Dear Covenant members and friends:
Today Pastor Carl was out not feeling well, so I provided the sermon. It is provided below, hope you enjoy it.
Ron
Make a Difference
Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:5 – But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from a sincere faith.
We have talked and prayed a lot for the past year for our country, and we need to continue to do so. There seems to be more rancor and disagreement between the two political parties than ever before. Is there really, or does the impact of cable news 24/7/365 and social media blow all the arguing out of proportion? We know this aspect of our world makes everything seem more nasty and negative then the “good old days” of the 1950s and 1960s when we got our news for 30 minutes at 6:30 PM each night from Walter Cronkite on CBS or the Huntley/Brinkley Report on NBC. Then after the news we relaxed, got back to real life, and waited 24 hours to get the next news cycle – life seemed so simple back then.
What else has changed in our world since those days where life seemed much more relaxed and calm than today? I submit that two major changes in American lifestyle are the breakdown in importance of the American nuclear family and the loss of people in their religious belief. In those earlier days, family meant everything in life and most people attended church. Also, before 1970, no stores except gas stations were open on Sunday. Sometime during the ‘70s, some stores started opening which put pressure on other stores to open, which led fairly quickly to all stores being open on Sunday. That single move had a major impact on the religious experience in our country by now forcing many people to work on Sunday, and allowing other people to have an excuse to not go to church in the name of home fixup.
I would also like to share a few facts about the history of presidential elections since 1940. In this time period there have been 21 Presidential elections. In those elections, each major political party won 10, until Joe Biden broke this tie last November. In addition, in the 50+ years I have been following US elections, the country has seemed almost equally divided between the 2 major political parties throughout that entire time. So, in spite of all the loud news we hear regularly and the profound differences we see espoused by the various cable news channels, in overall political numbers our country has been relatively stable in terms of political results for the past 80 years. So although we have seen a lot of change in human behavior in that time, election results and political party affiliation has been fairly stable.
Also note that God has chosen to make us all uniquely different from each other. Some of us like sports… and some don’t, some like to shop… and some don’t, some like to travel, some like to cook, some like controlled immigration policies to both protect their citizens and allow others less fortunate a better life, some like higher taxes so that those who have more provide more support for those less fortunate, some believe in God…… and the list goes on.
Our country and our world is a blend of a whole lot of people, all uniquely different from each other, some Godly in their lifestyles and others not so much so. So why is the world so different today in its acceptance (or lack thereof) of people who have somewhat different preferences than others? It seems that over the past 60 years some people have just become less tolerant of others who “disagree” with them, which may be related to the fewer people in our society today attending church and leading godly lives. So there seems to be more loud noise in our news and social media from those trying to convince people why they should think differently.
So what are we to do? What can we do? The easy answer is to continue living our life as we have, and show our godly life to the world. Cherish your family…….. and show it!! Cherish God…… and show it! Live according to the Godly principles we all cherish in our lives.
Timothy said –
1 Timothy 1:5 – But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from a sincere faith.
Follow Timothy’s advice and don’t give in to the way of life today, stand your Godly ground, let everyone know who your Father is, let everyone you come in contact with feel the love, hope, joy, and peace that you have in your heart for others – be the shining light for others who are looking for a better way, for a life with meaning. Then trust the result to God!
Let us pray.
Most Gracious Heavenly Father:
I thank you for this day and for this time with you here at Covenant. I thank you for surrounding me with this blessed group of Christians, these earthly angels, who help to nurture me and guide me through these difficult days according to your Biblical principles. Help me dear Father to feel your continuing presence in my life, and to make a difference for You in my life by being the shining light You desire for me to be. May I continue to grow in you and to serve you faithfully all the days of my life on this earth. In Your heavenly name I pray to you always. Amen.
Benediction: Philippians 4:7 – And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Jesus Christ.