Last night, August 1, 2019, nearly 400 people gathered at Eastside Baptist Church and approx. 100 viewed on live streaming to learn about what can be done in the state of Idaho to promote the life of every person, regardless of age and location, in the state.
The agenda began at 7p.m. and was scheduled to last just under 2 hours finished after 9 p.m.
Total of six speakers. Overflow seating, overflow parking, overflowing volume when the gathered people sang, and overflowing instruction and direction on what to do now.
Here are the sermons delivered on the past Lord’s Day gatherings of Eastside Baptist Church.
If you ever miss a public gathering due to illness, travel, unexpected conflict, or you want to listen to a sermon again you can utilize our archived sermons at SermonAudio.
For the past three weeks Eastside has been preparing for the process of electing new deacons. If you missed any of the teachings please listen and prepare for the the coming weeks as we elect new deacons.
Every Thursday from 9:00 a.m – 10:00 a.m (mountain time) the local talk show, Magic Valley This Morning with Bill Colley, hosts an hour long segment called Pastors Round Table. During this hour listeners are encouraged to call in and engage with the pastors. Callers sometimes agree, sometimes disagree, other times they pose questions on the going subject of the day.
I’m thankful to God for the unique opportunity to think publicly with some local pastors on current issues from a biblically theological vantage point. My long time friend, “Bear” Morton, the pastor at Magic Valley Bible Church is usually with me and my new friend, Christopher Folkerts, the pastor at the New Covenant United Reformed Church along with a few other pastors from time to time (John Martinez, John Downs, Mickie Kelly) are articulate, careful, and Biblical thinkers.
There are a few ways you can listen in.
Listen on a radio. Tune your AM radio to 1310. KLIX is a local talk show station.
Listen from this app. Apps for both ISO and Android. http://newsradio1310.com/app/
This week we will be taking on a few current events happening around the nation that impact the church.
Karen Pence vs. Lady Gaga
New York State Abortion Bill
Texas Religious Freedom of Speech Bill
Of course, because it’s a live show, with live callers, without a screener to prepare us for the questions, we take on whatever comes our way. It’s an invigorating hour, listen in. Share this link with others and invite them to listen as well. They can listen in from anywhere in the world with an internet connection.
When the church puts all of her gospel driven resources toward the physically poor, or one single segment of the population for that matter, all other spiritually bankrupt people go without the gospel all together.
“I will hear what God the Lord will say; For He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones; But let them not turn back to folly. Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, That glory may dwell in our land. Lovingkindness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth springs from the earth, And righteousness looks down from heaven.” (Psalm 85:8-11)
To a child, it is surprising how slow Christmas comes and then how fast it is forgotten. By now most of the new toys are either broken or the batteries are dead. To the adults, it is surprising how much money is spent and how the plans for a new year diet is underway (soon).
The great tragedy of Christmas is, that as special as the season is, it is too quickly forgotten.
Culturally, Christmas is a most unique season. Even though there are many changes taking place such as the removal of nativity scenes on government property, Christmas concerts being replaced with winter concerts, and household debt continues to escalate, there is still a special feeling in the air. Most merchants still play Christmas carols, many still wish each other “Merry Christmas”, and most, at least, notice something about the birth of a Child in the little town of Bethlehem.
But what noticeably is lost in the busyness of this most wonderful time of the year is how quickly the church behaves more secular every year and how soon those who attended a Christmas Eve service give little interest to gathering the following Lord’s Day.
Throughout the entirety of the Bible there is either an announcement of a Messiah coming, a Messiah is here, or a Messiah is coming again.
The announcement of the most spectacular gift ever given by an eternal God and received by temporal man is like that of what the Psalmist described of when “lovingkindness and truth” or “righteousness and peace” meet together and form a refuge from the storm of sin. The promise of this Savior is only received with anticipation by those whom the Lord God Almighty has given eyes to see and ears to hear of their condition in which they clearly need to be saved from. This news is the greatest news the ears of temporal men could ever hear.
Unlike the quickness of the season changing and most forgetting of the news of a supernatural visitation from God, there is reason for you to stop and ponder again over that glorious day when God put on the clothing of men to save him from his sin. The Bible describes the multitude of angelic hosts having a great expectation for the salvation of men, yet most men will do little more than a head nod of recognition of this time splitting event.
My plea to you today is to look again to that glorious visitation of the Most High. O for a year of Christmas sermons of the incarnation of Almighty God. Your mind is quick to look forward to a new year and quickly begin looking away from the hope of Christ. We are prone to focus on the temporal day of goal setting, weight loss, better health, living debt free; all of which are worth setting a plan to do, but nothing is more demanding of your attention than the hope we have in Christ.
God only gives what is good. Why are you so easily distracted? Why chase after anything less?
I am one of the lest romantic preachers you will ever hear. I rarely give to special days on a calendar more influenced by a greeting card industry than eternal doctrines of the unchangeable God. But, give me any chance to preach on the incarnation of immortal God clothing Himself in the flesh of mortal man to save him, I’ll preach this all year long. Give me Christ!
Christmas Eve Sermon 5:30 p.m. December 24, 2018 Eastside Baptist Church – Twin Falls, Idaho
So God Came to Us! Or God Gives What is God Psalm 85:1-13 and Psalm 86:7-10
Read Psalm 85:1-13
V. 8: “ I will hear what God the LORD will say
A Personal Resolve: “I will hear”
Some will not
Some could not
Not wanting a report from another of what God said.
He will hear for himself
A Firm Resolve: “I will”
Nothing will keep me from this… “I will”
No authentic child of God will purposely refrain from God for long. Maybe for a moment or season, but not for long or good.
Those disinterested in God will allow hindrances to prevent from hearing God.
A Sincere Resolve: “what the Lord will say”
V. 8 “ He will speak.”
He is God, the Lord
Jehovah – the one true living triune God is speaking.
The incarnation
The atonement
The power (the Holy Spirit)
Humanity needs all of this
We can hear – we are spiritual beings who can hear messages from God, who is a spirit
What God has to say is what we most need to hear.
We hear from our own sinful heart all the time and of what our fellow sinful peers have to say. All ungodly doctrines, imaginations, counsels and general misery and confusion.
But HERE: the psalmist wants to come away from all of this and hear God.
What will God say here?
“He will speak peace to His people.
We have previously quarrelled with him
We will have rebelled again and again. But now it is all together different, we turn to him to hear Him.
This peace is that your issues, your conflicts, your stubbornness, your selfishness, your laziness, your foolishness is a war field of your mind and the Prince of Peace has entered the field. Where pride has previously ruled the broken agitated condition of your mind, now you can finally have peace in Christ.
You previously have learned war from that unbelief now, in Christ, He speaks peace to you.
You cannot over estimated this peace.
You cannot advance beyond this moment without this peace.
How does He speak?
He speaks by the authority of His word. You are looking to hear from a spiritual voice. Be careful, there are many spiritual voices. But an authoritative voice does not hide behind weak pitiful men. An authoritative voice can withstand critical examination. The Bible is that authoritative word.
NOW: Salvation and Glory
V. 9: Have confidence: Salvation is near (It is yours) to those who fear Him.
Ex. not a fear of torment, not a fear of the law, it is a fear begotten of love
V. 10: Lovingkindness and Truth don’t meet in confusion, in opposition, in collision, they meet as a refuge from the wind. Righteousness and peace are not foes forced to get along, they meet as a shelter from the storm.
V. 11: Truth springs from the earth. Righteousness looks down from heaven
The incarnation of Christ may be seen in the most shocking, scandalous pictures painted here in Psalm 85
Lovingkindness and Truth met
Righteousness and Peace kiss
Intersecting of
Eternal and temporal
Immortal and mortal
Spirit and flesh
This is not the beginning of God the Son. It is rather the moment where uncreated God entered created existence in body.
This glorious work, springing forth, shows a loving God humbling Himself from Bethlehem to Golgotha for peace upon the sons of men.
This incarnation fulfills prophecy – Isaiah 9:6 “To us a child is born, to us a child is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God Everlasting Father, Prince of peace.” He is no ordinary son.
Mysterious – but somehow; without confusion, without change, without division, without separation when uncreated God takes on mortal, temporal, humanity clothed as the Christ, the messiah, the redeemer, the savior.
This incarnation is required for salvation: Heb. 2:17 He “had to be made like one of us in every respect so that he might become a merciful, faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
Adapted from Joseph Scheumann, Desiring God
December 25, 2013
Close with reading vv 12-13
He is not a God who left us in our sin, but rather a God who gives good gifts and did for us what we could never do by coming to us!
(Today, October 15, 2018 is the first day of early voting in Idaho. I’m, admittedly, a stick in the mud when it comes to voting on “election day” and, yes, I realize that this new day of early elections means that “election day” began today. I’m just that way.)
Proposition 1 – Is it about horse racing or rapid-bet slot machine gambling?
The way we answer this depends on what the question is.
Is it important for a Christian to know what the question is in order to make a well informed and responsible decision on how to cast a vote on the matter on November 6, 2018? Yes, I think it is.
The thoughts I want to express here are not to tell anyone how to vote, but mostly to give an example on how to think through how this proposition is being presented. I think this is an important exercise to even do with your children. We need to be better listeners and better thinkers.
If you have not read the proposition then that is obviously a first thing that needs to be done in order to make a reasonable and responsible conclusion. Warning, it is a very lengthy read. But if one is to be a well informed and responsible voter then it is on us to read it. (see LINK). There can be great confusion surrounding propositions. Sometimes this is intentional.
DISCLAIMER: What I express in the following paragraphs is my opinion and is not an official opinion of any organization I represent. It is an attempt to help myself think through my opinion and to help others become better thinkers, even if the reader does not agree with my conclusion.
When I’m done reading a document like this proposition it requires me some extra time to process what’s being said and what the sponsors want to accomplish with the way they word the proposition. I’m not afraid to read a document like this with a dictionary in my lap to understand what the drafters of it want me to know and compared to what words they are using to persuade the reader to vote for it. (I do the same thing with any document the opponents write and encourage the reader to do the same with what I have to say.
I have to be intellectually honest from the beginning and realize everything I read, write, and think comes with at least some kind of bias. It’s a rare thing to have a completely unbiased opinion. This is a starting point that needs to be understood at the start.
I could make a case against gambling quickly based on what my family, my church, personal examinations have influenced me historically and presently.
That’s a long disclaimer. Wow!
Proposition 1 on the (October 15 -) November 6 ballot in Idaho is known as the “Save Horse Racing in Idaho Act”.
So, some unpacking and good research was required to get a better understanding of this proposition. You’ll need to do the same and your conclusion may or may not be the same as mine. But at the end of the conversation we are at least better informed.
I will express some things with some levels of assumption on behalf of the reader. Otherwise this piece may become so long that no one would ever finish it. I will post my discussion of this from this past Sunday night that may aid in some additional background information.
First: We have a proposition before the people of Idaho to “deregulate an industry and celebrate western history”. This resonates with anyone in the west. We are all the time talking about not wanting government regulation and of course we want to celebrate western history. But we have to be better disciplined than just responding to this kind of language.
For the follower of Christ, we come to Scripture as a lamp to illuminate our path even if it doesn’t directly speak to an issue. With the aid of the Holy Spirit we can apply biblical principles and precepts as we form a conclusion. And at the same time be at peace that not everyone may come to the same conclusion.
Case and point.
I start with how the gambling “industry” presents the matter and how does that sit with the principles of Scripture. I weigh in the way God describes the normal means of earning wages and then consider the health of a civilization in that economy with regard to not only how they earn a wage, but also in how the wage is spent to support the economy.
For example, an employer decides the value of his product and has to calculate the kind of wage he pays his employees with consideration to the likelihood a consumer is willing or able to pay for the product and for the employer to still make a reasonable profit. (I’m not an economist, I’m just trying to think this through. I’m sure there’s more to the equation than this.)
Again, God uses language in Scripture that implies an established economy that has a foundation of a people earning a wage and then purchasing or trading fairly in the marketplace for equal or fair exchange.
This first observation is a much longer discussion than this space allows, but it does at least expose a flaw in the appeal of bigger than normal reward for smaller than expected expense. This is an appeal to live in an altogether different economy than what the Bible would describe. I admit there are parts of my written expression here that does not unfold every question raised. After all, some would say, don’t you stop by Sonic on a regular basis and purchase a soft drink? Isn’t that wasteful and irresponsible? Let’s have that conversation some day, but I’ve already exceeded the work count limit of most readers of blogs.
I want to give the benefit of the doubt as best as I can to the sponsors of this proposition. I don’t like thinking the worst about someone without cause. So, I read and think about what they are saying.
I do have to say that the phrasing of the promotion for this proposition sounds disingenuous. I’m not accusing anyone of being deceitful unless it is shown that the use or lack of use of words is intentional to confuse rather than to clarify.
Let me just get to the point.
Is the legal horse racing industry in Idaho really in danger? (In danger of what? Financially bankrupt? If so, isn’t that the way a normal economy works? When there are not enough consumers for a particular product or service that same industry normally closes its doors. Is it the role of a government to then make a way for that industry to continue doing what people aren’t interested in by letting them do something different, that is unconstitutional, so they can continue calling that illegal activity under the name of the historic industry? Now I’m confused.)
Have people lost jobs since this kind of gaming was declared unconstitutional in 2015? (I don’t make light of the reality that jobs are serious.)
Is this a proposition to restore “historical horse racing”? (This is really a serious question to be asking.)
It does appear that the legal horse racing industry in Idaho is financially suffering. People have lost their jobs since this kind of gaming was declared unconstitutional in Idaho. “Historical Horse Racing” (HHR) has nothing to do with live horse racing.
It is a slot machine style game (just do a little research) that the gamer places bets on historical horse races with a pool of other gamers. No one knows what historical race they are betting on but they are apparently making calculated guesses on an unnamed horse in an unnamed race in an unknown year for the hopes of winning (big) against the others betting with them at the same time in the same location.
So, let me state some kind of conclusion.
When I read about proposition 1, it sounds like it is all about horse racing. This is, in my opinion, dishonest marketing. It is not about horse racing, it is about highly addictive, rapid-bet (slot) machine gambling. It has been well documented that this kind of gaming is geared to attract undisciplined recreators and the long term impact is negative upon the family, the economy, emotional, and spirituality of a civilization and the promise of funding education is always part of the deal, where it is again documented that education benefits little from lottery/gaming industries.
Let’s talk about this (kindly)… What do you think?
