Building on the Foundation

Our primary goal and mission as Christians is our service and singular devotion to our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. That's who and what we are, and it defines everything about our lives. We walk in a manner that reflects glory and honor upon His name, and when there is the darkness of wickedness, His light reflected through us reveals it.  Our highest mission is service to Jesus, who is YHWH. Once a year, however, it becomes abundantly clear that this mission has gotten confused in a lot of Christian's minds. We serve YHWH for 364 days of our lives, but one day a year, it's okay to go out and partake in the works of darkness. It's harmless and fun, so what's the big deal? As representatives of the kingdom, we are children of light. We cannot participate in evil things and expect God to be okay with that. We are to practice what is pleasing to God and do those things which are good, right, and true. That's a pretty good litmus test, and we find it repeated thro...

  Today’s topic is not a pleasant one, but it is a critical one, and the Word of God has much to tell us about it. It is a matter of spiritual life and death for all of God’s people! It is about putting the wicked, the unrepentant and wanton sinners, out of our congregations. Paul exhorted the Corinthians, “put away from yourselves the evil person” (1 Cor. 5:13). Paul sternly rebuked the Corinthians for their tolerance of wickedness in their midst, telling them, “You are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you” (1 Cor. 5:2). Many of us in the congregations of God today are no better than the Corinthians. We have tolerated wickedness in our midst just as much as they did. We have kept company with and befriended those whom God told us to shun, and have not rather mourned, that those who had done those deeds might be taken away from among us. Many times in the Old Testament, God commanded that the wicked be purged from...