God Help Us!

The other day I wrote a post about how I don’t understand how evangelicals can still support this particular POTUS. The idea that “I voted for a president, not a pastor,” or, “I don’t look to Washington, DC for spiritual guidance,” or “I don’t agree with his lifestyle choices, but I love his policies,” wreak of moral relativism and “end justifies the means” secular philosophies that we are warned as Christians to avoid (see Colossians 2:8). Here is a link to that blog post.

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I Don’t Know What to Think

I have to be honest, I don’t really know what to think anymore.

• How can a country, with so many churches, lead the world in gun violence, especially in our schools?
• How can people (especially Christians) continually put the 2nd amendment above the safety and welfare of our children?
• How can evangelical Christians, who once taught that character is the single most important quality of a leader continue to support a president with so little character?
• How can our country (again, filled with churches and Christians) ignore what the Bible so clearly teaches about immigrants for personal security?
• How can those of who claim to follow Jesus, sit back and totally ignore the suffering and oppression of Christians around the world, especially Palestinian Christians?
• How can we, conservative evangelical Christians, totally ignore what Jesus says about the kingdom of God, turning what was meant to be a communal faith into a totally personal faith?
• How could we have strayed so far from the gospel, while convincing ourselves we are gospel preachers and teachers?

What is Social Justice?

I set out to do an experiment through 2018 that involves posted a scripture verse about social justice through my twitter feed each and every day. So far it has gone pretty well. I have only repeated four different verses, and I have only missed four days. So, out of 134 days so far, I have posted 126 different social justice verses. I don’t think that’s to bad. If you are not follower me on twitter, I would love for you to do so, just go to @riggs_kevin. I am also gathering information and organizing my thoughts into a book about social justice. Right now I don’t have a publisher. I don’t even have a manuscript. I am close to having my outline completed. As of today, the working title for the book is, Street Gospel: An Evangelical’s guide to social justice.

MLK50 Reflections

Myself, along with my co-workers at FCC, had the privilege of attending a conference in Memphis this past Tuesday and Wednesday, commemorating the 50 year memorial of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. The conference was co-sponsored by The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention (ERLC) and The Gospel Coalition. Most of the speakers and workshops were good. Some, not so good. But that is typical of any conference. All in all it was a worthwhile conference.

Capital Punishment and the Noahic Covenant

The State of Tennessee has scheduled three executions between now and August of 2018. Furthermore, the authorities have asked the Tennessee Supreme Court for permission to schedule eight more executions between now and June of 2018. They would like to carry out the additional eight executions because their lethal drugs are about to expire.

Let that reasoning sink in for a minute.

Good for Nothing Christianity (Revelation 3:14-22)

(Click here to watch a video of the sermon.)

In 1577, British explorer, Martin Frobisher, made his second voyage across the ocean to the New World, landing in Canada. While there he discovered what he thought was gold. After mining 200 tons of the gold ore, he placed them on his ships and returned England. The initial assessment of his discovery was positive. He made a third journey across the ocean. This time he brought back 1,300 tons of the gold ore. However, after years of smelting, it was realized that what he had discovered was not gold. Rather, it was iron pyrite, and was only good for starting fires, by hitting a rock against it, causing a spark. What he thought was gold was actually a type of “flint.” Frobisher’s discovery became known as “fool’s gold,” something that has the appearance of value, but in reality, is worthless. Now, however, pyrite is used in lithium batteries. Who’s the fool now?

Between Two Worlds (Revelation 3:7-13)

(For a video of this sermon, click here.)

Those who know me, know I love scuba diving. Over the years, I have used scuba diving for sermon illustrations and object lessons. I’ve even been known to scuba dive in a baptistry. Every year, around this time of year, I start getting the yearning to go diving. March is usually the month for my first dive of the year.

I have a bucket-list of places I would like to dive. The Red Sea, the Galapagos Islands, and the Bonne Terre mines in Missouri are on the top of that list. But number one on my list is the Silfra fissure in Silfra, Iceland. Located in the glacier filled Lake Thingvellir (think-ve-nir), the fissure is actually a crack in the earth, separating the North American continent from the European continent. As you swim through the crack, in 40-degree water, you can actually touch North America with one hand and Europe with the other hand. How cool is that! Diving between two continents! Two worlds, so to speak. If you get thirsty on your dive, which you will, the water in the lake is the most pristine on earth. At any time during the dive, you can take a drink. Pretty neat! With depths between 20 to 60 feet, Lake Thingvellir (think-ve-nir) is the only place on earth where you can stretch your arms and touch two worlds. I think that would be awesome!