Feb 26

And the things of earth....

avatar Published in Untagged  by Pastor Mark
  After coming back from Thailand there are certain things that you quickly see about this wonderful country when you come back from traveling. First, you appreciate the freedom we have to worship the Lord freely without fear of oppression. Sometimes we can take for granted what we have until it gone, and I hope you and I never take for granted the incredible privilege to serve the Lordfreely.  The second thing you notice is the amazing amount of information that comes at you from all different directions.  When you are out of the country Television news is not as important, and although now with internet around the world you can keep connected to what is happening in the U.S. things seem to be in a much clearer perspective.  When you come back into the din of the media in our country you can see fairly clearly the influence that it has and the bent that it has.  I wish that all of us could see that often times the media does only one thing effectively that is to promote an agenda that is not only negative but at many times anti God and anti you and I.  I am not trying to be an alarmist or a person who sees evil in everything, but we must confess that there are forces that affect us that often times we ignore.  In the Screwtape letters C.S. Lewis describes a conversation between two demons.  One who is older named Wormwood who is more experienced and one who is learning the ropes named Screw tape. Although the premise may be strange or even unusual the dialogue that C.S. Lewis suggests between these two evil beings is very much in my opinion a reality.  At one point in the book the older Wormwood the older of the two tells Screwtape that he can't get Christians to leave there faith than allow everything else to distract them in order to make them less effective. That in my opinion is what happens too many of us Christians in the U.S. we are distracted by the things around us especially by the constant bombardment of distractions that at times may not be immoral but are very dangerous to us because we can easily get distracted and lose our focus on Jesus.  That is why the writer of Hebrews tells us to Fix our eyes on Jesus.  To be focused on Him to be so keen on His voice that the other voices and distractions of our media and our world grow strangely dim.  Now this is a daily and at times a moment by moment decision to focus on Jesus and nothing else.  Just for a moment take a time out turn off the TV and just be quiet before the Lord.  What will he tell us if we will just listen to what really matters?  So my friend let's see listen to the sound of His voice the only one we need to hear.    In Part II we turn our attention to the current political climate in our nation and what God has to say about it.