“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”
(Proverbs 14.34)
King David in the fifth Psalm turns to God in prayer seeking guidance. He declares, “1Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my [b]meditation. 2Give heed to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for to You I will pray. 3My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up.” (vs.1-3). Nothing has changed, today we still have wickedness, evil, workers of iniquity, those who speak falsehood, and bloodthirsty and deceitful men (vs.4-6). Just as it was in David’s day we today must “look up” and petition our Father’s help and intervention according to His will. There are many evil men and women at work today seeking to destroy rather than to build. Our basic and fundamental freedom is being challenged by people in positions of power and authority who have no regard for the sanctity of life, no regard for the sanctity of marriage and family. As for our faith these have only distain for our Christianity and seek only to destroy it off the face of the planet. Therefore, regarding our leaders and the choices and direction they wish to take our nation we need to be in constant prayer that our God will give us leaders who will…
Protect the Life of the Unborn Child: God’s word refers to the unborn as people, “they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn…” (Psa. 22:31) and to the unborn who will learn of His law as children, “that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn…” (Psalm 78:5) God told Jeremiah “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jer. 1:5) Was the Lord talking of knowing “tissue or fetus” or a living being? There are many things we would not know about life, dealing with suffering and the power of God had abortion been as common in the past as it is today. Job asked, “Did not He who made me in the womb make them? did not the same One fashion us in the womb?” (Job 31:15) These words, “me, them, us”, conclude that God fashioned all mankind. We are all crafted by God’s own design, not made to be aborted, but to live. Therefore abortion kills not a “fetus”, not a “blob of tissue”, but a living being called a child whom God “formed”, “sanctified” and “made” in the womb of its mother. It could have been me! We all would do well to remember the words of David who said, “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well” (Psa. 139:13-14).
Uphold marriage as instituted by God: In the beginning of all things God created man, blessed them and gave him dominion over all the earth. (Gen 1:26-28) and said, “It is not good that man should be alone” (Gen 2:18) and so God made from the rib of the man the woman (Gen 2:21-22) of which Adam called her “woman” (Gen 2:23). After God said, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Gen 2:24) This was the first marriage and it was between a man and a woman. Jesus speaking to the Pharisees about divorce said, “…Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate”” (Matt. 19:3-6). Controversy comes by the way of godless men and women who do not know the way of righteousness, whose ultimate argument is not with any man but with the creator Himself as it is written, “…he who rejects this does not reject man, but God” (1 Thess. 4:1-8). God said, “…be fruitful and multiply…” (Gen 1:28) and not one of us would be here today if it weren’t so.
Not Restrict the Free Exercise of Religion: Understand that we do not worship the government, but God. Consider Naaman who was a man under the rule of a king who forced him to stand with the king while he worshipped in the temple of Rimmon. Yet Naaman said to Elisha “Yet in this thing may the Lord pardon your servant: when my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the temple of Rimmon—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord please pardon your servant in this thing.” (v.18) Then Elisha said to him, “Go in peace” (2 Kings 5:17-19). As Christians we may live under the rule of men in a land where worshipping in “spirit and truth”, is increasingly more unpopular. Most laws are in place for our good, yet many are seeking to change the laws, many wish to replace the faith of the Bible with humanism. We must be persistent in prayer that evil men are not successful in their efforts to prohibit the teaching as outlined in the New Testament and make speaking Bible truths a hate crime by our government. Many today openly call it hate to speak out against such sins as the practice of homosexuality, divorce, same sex marriage and abortion, but speak we must! “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; these men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up” (Daniel 3:12). These three would not obey the law of Nebuchadnezzar the king and as a result they were all three cast into a very hot furnace.
“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-5)
They kept their faith believing it would be better to die than to obey the king on this matter saying, “But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (2 Kings 3:18). We know who received the victory. And in the end the king said, “Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this” (2 Kings 3:29). Are there today any like these three? Will we stand up for our faith and let our leaders see and hear? Therefore, don’t be ashamed of the Gospel (Rom. 1:16), and pray for leaders who will “look up” for the wisdom from above (James 3:17) and be humbled and wise enough to admit that there is only one God (Eph. 4:4-6).
Ronald Regen said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction”. Evil men know this to be true and have sought to beguile the present generation of young people with untruths about creation, and man’s purpose. If we don’t teach our children the oracles of God then our freedom to worship in spirit and truth will be gone. We need men in the places of authority who will govern with justice and mercy toward all and defend our nation against forces of evil all the while in humility looking to God for wisdom.
So, pray we will NOT have leaders who care not for the life of the unborn, who take it upon themselves to redefine marriage and sexuality, who slowly take away our religious freedoms, and who methodically seek to implant this evil into the minds of the next generation. The proof is in the pudding and we are seeing it in this generation. Young men and women who do not recognize evil because the do not recognize God but trust in their own wisdom.
In Love
David Scarpino
“But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You. 2For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield.” (Psalm 5:11-12)
PLEASE COME AND VISIT WITH US
Our faithful Creator is worthy to be praised in this assembly. All praise to Him who reigns above in majesty supreme! He gave His Son to die, for all mankind, that He might redeem all. Our blessed Redeemer suffered and died for our sins and is now risen and sitting at the right hand of God as Head of the church. Let us offer the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, knowing that He is the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him. (Hebrews 5:8-9) “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” (Isaiah 6:3)
Times of Our Services
- Sunday Morning Bible Study 9:00 AM
- Sunday Morning Worship 9:50 AM
- Sunday Evening Worship 6:00 PM
- Wednesday Evening Bible Study 7:30 PM
What Must I Do to Be Saved?
- Hear the gospel John 6:45; Romans 10:17
- Believe the gospel John 8:24; Hebrews 11:6
- Repent of sins Luke 13:3; Acts 17:30
- Confess Christ Matthew 10:32; Romans 10:10
- Be baptized Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38
- Remain faithful unto and until death Revelation 2:10; Matthew 10:22