"[God] rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the
sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that
righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul
tormented day after day by their lawless deeds)..." 2 Peter 2:7
Acknowledging that I am "righteous" only by the imparted righteousness of Jesus Christ, I
want to say that I know how Lot felt. My soul, too, is tormented day
after day by the "sensual conduct of unprincipled men (and women)"!
In
Long Beach over the past 20 years we have seen such a rapid playing out of
the terrifying passage in Romans 1:18-32 which depicts the downward and
ultimately lethal spiral God permits when people choose to push away and spurn their knowledge of God.
In this passage, note the causes and effects: what God revealed to people, what certain ones did and didn't do with that revelation and God's resultant verdict. Note what was "exchanged" for what and the 3 things to which God "gave them over" as a result.
"For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God
made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His
invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been
clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they
are without excuse.
"For
even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give
thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish
heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and
exchanged the glory of an incorruptible God for an image in the form of
corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling
creatures.
"Therefore
God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that
their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the
truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather
than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
"For
this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women
exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the
same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and
burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing
indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of
their acts.
"And
just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave
them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,
being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of
envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers,
haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil,
disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving,
unmerciful, and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who
practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but
also give hearty approval to those who practice them."
Monday, October 23, 2017
Friday, October 6, 2017
ICAN Wins Nobel Peace Prize!
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Congratulations to our friends and colleagues around the world who are part of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). This morning, the Nobel Committee awarded ICAN the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize "for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons."ICAN is made up of over 400 groups in 100 countries. The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation has been an ICAN member since the campaign began a decade ago. This year, we were proud to work with ICAN and many dedicated non-nuclear countries to bring into existence the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The Nobel Peace Prize is a recognition of many decades of campaigning by activists around the world. We still have a lot of work to do to achieve a nuclear weapons-free world, and we hope that this prestigious honor will encourage you to work even harder alongside us for this goal. But today, let's take a moment to celebrate!
Please join us in congratulating ICAN on this immense honor by helping to spread the word on social media. Click on the Twitter or Facebook images below to share with your networks.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/
https://www.theguardian.com/
Thursday, October 5, 2017
AWAKEN THE DAWN: America's Tent of Meeting
OCTOBER 6-9, 2017 WASHINGTON D.C. MALL:
50 TENTS. 50 STATES. ONE VOICE.
WHO WE ARE
Awaken
the Dawn is a worship movement, a prayer movement, and a missions
movement. We gather around the worth of Jesus. Our dream is to see a
generation galvanized with the glory of Jesus and the presence of God.
The gospel was made to go viral. Now,
more than ever, we believe it is time to present a millennial generation
with the greater pleasure of knowing and encountering Jesus. A Third
Great Awakening is not just an idea. It is not just talk. It is time to
take our place in history.
All that we do is based on these strategic focuses:
- Prayer
- Worship
- Music
- Unity
- The Gospel
- Missions
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)