Election Time. Who do you Vote For?
I sit here ashamed. Ashamed of my actions for the past couple of weeks in Virginia. First of all, I haven't displayed myself as an ambassador of Christ the way I should. Second, I have totally gotten away from my morning devotions. I've let chances and opportunities to proclaim my faith in Christ pass by. I feel that I have hit rock bottom. This morning I got back into my bible studies. But am I ready for a debate?
Let me tell you a little about the family that I am living with. Troy and Briana Kelly. Two fine people with kindness in their hearts. They've opened their house up to me and my family for anywhere from short to a very long term stay. They have a 10 year old son named Patrick. Very smart, and full of life. Troy is super smart. Someone that you can't help but get a little more wiser by spending time with him. Briana used to work with Tammie and me at Burlington several years ago. She told me in advance that they were not church going folk. In fact, Troy was a non-believer. She went on to tell me that Troy likes to debate Christians and their beliefs. She also told me that when and if we move to Virginia and get settled in a church, that she would like it if we took Patrick with us, so he could see what church and Christians were all about. That sounded great to me. Which now sends me back to my story....
The other night, Troy took me out to eat. It was just the guys, me, Patrick and Troy. Somehow or another the conversation curved into The Islam religion. I remember a few years ago at Second Baptist when Bro Shawn taught a lesson on different religions, and one of them was the Islam religion.
As Troy was talking about the Islam beliefs, one thing stuck out like a sore thumb, and I had my chance to make a statement, and blew it. So, I will blog about it. Troy stated that the God they worship and the God that Christians worship is the same God.
There is no way that is accurate.....
1 John 2:23 and John 3:5-6 backs up my statement.
1 John 2:23
23) No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
John 3:5-6
5) Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6) Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
The Islams deny Jesus as the Christ, the Savior of the World, therefore they worship a different god. They worship a god who did not send a Savior to die for their sins. I've used this scripture before, but it's just right on the money. Romans 5 speaks of peace, joy, hope and love. The Islams hope is shredded to pieces by this scripture alone.
Romans 5:1-8
1) Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2) through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3) Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4) perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5) And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
6) You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7) Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8) But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
If they worship the same God that I worship, then they would accept this scripture as truth. They don't recognize God's true love for them. God's love is the true meaning of life!! All Christians should have that branded in their hearts and minds!!
John 3:16-18
16) "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18) Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
The sad thing about this is, so many times people use this scripture reading and proclaim that they are Christians when they totally misunderstood God's love for them. We had this discussion in our home group a few weeks ago. I stated that there will be so many people that stand before God, thinking that they are headed for heaven, and God will tell them to depart from Him, that He never knew them. So many times people make a choice that really doesn't include God. It only has to do with their own desires. If I told you that you had two choices, one was hell, or the other was proclaim the moon as a god and you'll have everlasting life. You definitely would not choose hell. So many so called Christians make this choice. They chose (Not Hell). Anything but hell. Then they think that they are OK. When they really don't have a clue of what they chose. They just know what they didn't choose. Their desire was not to go to hell. So they chose the opposite. With elections at hand, it's easy to say I don't know who to vote for, I just know who I'm not voting for, so through process of elimination I vote for someone I have no clue who they are or what they stand for. God desires us to know him. To love Him. To Worship Him. The one and only choice is God's love.
I have a request from the readers of this blog. Please pray for me, for the days and weeks to come, that I can display God's love through my walk of faith. That I can demonstrate what a true ambassador of Christ represents.
My vote is in............. I choose God's Love..........
Let me tell you a little about the family that I am living with. Troy and Briana Kelly. Two fine people with kindness in their hearts. They've opened their house up to me and my family for anywhere from short to a very long term stay. They have a 10 year old son named Patrick. Very smart, and full of life. Troy is super smart. Someone that you can't help but get a little more wiser by spending time with him. Briana used to work with Tammie and me at Burlington several years ago. She told me in advance that they were not church going folk. In fact, Troy was a non-believer. She went on to tell me that Troy likes to debate Christians and their beliefs. She also told me that when and if we move to Virginia and get settled in a church, that she would like it if we took Patrick with us, so he could see what church and Christians were all about. That sounded great to me. Which now sends me back to my story....
The other night, Troy took me out to eat. It was just the guys, me, Patrick and Troy. Somehow or another the conversation curved into The Islam religion. I remember a few years ago at Second Baptist when Bro Shawn taught a lesson on different religions, and one of them was the Islam religion.
As Troy was talking about the Islam beliefs, one thing stuck out like a sore thumb, and I had my chance to make a statement, and blew it. So, I will blog about it. Troy stated that the God they worship and the God that Christians worship is the same God.
There is no way that is accurate.....
1 John 2:23 and John 3:5-6 backs up my statement.
1 John 2:23
23) No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
John 3:5-6
5) Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6) Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
The Islams deny Jesus as the Christ, the Savior of the World, therefore they worship a different god. They worship a god who did not send a Savior to die for their sins. I've used this scripture before, but it's just right on the money. Romans 5 speaks of peace, joy, hope and love. The Islams hope is shredded to pieces by this scripture alone.
Romans 5:1-8
1) Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2) through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3) Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4) perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5) And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
6) You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7) Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8) But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
If they worship the same God that I worship, then they would accept this scripture as truth. They don't recognize God's true love for them. God's love is the true meaning of life!! All Christians should have that branded in their hearts and minds!!
John 3:16-18
16) "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18) Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
The sad thing about this is, so many times people use this scripture reading and proclaim that they are Christians when they totally misunderstood God's love for them. We had this discussion in our home group a few weeks ago. I stated that there will be so many people that stand before God, thinking that they are headed for heaven, and God will tell them to depart from Him, that He never knew them. So many times people make a choice that really doesn't include God. It only has to do with their own desires. If I told you that you had two choices, one was hell, or the other was proclaim the moon as a god and you'll have everlasting life. You definitely would not choose hell. So many so called Christians make this choice. They chose (Not Hell). Anything but hell. Then they think that they are OK. When they really don't have a clue of what they chose. They just know what they didn't choose. Their desire was not to go to hell. So they chose the opposite. With elections at hand, it's easy to say I don't know who to vote for, I just know who I'm not voting for, so through process of elimination I vote for someone I have no clue who they are or what they stand for. God desires us to know him. To love Him. To Worship Him. The one and only choice is God's love.
I have a request from the readers of this blog. Please pray for me, for the days and weeks to come, that I can display God's love through my walk of faith. That I can demonstrate what a true ambassador of Christ represents.
My vote is in............. I choose God's Love..........
posted by Kevin Stoxe @ 10/12/2006 01:14:00 PM
3 Comments:
At 10/12/2006,
Tammie S. said…
Honey,
This blog is so uplifting to me. You really have a way with words and always know just what to write. I know this is hard, but with God's help everything will turn out just fine in the end. We are really too worried about this life when we should be worrying about the next one. I know where I am going, thank the Lord. God is and will always take care of us. I love and miss you very much.
At 10/16/2006,
Mark W. said…
Kevin,
Thanks for the down-n'-dirty honest blogging. It's so true that people usually choose the path of least resistence (or suffering) instead of making a positive choice. Perhaps that is indirect evidence for evolution (we leave it up to nature to choose for us, because we are too lazy/scared/busy/stupid (fill in the blank) to take action. Thanks for bringing this message home with a really great example...voting: the one thing ignorant Americans are really, really bad at doing. Look at the voting percentages after any election! It's horrid.
Great blog! You're still in our prayers here...and you're a "daily click" too because I keep wanting to read how things are going. Keep up the blogs. God Bless.
At 10/18/2006,
Rosie said…
Hey Kevin! Just wanted you to know that we have been and will continue to pray for you guys...we know how hard it is. Phillip and I were talking the other night about some of our youth now and the ideals that they are being taught and have grown up with, some good and some bad, and out of the blue, Phillip said, "You know, Kevin and Tammi Stokes are probobly the best parents that I know." We continued to talk about what great kids you guys have and how we really admire the way that you guys have clearly taught them truths and really live out your faith. We know this is a difficult time for you guys, but I just wanted to share our feelings about you guys. Hope it lifts your spirits. We love you guys.
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