Resources

Five Questions You Should Ask Your Candidate

(Based on the Ten Commandments of Exodus 20)

Do you have an authentic relationship with God?

  1. Do you believe and practice that Jehovah is the final authority in life?  Vv. 2-3
  2. Is your relationship with God more important than anything else in your life, including
    this office? V. 4
  3. Is your faithreal or is it part of your public political persona? V. 7
  4.  Do your actions, private and public, reflect your stated faith in God? Vv. 8-11

Do you value the historical and Biblical family model?

  1. Do you recognize the rights of parents to raise their children as they see fit without
    government funded schools contradicting the moral values taught at home? V. 12
  2. Do you advocate abstinence-based sex education and the right of parents to choose to educate their children themselves in this area?
  3. Do you understand that it is God’s will that all boys and girls grow up to be healthy heterosexuals? That men and women struggle with all kinds of sins and that is just one of them?  That those who struggle with same sex attractions should be protected from hate crimes without compromising the historical Judeo Christian standard of one man and one woman as the definition of marriage? (We have numbers of people in our churches who
    have struggled and continue to struggle with this.  To tell them it is right to make them feel  better makes no more sense than to tell a chronic liar that it is ok or than telling alcoholic that there is nothing wrong with being a drunk.  In all three situations, we love the person unconditionally while lifting up a standard of biblical accountability?  You don’t have to be a homophobe to hold up the truth!)

Does your character qualify you to be our leader?

  1. Are you faithful to your wife?  V. 14
  2. Can we trust you to tell us the truth, even when the truth is unpleasant? V. 16
    1. I am tired of hearing debates followed by the “truth squad” of reporters telling us who lied
      about what.
    2. If they lie to us during the campaign, they will lie to us in office.  Prov. 10:9

Do you value life? V. 13

  1. Where do you stand on abortion?  The bible doesn’t use the word abortion, but over and over the Bible affirms life and condemns those who trivialize life, especially the life of little children.
    1. Jer. 32:35 “they built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech, though I never commanded , nor did it enter my mind, that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin.”
  2. In the OT, the sacrifice of children is condemned, and is often the stated reason for the annihilation of entire races.  Molechites, and even the Kings of Judah, Ahaz and Manassah in 2 Kings, were condemned for making the children pass through the fire.
  3. Jesus in Matthew 18 speaks of the value of a child.
  4. When a nation kills the unborn, creates preborn babies for the purpose of killing them to do stem cell research, and allows doctors to selectively choose which babies will be allowed to go to term and which wont based on viability, it is a small step to killing the old and the infirm and the useless.
  5. I have never voted for a man or woman who doesn’t value life enough to claim to be pro life, and I don’t plan to start now.
    1. The economy is important, but not more important than life.
    2. The war is significant, but not more significant than life.
    3. The second amendment is serious but not more serious than life.
  6. A favorite quote…“Without life, there can be no liberty or pursuit of happiness.”

Do you advocate personal responsibility?

  1. Do you advocate governmental “Robinhood” policies that steal from the rich to give to the poor?
    v. 15
  2. Do you pander to various special interest groups that feel entitled?
    1. Coveting is wanting what is not yours.
    2. Every Xn should want to help the poor and assist the needy, but it is not the governments right nor responsibility to tax your wealth so that others can have what you have without working for it?
    3. Yes, we need to care for the weakest among us, but not those that feel entitled because they are part of a downtrodden class.

 

 God’s Will and Grace

On Sunday night, June 26, Pastor Pete laid out a Biblical response to the issue of homosexuality and how the church should respond to it. You can read his manuscript by clicking on the link above.

 

Pastor Pete alluded to a number of Biblical references in the sermon on March 20, that were related to the fulfillment of prophecy of Jesus as the Messiah. Here are his notes…

The Prophetic Record: God pointed to Jesus as the Messiah by process of elemination:

      • An Israelite – Gen. 22:18, Gal. 3:16
      • A descendant of Isaac, not Ishmael – Gen. 21:12, Luke 3:23
      • From the line of Jacob Num. 24:17, Luke 3:23-24
      • Of the tribe of Judah Gen. 49:10, Luke 3:23-33
      • From the Family of Jesse Is. 11:1
      • Of the House of David Jer. 23:5
      • Born in Bethlehem Micah 5:2
      • How will we know which one?
      • Preceded by a messenger Is 40:3
      • He will begin his ministry in Galilee Is. 9:1
      • Will teach in parables Ps 78:2
      • Will perform miracles Is 35:5-6
      • There are over 300 prophecies in the OT fulfilled in Jesus Christ, 29 of them fulfilled in one day.
      • Odds of just 8 prophecies being fulfilled in one day and in one Man are 1 in 10 to the 17th power. Jesus fulfilled 29 in one day.

Foundations Sermon Series Resources 

Pastor Pete recommends the following books for further study during this series:

The Faith by Charles Colson and Harold Thickett

The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell

The Everloving Truth by Voddie Baucham

Also, if you haven’t yet listened to the “prequel” sermon of a few weeks ago, called “Why I Believe the Bible,” click on the title and go to our sermon player and scroll down to find the title.