This Changes Everything!

Moses said, "This will happen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and bread to the full in the morning; for the Lord hears your grumblings which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the Lord." Exodus 16:8

 Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, Philippians 2:14-16

Grumble, grumble, complain, resent, despise, blame, criticize, argue, defend, accuse, sputter, gripe, …you get the idea.  We have lots of words for the things we so easily do, but aren’t supposed to do.  If we truly believe our lives are in God’s hands and He has a worthy purpose for everything that He allows, then we ought to handle everything with a prayer, “How do you want me to respond in this situation, Lord?” And, “May You be glorified in me.”  When we think we are just dealing with people we can easily get frustrated, judgmental, offended, etc., and go to grumbling quietly or audibly.  But when we include God in the equation of our lives, that changes everything!

Please Pray About Arguments in Court This Wednesday

School’s Sweeping Ban on Student Speech to Be Argued in Court Tomorrow

January 20, 2015

***Media Contact: Brad Dacus - 949-422-0395***
 

Seattle, WA—A federal court in Seattle will hear arguments Wednesday in a closely-watched case that tests the limits of a school’s ability to restrict student expression. 
 
High school senior Michael Leal is challenging rules of the Everett Public Schools that ban virtually all student distribution of literature on campus.  Attorneys with Pacific Justice Institute, who represent Leal, have been surprised both by the degree of restrictiveness in the rules and the school district’s bold claim to the court that the Supreme Court’s most famous school speech case does not apply. 
 
The district limits student literature distribution to campus entrances and exits, before and after school.  PJI is arguing that this rule is a clear contradiction of the Supreme Court’s most-repeated holding in its landmark 1969 Tinker decision that students’ constitutional rights do not end at the schoolhouse gate.  The district rules go even further, however, by requiring that students only distribute literature written by themselves or other students.  This prohibits students from distributing copies of the U.S. Constitution, the religious tracts Leal seeks to distribute, or the types of pamphlets that have shaped American political history.  Making matters worse, the district allows for exceptions to its literature distribution rules in the sole discretion of the principal, with no written standards to guide that decision.  
 
PJI attorneys do not believe that any court in the country has upheld restrictions as sweeping as those at issue in this case.  It also does not appear that any court has previously accepted the argument being advanced by the district that the Supreme Court’s Tinker decision “does not apply” to a student First Amendment case.  
 
PJI President Brad Dacus commented, “This case has significant implications for students across the country.  If the court endorses these sweeping restrictions, we will undoubtedly see more districts moving to enact similar bans.  It is therefore very important to students and advocates of all ideological and political persuasions that we succeed in invalidating these rules.  There are a wide variety of ways in which school officials can maintain order and discipline in schools.  Closing off the entire interior of a large campus to literature distribution—even during lunch and non-instructional time—is not one of them.” 
 
Oral arguments are scheduled in Leal v. Everett Public Schools on Wednesday, January 21, at 1:30 p.m. before Judge Thomas Zilly in the federal courthouse in Seattle.  PJI attorney Kevin Snider will be presenting oral arguments on behalf of Leal and will be available to the media immediately following the hearing.  PJI is being assisted locally in the case by Seattle attorney Conrad Reynoldson.

SCARED TO DEATH

What do you do when it looks like you’re in big trouble?  Jacob found himself there when it appeared his brother Esau was coming after him with an army.  What Jacob did then was recall the promises of God and appeal to Him for protection.  The best preparation for tough and dangerous times is to know the Word of God and to know God Himself.  He is loving, faithful, and omnipotent.  “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1 Jacob didn’t have the Psalms to re-assure him, but he believed what he knew God had said.

Genesis 32:9-12 Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will prosper you,' I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children. For You said, 'I will surely prosper you and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.'"

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

In Genesis 24, verses 1-8 illustrate that there are some things which should never be considered as courses of action under any circumstances.  In our current Sunday message "Put Your Helmet On!", which emphasizes the importance of protecting our thinking from deceptions and letting God's Word be our ultimate authority on everything, we are considering the ways in which our thinking processes can be deceived by our own pride, our own desires, and by the schemes of Satan.

There are some things which God has made abundantly clear in the Scriptures we should never consider: murder, adultery, bearing false witness about someone, etc.  In this passage from Genesis where Abraham is commissioning his servant to go to the relatives and get a wife for Isaac, the servant asks, "What if they won't agree to it?  Shall I take Isaac back to where you came from?"  Abraham absolutely forbids that from ever happening.

We do well to recognize there are some things in life that may at times seem like viable options or almost necessities in order to accomplish a particular objective.  Yet they are things about which God has said, "Absolutely not."  We must use our heads, guard our thoughts, and obey God in such matters or know that we are signing up ourselves and perhaps others for dire consequences.  Such forbiddings are not given by God without good reason.

Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way. Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he owned, "Please place your hand under my thigh,and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but you will go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac." The servant said to him, "Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?" Then Abraham said to him, "Beware that you do not take my son back there! The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, 'To your descendants I will give this land,' He will send His angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there. But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this my oath; only do not take my son back there."

JESUS ASKS AN IMPORTANT QUESTION

From today's LifeJournal reading schedule:

Now on one of those days Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, "Let us go over to the other side of the lake." So they launched out. But as they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger. They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. And He said to them, "Where is your faith?" Luke 8:22-25

Jesus’ question, “WHERE is your faith?”, suggests their having faith was not in question.  Rather, where their faith was placed was the issue.  

Faith is the belief and confidence we have in something we can’t see or know for certain about based on things we can see or know for certain about.  For example, we have faith the sun will rise tomorrow because it always has in the past.  Or, we have faith God will be with us in whatever the future holds because He has promised to do so and He has always been with us in past situations.

The question Jesus asked his disciples here suggests they had their faith about their physical safety in something else other than Him.  Perhaps it was in hopes of good weather, their navigating abilities, the strength of their ship, etc.  Whatever their faith was in, it wasn’t in Jesus, and they were feeling terrified.

So, the same question to us: Where is your faith?  It’s a question we should consider when our seas are calm, so that when our storms come we have our faith already placed in what will never fail us.

MEN, PUT YOUR HELMETS ON!

It is disturbing to read the account of Adam’s giving in to his wife’s enticements to disobey God. Adam had known God before Eve came into his life, and was given authority and privilege to name all the animals and be master to all the creation.  He had a relationship with and responsibility to God that should have caused him to say, “No way!” to his wife.  We don’t know how the world might be different today if he had.  But clearly Adam blew it!  When we read the passage of scripture it stands out as a very clear message to men of all times: “Don’t listen to your wife if she is not in submission to God.” 

Men, we are responsible for our own decisions and the effect those decisions have on all who are under our authority.  We must keep our heads.  Paul wrote to the Ephesians(6:10-17) to “Put on the helmet of salvation” in this our battle against the wily enemy of our souls.  We must hold to what God has said so we will think right and act right.  We can’t let our emotions, desires, or influences of family or friends get us off course.  The cost of listening to wrong voices is high!

Genesis 3:17-19 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it';

Cursed is the ground because of you;

In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

"Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;

And you will eat the plants of the field;

By the sweat of your face you will eat bread,

Till you return to the ground,

Because from it you were taken;

For you are dust, and to dust you shall return."