10 and Ephesians 2:3}. Miss this, miss God.
And those are today's notes from underground.
With Much Thanksgiving for Jesus and His Faithful People,
Richard