Sunday Sermon, October 28, 2012

Yesterday I continued preaching through Romans 12-14 under the umbrella "How We NOW Shall Live" as I looked at "Wal-Mart Religion" from Romans 13: 8-10.  To read the notes, click here

The audio of the message is here:

Abortion is a Human Rights' Issue

(The following is a blog posting by Justin Taylor)

It’d Be Nice to Hear a Pro-Life Politician Answer the Religion and Abortion Question This Way

by Justin Taylor

Saying that life begins at conception isn’t a controversial statement. It’s a question of science. Ask any embryologist and he can tell you that what’s growing in the mother’s womb is a whole, living, human boy or girl at his or her earliest stage of development, with his or her own unique DNA that will remain the same through all stages of development, from conception to death.
What’s controversial is that I think every human being is valuable simply because he or she is a member of the valuable human race. I don’t think human beings have to earn their rights by having certain characteristics like the “correct” race, or gender, or size, or ability, or age.
In other words, it’s the fact that I think we ought to be upholding universal human rights that’s the controversial position.
Now as a Christian, I do believe it’s my duty to protect the natural rights of human beings—to protect universal human rights—because human beings are the kind of being that’s valuable. But one doesn’t have to be a Christian to agree with universal human rights. There are many people of other religions, or no religion, who also want to uphold universal human rights.
The idea that we’re all created equal and equally possess unalienable rights regardless of our differences (race, size, age, ability, etc.) is a founding principle of this nation. Sadly, in the past, we allowed the government to define some human beings out of the human family by requiring they have certain preferred characteristics (like white skin) in order to qualify for protection.
Our failures in the past to hold our government accountable to our professed principle of unalienable rights for every human being led to serious human rights violations. I don’t want to repeat that same mistake. Instead, I would like to hold us to that founding principle.
You asked for a personal answer, and I agree that there are many emotions involved on all sides of this question. But I don’t want to confuse the issue by giving the impression that this is a matter of personal preference. Regulating subjective preferences is not the role of government, so answering as if the abortion issue were merely personal wouldn’t clarify what’s at stake. The issue of human rights is a public issue, and the protection of the lives of human beings is an area of public life that requires the government’s involvement.

Amen.

The Deeper You Walk, the Hungrier You Get - John Piper

John Piper:

When you take your stand on the finished work of God in Christ, and begin to drink at the River of Life and eat the Bread of Heaven, and know that you have found the end of all your longings, you only get hungrier for God. The more satisfaction you experience from God, while still in this world, the greater your desire for the next. For, as C. S. Lewis said, "Our best havings are wantings."
The more deeply you walk with Christ, the hungrier you get for Christ . . . the more homesick you get for heaven . . . the more you want "all the fullness of God" . . . the more you want to be done with sin . . . the more you want the Bridegroom to come again . . . the more you want the Church revived and purified with the beauty of Jesus . . . the more you want a great awakening to God's reality in the cities . . . the more you want to see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ penetrate the darkness of all the unreached peoples of the world . . . the more you want to see false worldviews yield to the force of Truth . . . the more you want to see pain relieved and tears wiped away and death destroyed . . . the more you long for every wrong to be made right and the justice and grace of God to fill the earth like the waters cover the sea.
If you don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great. God did not create you for this. There is an appetite for God. And it can be awakened. . . . (A Hunger for God, 23)

Multiply Conference at CrossRoads Nov. 9

We are hosting this event on Friday, November 9 from 7-10 pm.  It is FREE and no prior registration is required.  Come to CrossRoads!!!

Sermon Notes and Audio for Sunday, October 14, 2012

Yesterday I continued preaching through Romans 12-14 under the umbrella "How We NOW Shall Live" as I looked at "What We Should Do for our Government" from Romans 13: 6-7.  To read the notes, click here

The audio of the message is here:

Interest Meeting for the North Alabama Center of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

The North Alabama Center of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary is seeking to resume classes in January, 2013. The Center will offer Certificate programs in Bible Teaching and Pastoral Ministries on Thursday nights at First Baptist Church, Athens, AL.  An interest meeting for students will be Sunday, November 4 at 3:00 at First Baptist Church, Athens (Room 112).   All interested students MUST either attend this meeting or communicate your intentions to nac@fbcathens.org.  For more information, contact David Cofield at 256-247-6336 or at the email address above.  

Sermon Audio and Notes from Sunday, October 7, 2012

Yesterday I continued preaching through Romans 12-14 under the umbrella "How We NOW Shall Live" as I looked at "What the Government Should Do For You" from Romans 13: 3-5.  To read the notes, click here.

The audio of the message is here: