Today song is The Wanderer so what comes to mind when you hear about a group of people wandering around? After Moses lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt the Children of Israel “wandered in the wilderness” for 40 years. Thus becoming wanderers, see how I totally matched up today’s song with the subject for the day, well sort of .
The Children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. In the Bible the number 40 has a lot of meaning. I have copied and pasted just a small sample from the internet about the importance of the number 40.
The Meaning of Numbers: The Number 40
Mentioning 146 times in Scripture, the number 40 generally symbolizes a period of testing, trial or probation. During Moses’ life he lived forty years in Egypt and forty years in the desert before God selected him to lead his people out of slavery.
Moses was also on Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights, on two separate occasions (Exodus 24:18, 34:1 – 28), receiving God’s laws. He also sent spies, for forty days, to investigate the land God promised the Israelites as an inheritance (Numbers 13:25, 14:34).
As in says above the number 40 is in the Bible 146 times. There is much more on the number in fact it makes a very good study theme or the number forty would make a great sermon serious. In fact pray about asking your pastor to think about doing a series of sermons on the number 40. From the flood to how many times Jesus associates himself with the number 40. It would really make a good study. Because the number 40 is back in 2020.
In 1980 40 years ago a TV preacher by the name of Jerry Falwell founded what he called “The Moral Majority” declaring God to be a Republican, therefore is you didn’t vote straight down the Republican ballot you were “wicked” and against God.
The Moral Majority is alive and well today, they don’t call themselves that anymore, But the Moral Majority just like the Children of Israel wandered for 40 years, The Moral Majority was been wandering around for the past 40 years. They been wandering in The Wilderness of Self-Righteousness, Eating the Manna of Arrogance, drinking out of the River of Conceit, walking around on The Holier Than Thou Trail.
What did walking around in the Wilderness of Self-Righteousness for the past 40 years do for today’s Moral Majority? They are defending Donald Trump with all their hearts, with all their minds and with all their strength. What else would you expect from people that believe they are moral? Yes it all make sense after these 40 years, it really can’t end any better these 40 years of people thinking they are like God than to believe that just like them Donald Trump is moral.
Today’s song Sweet Hour of Prayer is one of my favorites. It always reminds me of another one of my favorites I Need Thee Every Hour. Today’s song speaks of the proper, scriptural use of prayer. But today I going to write about what I think and I didn’t just make this up out of my own mind, I’m going to use the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Once again the subject of prayer in schools is now a hot issue since President Trump rolled out new guidelines for prayer in schools. There are a lot of people that go to church with are making posts, bragging about Trump and how happy God is with him. But I don’t know so much about that after all how did Jesus tell us NOT to pray? In the Book of Matthew: Jesus says
What is Jesus talking about and what does it have to do with prayer in schools? I give an example: Today there’s something know as Meet Me At the Pole. Best I can tell this is where church leaders, mostly Youth pastors gather around the flagpole at Middle, Jr high and high schools and I don’t know if they hold hands or not, we didn’t do anything like this when I was in school, then they have a prayer. So what’s wrong with that? I’ll give an example; This is once again a story of Jr. high and Little Donny, I’ve talked about Little Donny before, you know I told the story of how there was a Jewish boy who went to the same Jr. high as Little Donny. And how Little Donny would make fun of his name. Remember the little boy last name was Schiff, and Little Donny would always call him, Schitt. Yeah that Little Donny. Anyway that spoiled, cocky rich kid would always meet at the pole. And Little Donny was very loud and everyone knew Little Donny was there. But here’s the problem come gym class, Little Donny would be in the locker room bragging about how he would grab girls in the hallways. And oh no he said he wasn’t grabbing them by the arm. Do you know where Little Donny was grabbing girls? But wait he would always be at the pole praying showing all the kids how “good” he is. Sometimes there wouldn’t even be no one else there! Is Little Donny just doing all this praying, as Jesus said to be seen by men? And by the way just ask any boy in Jr. high and he will tell you they are MEN!
Do you see the problem I have with Meeting At the Pole? There could even be one or maybe two Youth pastors who refuse to do the whole pole thing because Jesus said thou shalt not pray this way. But in today’s world I’m sure if one refused to do this he would very quickly be fired! Today you have to know politics is much more important than following the words of Jesus.
It was way back in 1962 that the Supreme Court took prayer out of schools. I was born that year so I don’t know what their talking about, and by the way I seem to make it alright without prayer in school. But the way my pastor talks the way it worked before 1962, before class the kids would say the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a prayer. By saying the Pledge of Allegiance, I guess that kept the kids from joining ISSI and the prayer made everyone feel better. I guess that sounds alright, but what does Jesus say about it. the next two verses Jesus says:
These verses used to be a big deal to Southern Baptist back in the day. If some of you have never been to a Southern Baptist worship service you’ll notice something missing right off. When someone prays whoever is praying will never ever say something like this towards the end of their prayer: and let us remember the words of Christ, and then the whole congregation will say Our Father, which art in Heaven–reciting the Lord’s Prayer all together. That was not done last Sunday and will not be done next Sunday at my Southern Baptist Church. Why? Because back in the day when Jesus said Thou Shalt Not it was taken very serious. Southern Baptist believe that we should not recite anything, which includes The Lord’s Prayer, in a way where it becomes a vain repetition. This turns The Lord’s Prayer into a ritual and us Southern Baptist just have a thing about doing rituals. A ritual would include things like those creepy chants you see in horror movies. You know where there’s a bunch of people dressed in monk robes with their faces covered by their hoods chanting something really creepy. Well us Southern Baptist are totally against creepy stuff during our worship services. Just saying! But the best I can tell that’s what Trump and his supporters want to do to our school children. They are to start each day with the Pledge of Allegiance making it kindof creepy then chanting some prayer which is without a doubt creepy. But Trump supporting pastors of today do not dare to preach on this passage of scripture, pretending Jesus never said this about prayer. And what do they won’t to accomplish with prayer in schools? If you believe Jesus all they will accomplish is their reward which is to be seen by men. You see this is great example of a heathen being praised by a bunch of hypocrites!
Today’s song title is about as simple as it can be just one word- war. I’m reminded of the war in Vietnam every day. The other day it was about 4 o clock in the morning however it can be at any time day or night cold weather or hot, sunshine or rain it doesn’t matter. There’s never a day that it doesn’t happen my next door neighbor stands outside by the road and yells at the top of her lungs and although she’s a very small woman her yells are clearly heard inside my house and my neighbors houses. My next door neighbor will sometimes set on his front porch and yell back at her making fun of her. This doesn’t stop her from yelling, in fact she will just yell louder. Why is my neighbor like this. Well she’s a Vietnamese lady in her sixties, which means she was a little girl back home in Vietnam when the war was going on. I believe my neighbors relives the horrors of her childhood everyday. A friend of Daddy’s come by the other day she was outside yelling and he asked “what’s wrong with that woman”? We told him she was Vietnamese and we don’t know what the poor woman went through during the war. He said that yeah that explains it.
Why do I have a woman from Vietnam living next door to me? That’s a story I’m going to talk about today. The reason why I have a Vietnamese neighbor is because in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War there were millions of people fleeing Vietnam. Many thousands came to the United States as refugees. Now I’m making this up I always have music on while I’m writing I don’t like silence the song streaming as I stated to write this paragraph was Tom Petty’s Refugee! That would also be a great song for today’s story. I was in the eighth grade when over 100,000 refugees were settled through Fort Chaffee that borders my town, Fort Smith Arkansas. Did anyone catch that? As I have written before I live in Fort Smith, Arkansas the end of the Trail of Tears that Trump is so proud of placing a painting of Andrew Jackson the signer of the 1830 Indian Removal Act, in the Oval Office. And yet here we are 145 years later welcoming thousands of LEGAL refugees into our state! We had a toy drive at my Jr. high for the kids and those kids didn’t even speak English! My how times have changed!
President Trump signed an executive order allowing states governors to reject refugees in their state. The Governor of Texas said that Texas would refuse LEGAL refugees. Last Wednesday a Federal Judge in Maryland declared Trump’s executive order unconstitutional, so it will be up to the Supreme Court to decide. There’s a reason why I’m singling out the governor of Texas who is attacking The Great Commission. My church I belong to, Rye Hill Baptist Church of Fort Smith is a church with a heart for missions. My church doesn’t just talk about spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ we follow our talk with actions. Our church regularly has mission team that travel to Fort Worth Texas to minister to the people of the refugee resettlement in Fort Worth. If the Texas governor has his way there will be no more refugees in Fort Worth. They say we are a “Christian Nation” but it appears Texas is not a “Christian state”.
This passage is what is known as The Great Commission This is Jesus final instructions before his ascension into Heaven. It’s what all of his followers are suppose to do until his return which we Christians call the Second Coming of Christ. Yes The Great Commission is a very big deal to Christians. Of coarse Trump and the Texas governor would say “the Great What”?
Some may claim that The Great Commission is only about foreign missions, after all Jesus said GO. But here’s what I think the best answer to that is. It was a couple of months ago a missionary from Burma came to speak at our church. He was very hard to understand but if you listened closely this is what he said about his work sharing Jesus with the refuges from Burma. He said that the refuges from Burma was “God’s gift to the United States”. That’s right it’s God’s gift to our country, we don’t have to raise money to send a few missionaries halfway around the world God has brought them to us. Yes there’s no doubt about it refugees are a gift from God. The governor of Texas may not think so but rejecting a gift from God is a dangerous thing to do and it should end the political career of all the governors that reject the gift from God. Come election time Christians will not forget the attack they made on Christ and our Christian beliefs.
Today’s song is about Bad, Bad Leroy Brown and how since he was taken out how much safer that made the Southside of Chicago. When this song first came out the people of Chicago were so happy, after all who could blame them? Giving the baddest man exactly what was coming to him should have made everyone so glad! When the worst of the worst, the baddest of the bad is taken out it can’t do anything but everybody safer. Right? Everyday bad, bad, people, and I’m not talking someone in a made-up song, everyday day, it fact every hour there are bad, bad, I mean really bad men are “taken out”. They are “taken out” by arrest and by death. Everyday. But the people of the Southside of Chicago are not any safer so how is that? Is “taking out” bad guys not the answer?
Do you realize that kids of today even it high school have been taught all their life’s that the way to stop evil is to kill the “bad guys” that stops evil and make’s us all safer. Our high school kids do not remember 9/11 it fact none of them were even born then! There are people in college that were not born when 9/11 happened. Have you ever sat back and thought or counted how many bad, bad people the United States in order to make us safer has been killed. And how many “master minds” of 9/11 were killed. Why didn’t this make us safer? I have an idea why. It all has to do with Bad, Bad Leroy Brown—–Jr. And Bad, bad Leroy Brown other kids, and Bad, Bad Leroy Brown nephews, and Bad, Bad Leroy Brown brothers, and maybe even Bad, Bad Leroy Brown grandkids. That man you deemed bad, bad, the baddest is someone’s father, someone’s brother, someone’s uncle, yes someone’s best and maybe their only friend. For every bad, bad man that is killed five, ten, twenty or maybe more suddenly become bad ready to seek revenge, it fact the ones who follow are often far worse than the first bad, bad man that was killed. History has taught us that killing only leads to one thing more killing. No you say well just look up The Hundred Years War.