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Received this e-mail the other day and thought it was pretty “fleek”.

Hey Pastor –

I wanted to share an interesting incident with you. I’m sending this on behalf of my son, Dakota… he took a political science college course this summer that deals with World Politics. One morning, a few weeks back, the class launched into a discussion on religion’s place in politics - about which nearly everyone seemed to have varying opinions. Eventually, Christianity’s involvement in Government came up – to which the professor stated: “Jesus was never involved in government issues…”

At that point, Dakota’s ears perked up. He was thinking, “Did I really just hear her say that? We JUST had a sermon on that.” With that, he raised his hand and began explaining the organizational approach Rome took to “governing” the countries under their rule and the role of the local leaders. He went into the Sanhedrin, Sadducees and Pharisees. He made the points about Jesus’ involvement with these groups and His role in clarifying God’s Law and its applications in leading His people. As he went on, the professor eventually began to give ground. Dakota could feel the class turning to listen intently to the exchange. It wasn’t argumentative or sarcastic and, at one point when another student attempted to divert the conversation to another topic, the professor prevented it and asked Dakota to continue.

Dakota went through nearly every facet of the sermon. As he was later relaying the encounter to me, I was a little taken aback because Dakota was bringing up points that I had heard, but hadn’t retained top-of-mind. He had absorbed them, however, and apparently unleashed them all on his professor and her class. In the end, his professor conceded that she would look more into what Dakota had stated and think it through. Again, there was no arguing or anger in the discussion, rather a mere exchange of fact vs. opinion.

Anyways, he and I both got a kick out of watching God in action. It was nice that we had the moment to discuss how really outstanding it is to look back and see what God had planned for in advance. He had the right person in the right place at the right time – prepared with the right information. All it took was a little observation and the courage to go ahead and speak up. Dakota asked that I relay the story to you.

Jason and Dakota

You know, that’s pretty encouraging and uplifting. To see God preparing a young student for the right place and right time to spread the right message. Good stuff. Just what I needed to hear. That’s one of the reasons why we read the Bible and that’s why we ask the Lord to give us an awareness of what He wants us to say and to do, wherever we might be. Dakota actually applied what He learned from the Bible to his life. I would have never made that specific application suggestion in a sermon. No, he was ready to apply it to his life, as the Lord wanted.

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,Ephesians 4:15 (ESV)

One of the challenges we face in our day to day living as Christians is sharing with others a Godly perspective. It’s easy to be intimidated into silence and not speak what we know to be true. The world on the other hand is not afraid of sharing their worldviews which touch on every area of life from the least important to the most important; what’s life all about, what is sex all about, marriage, how should it be defined..., even the presidential elections. The attempt to control human thinking has been a constant goal of the evil one throughout history. Satan has always been the father of lies and he knows that the way to make the world a mess is to confuse human thinking. Have you noticed the world is a “hot” mess at the moment? The attempts at this mind control are found in movies, music, business, media, and yes, even sensitivity classes that are mandated to be attended by the “uneducated” (Godly) having been sentenced by godless judges whenever you hold to the Biblical position of marriage. (Can anyone say George Orwell’s 1984.) And of course we find this conflict often in the educational system; especially in the classroom. Sometimes it’s intentional...sometimes it’s not, sometimes it is with the bully whip, sometimes it’s subtle. Sometimes it’s a big deal topic, sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it presents a whale of an opportunity to bring the focus on Jesus and what the Bible says. That’s what happened with Dakota!. It was an opportunity that he seized, and he did it with a humble spirit and confident inner strength that comes from the Lord. But it should be acknowledged that it will always remain a constant challenge for the Christian to step forward and speak.

It takes a love for God and a love for people. It takes knowing what God thinks and what He says through Bible study and prayer and then to step forward and share it with others who may not hold to that position at that moment. And did I happen to mention to do it with love and humility? Opening the door for dialogue and a change in thinking is a noble and Godly goal in a public setting. We are, whether we like it or not, engaged in a battle for the mind as a disciple of Christ. We know our life mission includes being the salt and the light in the world. We are the ones who are to be bold and loving as we impact the world for good, for God. It’s an exciting way to live...even “spices” up Political Science. It can “spice” up your life as well.

And, to be honest, as a side note... it’s pretty “snatched” that someone remembers something from a sermon. :)

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Matthew 5:13-15 (ESV)

By Pastor Ralph Sawyer

 

Posted by Ralph Sawyer with
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For those of you who don’t know me, let me introduce myself. My name is Conda Halcomb and my husband Harvey and I have been members of FBCW for 18 years. I am employed by FBCW as the Solid Rock Preschool and Mother’s Day Out Director, and I also serve in the WAM Ministry. Now, God has placed on my heart to take up the Women’s Ministry, dust it off, and give it a new look. And, in my spare time, that is what I am doing.

I am a busy woman. I am a wife, Mom, mother-in-law, Gigi (grandma), friend, administrator, employee, preschool choir director, and much more. I bet if you started listing all of your roles, it would be longer than mine. And yet, within all of these areas in which I am involved, something is missing. I have come to realize that I miss meeting together with women. I really don’t want or need to discuss the latest cleaning tips, watch a fashion show with the latest styles on dressing modestly, swap recipes, or make a craft—I have Pinterest for all of that! Instead, I long to hear from other Christian women, real women, women from our church, and I desire to hear from them the lessons they have learned from God.

I have a longing to sit at the feet of other Christian women who are a little farther along in age and life experiences and hear how they lived life. I desire to know how each woman dealt with disappointment, heartache, depression, a wayward child, illness, death, divorce, addiction, and so much more. I want to know these things because I deal with many of these issues in my own life, not all at once, but in seasons. I want to learn how they continued to connect with and have a relationship with God as they struggled through life. I want to know what verses in the Bible came alive to them during that season and how God showed up and carried them through the difficult times. I want to meet women who have lived a God-honoring life well and can help me to do the same. Wouldn’t you like to meet these women in our church?

I hope that you will join me starting this fall at our quarterly Women’s Fellowships called “This Is My Story.” At each fellowship, we are going to sit at the feet of a woman in our church and give her the opportunity to share her life. We will hear her triumphs and tragedies, her success and failures, the times she was so very close to God, and the times she wandered. And yet in this current season of her life, we can look at her and say she has lived life well.

I hope you will join me at our first ministry meeting in October. Be watching for the exact time and date in the weekly bulletin. Joanne Lockard will be sharing her life with us. We will also hear some wonderful singing from some very talented women in our church. Oh, and by the way, invite a friend or two because don’t we all have the desire to connect with other like-minded women? You won’t want to miss it!

These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God. Titus 2:4-5

Are you interested in helping me organize women’s events? Listen girlfriend, I am really good at planning, but I need a lot of help executing the plan. If you would like to join me in serving women in our church and community, please email me. I will inform you of our first planning meeting and we will get together and bond over our love for the Lord and some yummy snacks!

 

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