“Out of the Abundance of the Heart…Facebook Speaks”

“Out of the Abundance of the Heart…Facebook Speaks”

            We live in an era in which inter-personal communication is dominated by emails and texts, “posts”, “tweets”, “snapchats” and “instas”. As is the case with the vast majority of technological advance, there are certainly some benefits and blessings to these forms of communication. Maintaining contact with friends and loved ones across the globe, and instantly communicating or receiving a photo or video of an event at which we cannot be present in real time is awesome. Text me!

            Most importantly, this as well as all media can and should be used to bring glory to God and share the gospel! The truth of a risen Lord and Savior for all who repent! May we ask the Lord to use this technology in a way that would honor Him!

 I believe we are naive and foolish however not to recognize the inherent dangers of social media. Satan and his minions are adept at taking something that may be harmless and beneficial and twisting it into something sinful and perverse. Never forget we are in constant spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:12).

            Disciples of Christ are to always prioritize honoring Him and submission to His plans and purposes over convenience and ease. Please consider the following as you participate in the activities of social media.

1)     We are commanded to avoid the appearance of evil (1 Thes.5:22). This is a general life principle for the follower of Christ that is comprehensive in scope. We are to avoid any influences or behaviors that would displease our Lord.

2)      We are to communicate personally, face to face with those with whom we have an issue. (Matthew 18:15; 5:23-24) Long before social media and still prevalent in our culture, gossip was and is a heinous sin among followers of Christ. Social media has simply made gossip as simple as a post or tweet. It seems that in our minds we can subvert the clear teachings of Scripture and Christ because it is so much easier to air our grievances over social media. Indeed, it is easier and most will and do follow this course. Certainly reminds us of the broad road and the strait gate doesn’t it? 

3)      It is disconcerting how often people respond in support of a sinful, gossiping post or tweet by liking or commenting. Please be reminded that this too is inappropriate. The Scriptures deal very straight forwardly with responding quickly to an accusation or criticism. Proverbs 18:17 “The first to plead his case seems right, until another comes and examines him.” This has posts and tweets written all over it. People often like and comment on a post having only heard the “first to plead his case”, then find themselves ashamed when the reality of a situation is made known as “someone examines him.” The Lord addressed this specifically. Proverbs 18:13 “He who gives an answer (or "likes" or "comments"?) before he hears, it is folly and shame to him.

      Much more could be discussed here, but that would need a booklet not a blog. Here is the bottom line. For the glory of God, be careful and cautious as you use social media. Be more concerned with honoring our Lord and Father than being heard. Handle issues Biblically, not socially. If you cannot control how you use social media, like anything else that would cause us or others to stumble and sin, remove the temptation.

     Finally, recognize this truth; what we post is indicative of the reality of our hearts. Do we really love Jesus and desire to honor and serve Him? Indeed, not only out of the mouth, "but out of the abundance of the heart…social media speaks"!         (See Matthew 12:33-37).

Godspeed! 

Sacrificing for the Cause of Christ! 

Though in the Lord's Sovereignty and Providence, it was necessary that our Missions Conference become a Missions day, it was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the theme of Sacrificing for the Cause of Christ. Thank you to Ryan and Jacob for their messages, and to Jim and Peggy for sharing as well. 

The reality is that most of us, author included, have very little understanding of what it means to sacrifice for the cause of Christ. My prayer is that we will learn to genuinely sacrifice by conviction, because sacrifice by compulsion may be near at hand. 

Test to Convince Whom?

When we consider "sacrifice" from Scripture, after the crucifixion, most of our minds would likely be drawn to Abraham and Isaac. (Genesis 22...check it out). You're most likely familiar with the incident. God asks Abraham to take Isaac to Mount Moriah and offer him as a burnt offering to the Lord. His SON! His only SON! The heir of the Abrahamic covenant from which a great nation was promised! Wow! It is unimaginable for us, in the culture of "comfort, ease and what's best for me", to consider surrendering our children to the Lord, much less sacrificing them to Him! Verse 1 says that God "tested" Abraham. Our normal thought process is to assume that God tested him to see if he would be faithful in doing what He asked, to see if he would prioritize His will first, even over his son, even to the point of sacrificing his son. BUT WAIT!! Is that really what was taking place, is that really the purpose of the testing?? Who is God? Did He not know Abraham's heart? Did He not already know that he would be faithful? Did He not already know that he would be obedient even to this unconscionable command? Of course He knew! He is God! I propose that the test of the sacrifice was indeed NOT for God to see where Abraham's heart was, but to convince Abraham where his own heart was! Abraham himself needed to be convinced that he loved God above all else...and he proved to HIMSELF that he was faithful. God already knew. 

Application:

Have you ever thought about this truth in regard to what the Lord asks of us? In regard to what we might consider (rightly or wrongly) sacrifice? The Lord isn't trying to determine where our hearts are, He already knows! He is showing us, revealing to us, where our hearts are. Then, when we see areas that are not surrendered, that are not His, areas that in reality are idols, by His grace He will empower us to make the "sacrifice". The sacrifice that is necessary to walk closer, more obedient, more surrendered, more genuine. Abraham proved to himself that not even his only son was more important to him than his Lord. What is the Lord asking you to "sacrifice"? What are you holding on to that is priority over Him? What is He asking you to surrender? 

Let go of the idols. 

Draw closer to Him. 

He knows your heart already. 

The required sacrifice is to reveal to you where you heart is? Is it HIS?? In all areas?? 

Dear TCBC friend,

        As Dan Hickman and Mark Legler both recently reported, the Development Committee has compiled all of the information you provided from the ABF meetings, thought Jogger surveys, and forwarded this to the elders for their review. We are happy to report that progress is being made in many areas, thanks to the Lord’s blessing of His work at TCBC and your faithful service.  As your elders, we sincerely desire to make the most of every opportunity for Christian service. We believe that if the Lord has made these areas of ministry important to us, He will provide the labor necessary for them to be fruitful.

         Below is a list of the “short term” goals we as a body identified and indicated were important ministries to consider. We’ve included the progress to date so that we may all give thanks to our Lord as we clearly see His hand guiding our process in the following ways:

Counseling Ministry We are very excited about the progress of this ministry.  Many hours have been spent in creating the right format to take this opportunity into the future.  A separate entity has been created to allow a limitation of liability, individuals have been in the process of receiving their certification, and budgets are being prepared to determine the projected cost.  We are pleased to announce that the name of this new entity/ministry is Tri-County Biblical Counseling, LLC.  We anticipate being able to provide increased counseling opportunities later this fall. The need for this ministry is great, and we are thankful to have resources to meet this need.

Manna Ministry We have prayed and discussed the pros and cons of this ministry and have determined that there are several ideas to consider. Like other ministries, this will require a significant amount of organization and involvement, so that it can function in a God-honoring manner.  It will also require a significant amount of storage space which we do not currently have. We believe, though, that there is opportunity for this in the future. Perhaps this may tie into the Kitchen relocation? More consideration will be given to this early next year, after we have the Counseling Ministry in place.

Mentoring Ministry  Praise the Lord for His encouragement and confirmation! The surveys indicated that mentoring was an important step in improving our ability to minister. As elders, we’ve been working in this direction for quite some time. Our goal is to provide a firmer foundation for those serving, something that would create consistency and facilitate a better understanding of the many opportunities here at TCBC.

       After assembling a “ministry handbook” we met with all of our ministry chairmen last month to create a dialogue in this process and allow the chair to provide input to make the handbook a working set of documents. Over the next two months, we will meet one-on-one with ministry chairs to further refine the ministry descriptions and finalize the handbook. During this time, we’ll work together to sharpen one another so that areas of responsibility are clearly defined. Going forward, the ministry chair will utilize the handbook to facilitate their individual ministry process. This will be a foundation for future leaders to use. In our “Intro to TCBC” class we’ll use this to encourage newer individuals, and to provide an overview of ministry opportunities. We are excited to know that the Lord has confirmed His direction to us through you in such a specific manner and we believe this process will bear fruit for many years to come here at TCBC.

Relocation of Kitchen With the deacons’ help, we are in the process of forming a committee to investigate the costs of relocating the kitchen. Our thought is to include a key representative from the Buildings Grounds, our kitchen staff, the ABF breakfast staff, and perhaps Beau Graf who has experience on developing a kitchen and has volunteered to help.   Blue prints have already been created for this in the past and can be used as a reference point and changed to fit our current needs.  We will keep you up to date on this possibility when the committee prepares its findings for us to review.

Church Plant In conjunction with bringing Jamie & Jacob Sechrest to TCBC as missionary interns, the elders had proposed that mentoring in the area of church planting be a prerequisite.  Once again we have clearly seen that the Lord is providing direction, as you have seen this to be a priority as well. Praise the Lord!  In this regard, we’ll be putting out feelers to see what God has in mind in regard to a potential church plant in Newton County.

Faith Seminary Training As reported previously, we have a unique opportunity to work with Faith Church to provide free seminary training to individuals who we sponsor by providing a 3-year internship. The thought is to lighten the student’s load both financially, in regard to tuition, and spiritually and physically by ensuring their home church has supported them through an internship. Since initially reported we’ve had a few individuals express interest and have worked to see if the Lord might provide direction as to timing. This program has a (3) year cycle and this fall is open to new students. Brian Hannon hopes to attend in the future, perhaps 2016. If you are interested, let us know. Clayton Evans is ready to attend this fall. We have applied to Faith as the sponsor for Clayton. He has applied for the program. If approved, he will begin classes in August. This will necessitate a reduction of his current hours here at the church as Pastoral Assistant and the hiring of a part time secretary to handle the office related items. Dividing these hours allows us to stay in line with our current budget and it’s our hope that all will proceed accordingly. Please pray for this process, for Clayton & Cayla as they undertake this journey and for a secretary. Our hope is for TCBC to be an “incubator” of sorts, raising up men & women for the work our Lord calls them to, and we rejoice in this great opportunity.

BCM Missionary   Another unique opportunity the Lord has brought to us to consider is supporting a missionary for a specific purpose here in our community. Jim & Peggy Steele have long been supported by TCBC as missionaries, and the organization they serve with, BCM International, provides missionaries that teach Bible-based curriculum to public school students during school hours. This is a “release time” activity in which parents sign release forms to allow their child to leave the school during the normal school day to attend these classes offsite. The elders have asked the mission’s committee to investigate all of the parameters and report back on this work to see if God would have this for us.  As we understand this so far, our only responsibility is to help provide support to the missionary.

In Conclusion: We are thankful for your efforts in communicating to the Development Committee the things that you believe God is presenting as opportunities for us here at TCBC. God has placed each one of us here “for such a time as this,” to serve Him in reaching the lost and encouraging His church. There is no mountain too high that He can’t accomplish His will through us if we are yielded to serve.  These are only the short-term goals that you believe God may have identified for us; many other long term goals have also been articulated.  We join with you in eagerness to see how the Lord wishes to use us for His glory.

 

In His Service,

Your TCBC Elders

Andy, Glen, Jeff, Jim, Mark, Mike

What Expectations?

A recent study conducted by the Barna Group found that nearly three out of every five young Christians (59%) disconnect either permanently or for an extended period of time from church life after age 15. This is a problem. Our challenge is lower that percentage dramatically. I believe we all are collectively responsible for doing just that.

Recently, Greg Stier, President of Dare 2 Share Ministries, re-posted an article he wrote about "Why Mormons do Youth Ministry Better than We Do." He shared some interesting insights and challenging thoughts. Check out what he had to say at the link below:

Disclaimer: TCBC endorses the articles we post, but not necessarily everything written by an author whom we may post. Always read with biblical discernment. 

Why Mormons Do Youth Ministry Better Than We Do

Here is an article that David Brown, missionary to South Africa wrote.  Thank you David for the permission to share this.

 

EVIL LEADERS IN BIBLE TIMES

Firstly, I believe that the New Testament passages about how God’s people should treat government were written under the evil administrations of several Caesars, all but one of whom were bisexual, threw lavish orgies, had a military that allowed open homosexuality, taxed their citizens heavily, used tax monies for horrible immoralities and idolatries, were heavily and increasingly in debt, were increasingly anti-Christian, and had an over-expanded military, fighting rebels in foreign lands who were attacking the Roman army because they were in their territories.  Sound familiar?

 

Virtually all governments and their leaders have been evil over time; fallen and broken people create fallen and broken systems and use them for their own advancement. Romans 13:3 says that the government’s role is to punish evil – that has to mean the punishment of universally recognized criminal evil through the enforcement of the crimes code (the sword).  The passage doesn’t address philosophically-based evil on which societies differ, such as homosexuality, slavery, and abortion, which were all practiced by the Roman government.  Francis Schaeffer failed to address this sufficiently in his A Christian Manifesto.  Paul knew those evils existed, and were supported by tax monies, but didn’t exhort Christians to rise up against it because the Roman government was endorsing evil.  So, according to Romans 13, our God has worked through the American people to give them a President they deserve.  Obama is the servant of the Lord; perhaps unwitting as were Cyrus and Nebuchadnezzar, by nonetheless His servant.

 

AMERICA IS NOT ISRAEL

Secondly, America is not Israel.  America is not God’s country.  America is not “my people called by my name.”  American pastors are not Old Testament prophets who receive messages and ultimatums from God (other than the written Word) and have a divine right to command kings.  Further, the US government is not leaving Christians without options or forcing us to do evil; we don’t have to worship idols, we are not forbidden to pray, or to meet, or to share our faith, or to have a float in the parade, or to have concerts.  Pastors don’t have to officiate gay marriages.  Our churches still enjoy all kinds of tax benefits from local, state, and national governments.  That may all change in decades to come, but we are not there yet.

 

WHO WILL HELP THE POOR?

Side point: Sodom’s sin wasn’t just sexual.  Although it isn’t popular to say so, one could argue that even the American Church has committed one of the sins of Sodom (Ezekiel 16:49).  Our affluent white suburban churches have often neglected the poor and yet don’t want a government that does either.  When compassion dies in the Church (or the Church itself dies), socialism will rise in culture.  We are in an era where caring for your fellow man is a core value in Western culture.  America is being increasingly influenced by the collectivist values of its third-world immigrants, and by the “Progressive” ideas of intellectuals and youth who believe, pursuant to evolution, that social collectivism is the highest evolved form of economic-political philosophy (and no, Obama is very far from being anything like a communist).

 

WE HAVE THE VOTE AND REPRESENTATION

Thirdly, today’s Americans are not in a similar situation to our colonial forefathers.  In the mid-1700s, they had a demented king and a timid Parliament in which they had no representation.  Americans have chosen their current President; Americans have chosen their current Senators, Representatives, and Governors.  We have full representation and the American political process is still a stunning model for the world to see – it works so well (take it from one who lives in Africa!).  I was privileged to be in America as the process took place November 6.

 

The colonials were in a position where King George had abdicated government by declaring the colonies out from his protection in 1775.  They were moving swiftly to create governments and militias to avoid being overthrown by a foreign British power.  The term “revolution” was given to us by the French when they pursued their mindless debacle decades later.  American Christians don’t rise up and throw off a leader they disagree with – they vote (how many of you know what percentage of true believers voted this time?).  And if your man is never elected because his views and yours are in the minority, what can you do?  That leads to the last point …

 

THE ROOT TROUBLE & SOLUTION

We mustn’t be angry with Barak Obama.  He is a reflection of what the American people want … times two.  We might be angry with the way American society is heading, but ultimately that falls right back into the laps of Christians, doesn’t it?  The salt has lost its savor; our light is barely shining.  Ask Barna.  America used to have a strong Judeo-Christian consensus, even though you could argue that they were simply God-fearing people rather than actually Christian.  With the rise of Liberalism in the 1800s, America moved to a moralist model based on notions of love and the Golden Rule.  In the 1950s we began to lose even the moralist model.  Now the great moralist-capitalist middle has all but disappeared, and America is sharply polarized. 

 

I think perhaps we have failed to do the hard thing, the right thing, and one of the first things.  We have failed to live in a contagiously refreshing way in our communities (but have isolated ourselves from it in our churches and schools, and are known for political anger more than being socially helpful), and we have failed to share our faith one by one.  The gospel alone changes people and society; as many individuals change from the inside out, the whole is made right. 

 

I am glad for this wakeup call for the church … although we heard it four years ago and I am not sure much has changed.  I think a Republican President would make the Church even more comfortable and more apathetic.  This wakeup call is not a call to political action – to oppose the President and those aligned with him.  It is a call to mobilize God’s people to relational evangelism – from the common man up to elected officials.  You simply can’t elect good Christians to office when the public despises Christians and their ideas; or if they make it into office, they won’t stay there long if they have good principles.  I think that this is why some politicians resist conversion; it would cost them everything.  Until the Church repents and begins to function, American politics will reflect our impotence.

Behind the Curtain

The Veil of Twilight

One night, while taking a walk at nightfall, I saw an object in the field that I identified as a coyote.  Having to walk past that ghostly creature to get back to my house, I cautiously and fearfully, continued my walk.  I kept my eye on the critter the whole time. The more I watched I realized the animal was not only a coyote but also a coyote that was intently tracking me.   Needless to say, this was unsettling.  When I got right up on the animal, I was shocked; what I had moments before been certain was a coyote was not even an animal.  Though I was certain of what I saw, the quickly spreading veil of darkness had obscured reality to the point that I believed a lie. The lie led to fear and the fear almost led to irrational behavior – calling my wife to pick me up.   I Corinthians 4:3 speaks of a similar curtain of darkness. It is a covering that leaves spiritual reality hidden and a lie substituted for truth.  

2 Corinthians 4:3–4 (NASB95)   ³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, ⁴ in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

The Veil of Hurricane Sandy

As ‘Sandy’s’ aftermath is contemplated, discussion has again permeated the world as to the cause and meaning of such storms.  Once more surfacing among the powerful politicians, agnostic scientists and persuasive media is the hypothesis that all this is caused by ‘global warming.’  This premise that has gained traction over the last 20 years proposes that we as human beings have destroyed our planet by using or misusing our natural resources in such a way that catastrophic changes have taken place in our atmosphere.  These changes have caused warming to our atmosphere that consequently have triggered dangerous changes in our weather patterns.   After experiencing Sandy, Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of the world’s most powerful city, endorsed a presidential candidate based on this hypothesis. An election that never really spoke of climate change is being altered in the last week by this single concept. But it is not global warming or the effects it has on the election, that are the veil.  It is something much more sinister.   

The Veil of An Interactive God

It is a veil that removes the supernatural from consideration and seeks a natural answer to everything.   It is a veil that sees man as the cause and the solution to problems formerly understood to be acts of God.   The veil covers the thoughts that there could be a God who notices and cares about human actions. It hides the fact that this God could be angered by our actions and could act in judgment.   It veils that He says He created and sustains our earth.   The veil is so thick that even the possible consideration that these storms could be related to God, are laughed to scorn.  When religious leaders such as Pat Robertson, Chuck Colson, and Hal Lindsey (no endorsements intended) suggested that God’s judgment might be involved in Hurricane Katrina, they were attacked as Christians who were not merely lacking in credibility but also were verging on dangerous insanity.   The veil is falling fast and the veil is being dropped by, ‘the god of this world.’

Here are the facts! The climate is changing. It was predicted to change long before the global warming theory came to be.   Natural storms are growing in frequency and strength.  But they are very much connected to God.  The Bible makes clear that nature is both controlled and directed by the Lord (Col 1).  Matthew 24 speaks of the divine plan to increase earthquakes ahead of Jesus Second coming.   Revelation describes the judgment of God that will be unfurled during the tribulation. Natural disasters are among those judgments.  Listen to these words from Revelation 6:12–14 (NASB95)    ¹² I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; ¹³ and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. ¹⁴ The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

Not only will our world be shaken by earthquakes but huge atmospheric changes will occur that will dramatically alter our exosphere and the weather we are used to.  All of these things will come from the hand of God as judgment to the world.  

The Veil of God's Purposes

 

What is the point of this judgment?   God will send this pre-judgment to mankind with mercy in his heart.   His merciful goal: to show a preview of His eternal judgment so that we would repent and trust Him as our salvation from this certain judgment ahead.  He desires us to detour from our human answers to His divine truth. 

While we cannot know certainly what God had in mind with Sandy, there is one thing we can know with certain.   God is involved in ‘natural’ disasters.  One of his goals in every one of these events is to awaken us to the reality of our spiritual condition.  Veiling the source of major storms is Satan’s plan to hide the truth of an interactive God, the truth of our sin, the truth of God’s wrath and the truth of the gospel.  

Rather than turn to Jesus when this veil falls, people will again follow after the god of this world’s deception that eliminates God from their memory.   In this day, when the veil labeled ‘natural’ disaster obscures our world’s view of God, be courageous in telling the truth of God’s connection to nature.   Don’t be muzzled.   If you allow yourself to be muzzled, you are allowing God’s mercy to be muzzled.  God intends these events to mercifully unsettle and warn our world so that they turn from their sin, their humanistic tendencies and to Jesus who wishes to be their Savior and Lord.   May God lift the veil on those around us so that they can know the Savior that we have been privileged to see.  

 

The Product of an Over ‘Politcalized’ Church

Recently, I have been asked a lot of political questions.    I have been encouraged to be more political in my messages - to preach against or for issues, to encourage people towards information that would help them to get more involved politically, to stand up for their rights, to recognize the doom that could come to their American dream and to speak openly against political parties.  Let me explain why this is not on my Sunday morning agenda.  

In the 1950 & 1960’s a dramatic change took place in many of the southern black churches in America.   At one time, they were an ethnic group whose churches most capably laid out an example of what true Christianity and the true gospel entailed, but in the face of great mistreatment and injustice, they were derailed.  How did it happen?  It came in the face of deep and hateful persecution and injustice.   While slavery had ended, a landscape of racism still clearly marked the culture, sadly even the religious culture.  The Black community was not treated humanely or given any sense of the dignity that a person created in God’s image should receive.    This injustice clearly deserved action, but the action that was taken erroneously moved from the community halls to the church buildings.

What happened next was unfortunate.   Sunday in some black churches slowly digressed from being a time for equipping people to live in this world - with all its unfairness, all its trials and all its persecution - in a way that would allow the light of Jesus to shine out of darkness.   No longer was the day centered on the worship of a sovereign God “Who’s got the whole world in his Hands” and Who could be trusted to cause the rise and fall of kingdoms as best met his loving and divine purposes.  The proclaimed purpose of believers shifted from rescuing lost and unrepentant sinners from eternal bondage and punishment for sin, to “let’s free ourselves from social injustice.”  Clearly, many of those unrepentant and unsaved sinners that needed saved could be found filling the racist religious gatherings down the road who were fueling the injustice. As a regretful response, compassion was replaced with self-preservation. 

The change sent the church down a slippery slope.  Rather than being infused with love for their enemies, churches began to breed the bitterness that their enemies were pouring out on them.  Rather than lifting up Jesus’ right to reign in hearts, parishioners were told to focus on their rights.  Sunday became a time to strategize, to motivate and to move people against the injustices of this world.  It became a time when liberation from injustice - right now, today, on this planet became the objective.  When this took place, the mission of the church was undermined and generations were infected with a mindset that thwarted their spiritual growth and disregarded the mind and heart of God.

Here is the problem. While Christians should be concerned about social injustice, while they should be good citizens and vote and while they should be proactive in their communities, this should not be what obsesses them. Most importantly this should not be the focus of their Sunday worship.   

The focus of our corporate gathering is to worship the God Who is constant and Who transcends this world.  As we gather, we are to recognize that this God might have injustice on tap for us as He did for His Son, in order to help more vividly shine His love through us against the backdrop of our own persecution.    The body of Christ, formed from those of every nation, ethnicity, tribe and tongue, all have one thing in common, we have a heavenly citizenship and a heavenly mission.   The changing of society is not God’s primary goal here and now. In fact, this world is promised to be dark, unfair and unruly.  Fairness and or ease for ourselves is not to be our focus at all, and certainly not in church body gatherings.   Instead, our focus as we gather is to be equipping one another to shine the light of the gospel and share the truth of the gospel into the darkest and most hateful corners of our communities.    It is to encourage each other to the mind of Jesus as we relate to a world that increasingly hates us, not to breed bitterness against that world, the government or its enemies. 

If we lose focus on what God has in mind for us, what will happen?   The gospel by which we are saved - and for which we are to be ambassadors - will be lost.   What we talk about will be us, our freedom in this life, our dreams and goals for the here and now.  In its wake the gospel of Jesus will be lost and the fruit of the spirit will disappear.   Don’t be fooled!  The product of an overly politicalized church is not nearly as divine as one might initially think.    Let’s be the best citizens we can be.   Let’s pray much for our nation.   Let’s follow our political conscience as framed by biblical principles.   BUT, let’s not lose sight of the goal as given to us by Jesus.  Let’s make spiritual disciples our primary goal not political ones. If we lose focus, the game will be lost.