An Unavoidable Subject

And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him. - (Hebrews 9:27–28)

Jesus talked a lot about hell. In fact, He talked more about hell than any other preacher in the Bible. Therefore, we don’t want to steer clear of the subject. We want a biblical understanding of what the Bible says.

The apostle Paul concluded his message on Mars Hill with these words: “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:30–31).

Jesus talked about judgment. Paul talked about judgment. The apostles talked about judgment. The Bible talks about judgment. And we need to talk about it, too, and have a proper understanding of what it is all about.

Some would say that it isn’t loving to talk about these things. But I could not disagree more. I think it’s the most loving thing we could do.

Let’s say there was a house on fire with someone trapped inside. And let’s say for some reason, he didn’t know his house was on fire. Would it be a loving thing for me to run and kick down the door, grab him, and run out of the burning house with him? Of course it would.

On the other hand, would it be a loving thing for me to walk by and say, “Oh, that house is on fire! Very interesting. Let’s go”? That wouldn’t be loving at all.

If we really believe there is an afterlife—and more specifically—a final judgment, if we really believe we will be held accountable for things that we say and do, then it will affect the way that we live.

Copyright © 2012 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org

Into My Heart

Into my heart, into my heart,
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus;
Come in today, come in to stay;
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.

Out of my heart, out of my heart,
Shine out of my heart, Lord Jesus;
Shine out today, shine out alway;
Shine out of my heart, Lord Jesus.

Supreme Court Nears Council Meeting Prayer Decision

Russ Jones | ReligionToday.com Contributor

The U.S. Supreme Court could decide any day about the Constitutionality of prayer during government meetings in a small New York town.

Even though 4 of the 12 prayers in 2008 were given by non-Christians, including a Jewish layman, a Wiccan priestess and the chairman of the local Baha'i congregation, Greece residents Susan Galloway and Linda Stephens filed a complaint about the predominately Christian prayers during the Greece, New York board meetings.

Despite the fact that a majority of the religious entities in Greece are Christian, an appeals court ruled too many of the prayers were Christian. In Greece v. Galloway, each meeting from 1999 through 2007 had been opened with a Christian-oriented prayer.

According to FoxNews.com, This month's meeting followed suite as a Baptist minister delivered a 40-second invocation.

"Lord, we ask that the decisions that are made will be made with a lot of thought and with a lot of wisdom from you," said the Rev. Mike Metzger of First Bible Baptist Church. "In Jesus' name, I pray."

Tony Perkins of the Washington DC-based Family Research Council, maintains that although the Supreme Court upheld the practice of legislative prayer in the 1983 case Marsh v. Chambers, militant secularists are attempting to banish this practice nationwide as it has existed for over 200 years.

“The arguments presented on both sides before the Supreme Court in Galloway could impact every aspect of faith in public life and the public square, as this is Ground Zero for the war on Americans of traditional faith -- especially observant Christians -- and the increasing attacks on Christmas and other longstanding celebrations of faith. Galloway could become the most important Establishment Clause case decided by the Supreme Court in decades,” Perkins said.

Happy Friday Everyone...
Have a Blessed Day.
Richard