A PRAYER FOR OUR COUNTRY

Billy Graham prayed a prayer for our country that, in a very short and concise way, really says it all. Billy Graham is one evangelist that has always had an incredibly clean record. He has never been caught doing something wrong, not even any false charges have been brought against him. He is a man of the highest integrity.

So read his prayer for our nation, and see if it isn't a prayer that you too can join in on.

Heavenly Father,
We come before You today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good" (Isaiah 5:20), but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and have called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, "The Rest of the Story," and received a larger response to this program than any other he had ever aired. With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called "One nation under God!"

God Bless,
Roger

The Cost of Faith in Christ

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
--Jim Elliot (Missionary to South American Indians who lost his life at the hands of those he was reaching out to; from the book "Through Gates of Splednor" by his wife Elisabeth Elliot)

"Whenever Christ calls us, his call leads us to death."
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer (A pastor in Germany who resisted Hitler and the Nazi regime, and was ultimately killed for it, from his book "The Cost of Discipleship")

"Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."
--The Apostle Paul (2 Timothy 3:12)

"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me."
-- Jesus Christ (John 12:23-26)

"For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
--The Apostle Paul (written while in chains and held in prison by the Roman government, Philippians 1:21)

May your life be a testimony to the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on our behalf.

Love and Blessings,
Roger

PLEASING GOD, NOT MEN!

One of the most challenging Scriptures in the Epistles is Galatians 1:10 when Paul says, "Am I now trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."

Paul is writing in the context of preaching the full Gospel. Parts of the Gospel message were offensive to listeners. And it required great courage for him to preach the whole Gospel and not just the parts that were easy to swallow.

As a servant of Christ, we are called to please one person - Jesus Christ. How easy it is for us (especially those of us who are natural people pleasers) to seek the accolades of people. Let's face it, we all appreciate an encouraging word or a "well done" slap on the back from others. The rub comes when things are not going so well in our ministries. Attendance is down, giving is down, or there is a critical spirit in the church or the leadership.

This is when the temptation arises to try and change things, to make things better. Later we realize we are operating more in the flesh than the spirit. And all our efforts and energy have not generated a lasting change, but merely placated some of the nay sayers.

Thankfully, when we choose to please God and Him alone, we will please those who are seeking the Lord as well. But there will be times when we can't make everyone happy. It's during those times that we need great courage to walk the path of faith, choosing to please the only One who gave up everything for us.

May you be blessed as you seek the Lord,

Roger

Adapted from Jimi Williams, worshiptogether.com

Uncertain Time, Certain God

Have you prepared for a journey, studied your map and still made a wrong turn…finding yourself in an unknown place? Confusing, wasn’t it? Maybe even a little frightening.

"So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes." - Daniel 9:3

In Babylon, the Jewish people were in exile and Darius had just become king. Change, confusion and probably fear were in the wind. Yet Daniel knew the Scriptures; he knew what the prophet Jeremiah had foretold. He had the road map for the future of the people of Israel.

So Daniel did what was his norm. He turned to the Lord. He interceded for the Israelites from his own determined depths. He fasted and put on the clothes of mourning. He petitioned the Lord for His own sake to have mercy on the people and on Jerusalem.

Perhaps change has you befuddled; maybe your neighbor is frightened. Won’t you be a Daniel in this time? Make God’s Word and prayer your norm. As Daniel interceded for Israel, you can intercede with determination for God’s mercy on our nation.

Spend some time today praying for God's hand to be upon our nation, leading our leaders, and reviving the church to rise up and lead our nation back to God and His Word.

Love you all,

Roger

TOE NAILS ARE FOR SISSIES!

That seemed to be the theme for the week as we traveled to the Willamette Valley, more specifically Eugene, OR for the Eugene Marathon, and all the surrounding activities in Eugene.With all the training Sherrill did, with her good friend Judi Brooks, it became a reality; toe nails do take quite a beating in walking or running 26.2 miles in a short period of time.
I also got a chance to stretch my lets out a little, I participated in a 5K run (related to the Marathon festivities) on Saturday, the day before the Marathon. Yes, it took me 35 min. and 43 seconds to run 3.1 miles, but I was glad to have done it under 36 minutes.

But the main focus of the trip, and the majority of our time was dedicated to Sherrill and Judi completing the full marathon (lots of people do a Half-Marathon that same day). It started out a very rainy Eugene day as Sherrill and Judi took off from the starting line.As they progressed through the distance and the day the weather got better and better.
It even finally got so much better that the ground dried out and and they were able to get down to their normal walking clothes.
Finally they came across the finish line in record setting time (for them). They had hoped to finish in 6 hours and 30 minutes. But they did better than that, they finished in 6 hours and 12 minutes, which figures out to about 14:12 per mile. What a great accomplishment!
They were very pleased and excited (especially glad to be done), and we were all very proud of them too. Way to go ladies!It was a fun day, and with all these runners and walkers around, and all the dedication to physical fitness it reminded me of the what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:24-ff,
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever."

With all the hard work it takes to be in the physical condition to do a Marathon, it makes you stop and think of how hard we should all be working to achieve the "spiritual fitness" we are called to be in to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe we can't all get into the physical condition to run a marathon, but we are all called to be spiritually fit, and to work hard, through "strict training" to prepare ourselves for the ultimate crown, the crown of life!

God Bless,
Roger

The Importance of Prayer

"In God’s name I beseech you let prayer nourish your soul as your meals nourish your body. Let your fixed seasons of prayer keep you in God’s presence through the day, and His presence frequently remembered though it be an ever-fresh spring of prayer.

Such a brief, loving recollection of God renews a man’s whole being, quiets his passions, supplies light and counsel in difficulty, gradually subdues the temper, and causes him to possess his soul in patience, or rather gives it up to the possession of God."

—François Fénelon, 17th century theologian and writer

May you be blessed as you seek the Lord today in prayer.

Roger

An Historical View of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

Had Christ not risen we could not believe Him to be what He declared Himself when He "made Himself equal with God." But He has risen in the confirmation of all His claims. By it alone, but by it thoroughly, is He manifested as the very Son of God, who has come into the world to reconcile the world to Himself. It is the fundamental fact in the Christian's unwavering confidence in "all the words of this life."
— Benjamin B. Warfield, pastor and theologian


Benjamin B. Warfield (Nov. 5, 1851 - Feb. 16, 1921) was the principal of Princeton Seminary from 1887 to 1921. Some conservative Presbyterians consider him to be the last of the great Princeton theologians before the split in 1929 that formed Westminster Semiary and the Othodox Presbyterian Church.

For a short time in 1876 he preached in Presbyterian churches in Concord, Kentucky and Dayton, Ohio as a "supply pastor" — the latter church calling him to be their ordained minister (which he politely refused). In late 1876 Warfield and his new wife moved to Germany where he studied under Ernst Luthardt and Franz Delitzsch. Warfield was the assistant pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland for a short time. Then he became an instructor at Western Theological Seminary, which is now called Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He was ordained on April 26, 1879.

In 1881 Warfield wrote a joint article with A. A. Hodge on the inspiration of the Bible. It drew attention because of its scholarly and forceful defense of the inerrancy of the Bible. In many of his writings, Warfield attempted to demonstrate that the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy was simply orthodox Christian teaching, and not merely a concept invented in the nineteenth century. His passion was to refute the liberal element within Presbyterianism and within Christianity at large.

Throughout his life, he continued to write books and articles, which are still widely read today.

May we today, in 2009 continue to stand on the foundational principles of the Christian faith, declaring that Jesus Christ is exactly who he claimed to be: equal to God the Father, God in the flesh, the very Son of God who provides the only way to salvation and everlasting life.

Just as we read in the Holy Scriptures: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)

Belive, and obey! God Bless,

Roger