Blessed Are You....! Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Isaiah was dirty and full of sin. He was unworthy to see God's holiness. Then the heavenly being took a hot coal from God's altar. He put it on Isaiah's lips and his sins were taken away and cleansed. Similarly, Jesus cleanses us who have faith in Him. He cleanses us and He makes us pure. Jesus Christ is our only hope of salvation from our wickedness. He is the only way to the Father and to heaven. Do you have faith in Jesus to remove your sins? If you cannot confidently answer, think and pray about it. It is always better to be sure. It is okay to not be sure; there is no shame in that. Get on your knees and ask God to reveal Himself to You. Proclaim your faith in Him and give Him your life. This is the way to salvation from your wickedness, sin, and the punishment you deserve – that we all deserve, but Jesus bore.                                            

Moses had brought the Israelites out of Egypt and now they were wondering if they were any better off! They had reached the Red Sea, and couldn't see any way around this barrier that had been placed before them. But God knew what he was doing and Moses followed his instructions and the sea parted so that the Israelites could pass through on the dry ground. A question sometimes asked at a job interview is, "What do you do when you face an obstacle?" How would you answer? Would you try to go around it, through it, or perhaps over it? Moses could not go around his obstacle and knew that without help, he could never bring all the people, animals, and supplies through it. So, he asked God for help. Was that the first thing you thought of? There is a saying, "If God brings you to it, he will bring you through it." The key here is to ask God to bring us through it.                                                                                      

We often face challenges in our lives, especially when we are trying to live as Jesus wants us to live. Have you ever been asked why you believe? If not you probably will be. It can be hard to find the right words at times, but God will give us the words if we ask. Just as he promised Samuel, Isaiah, and the other prophets, he will not leave us on our own and will give us the words we need when we need them. The next time you meet an obstacle, let God lead you over, under, around or through it. He will guide us in the right way to go.                              

Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, He was prophesied about. That He would restore and bring life not break and ruin. That he would bring forth judgment on the Earth, and people everywhere across the oceans would listen to what He had to say. Now thousands of years later, people all over the Earth still listen to what Jesus has to say. Jesus is glorified throughout all of history. People on every continent and in every country listen to His voice and read His Word.                                          

Jesus, thank You for bearing the burden and punishment of my sins and wrongdoings. You are the only way to come to the Father and to everlasting life. I place my faith in You and You only. I believe that You, Jesus, are the Son of God. I believe in the Father and Holy Spirit also. I believe in the trinity and that the Trinity is one. I put no one else before You in my priorities. If You are not at my center, remove idols from my life. I place my life, faith, and trust in You. I repent from my wrongdoing, and I come before You in faith. My life is in Your hands. I come to You because You are gracious and let me call on Your name. Amen.                                                                                                                            

The first thing Andrew did when He found out Jesus was Christ was to go tell his brother. Andrew went and got Peter and brought him to Jesus. Andrew could have been scoffed at or rejected by Peter if Peter did not believe Jesus was the Christ; yet, Andrew took him to Jesus anyways, and I'm sure he was glad he did. You have Jesus, and you love Him. Have you tried to bring your family to Him? Knowing Jesus is the only way to eternal life, wouldn't you want to try your best to introduce Him to your grandparents, mother, father, brothers, sisters, and cousins?                                                                                                            

Heavenly Father, give me the strength and courage to introduce You to my family. They need You. I want to speak to them about You. Help me to tell them about You well. Help me to answer questions they have and to try to find them the answers I don't know. Soften their hearts. Only You can bring them to You, so please do so. In Jesus' name. Amen.              

And when they had preached the gospel to that city and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.                                                                                          

Sometimes we grow weary as believers. Walking the road of faith gets hard. Other times it gets mundane. Sometimes doubt creeps in. We may even allow sin to fester in our lives and lead us to complacency and cease to listen to the Holy Spirit. But as believers, we can encourage our brothers and sisters to continue in the faith. Sometimes all someone needs is a reminder, encouragement, and support.                            

Heavenly Father, help my brothers and sisters. Give them strength and endurance to continue in the faith You called them to. Place people in their lives to encourage them. Bring them to a deeper love for You. Make them feel Your presence this week. Let them remember why they first loved You. You are our great love. You are the worthiest of our love. You are worthy of more than we can give. In Jesus' name. Amen.       

Father God, You sent Your son to the world to save us. He was with you in the beginning. People everywhere listen to His words. Jesus is amazing and true. Thank You for Your goodness, and that You build up and care for the weak. Help Your Church that is scattered all over the Earth. Unite us, Your Bride. Help us to glorify you and to proclaim Your gospel to the nations. In Jesus' name. Amen.                                                

When we reach a point of contentment, we are not moved by what another person does or does not have. Contentment prevents us from defining ourselves according to the world's values. We become content through God, in whom we know we have everything we need. Eternal life is the most important of it all.                                                              

Dear God, I thank you that I can be totally content with you. You have filled all the gaps and voids in my life. I know that I will never find contentment in this world; only in you and you alone. I pray that more and more of your children will come to realize this too, Lord. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.                                                                                    

 Sometimes people tend to take God's love and everlasting mercy as a way for them to continue living irresponsibly. When they are confronted about their actions, their response is "God loves me for who I am. " Yes, he does, but our love for Him should compel us to be convicted of our sins and confess them to him. God won't hold our sins against us; he is quick to forgive and swift to restore.                                 

Dear God, once again I would like to thank you for your endless love and everlasting mercy. Father, I am sorry for any time I have taken you or your love for granted. If there has ever been a time where I tried to use the grace you have given so freely as an excuse to live irresponsibly, I humbly confess where I have erred, and I receive your forgiveness. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.                                                      

 Dear God, I pray for those who have chosen to turn from you. Lord, I pray that something in their hearts will make them change their minds about you. May they experience your love, Lord, in all its fullness, and may they be compelled by this to know you more. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.                                                 

Someone once said that there are no u-hauls behind hearses. The implication is that you can't take it with you when you die. There's a story of a man who tried. When the doctors told him he had a short time to live, he converts some of this cash into gold bricks, puts them in a suitcase, and instructs that this suitcase should be buried with him. When he approaches the pearly gates carrying the suitcase, St. Peter stops him and asks to look inside the suitcase. The angel Gabriel asks, "What's in the suitcase?" "Pavement," replies St. Peter. The story illustrates that in heaven what we consider to be wealth on this earth is really nothing. Heaven's streets are paved with gold. That would be the equivalent of us finding some kind of value in asphalt or concrete chunks here on earth. We spent a lot of time trying to get things on this earth. We spend a lot of time working to get more and more and more stuff that we just don't need. If you don't believe it, take a look at what happens when a person dies without an heir. A lawyer has to come in, open up the house, and sell off all the belongings to settle the estate. Thousands and thousands of dollars worth of stuff--sometimes still in boxes--is sold for pennies on the dollar. An entire lifetime of obtaining things and the only thing that happens is that strangers come in to pick over the possessions at a giant yard sale. This passage tells us that we are to be content with what we have. We should be content with food and clothing. As long as our needs are met on a daily basis, that's really all we should ask for. Everything else is just bonus stuff and if we are spending time away from our families, if we're spending time focusing on getting rather than focusing on living, then we're being very foolish because we can't take it with us. When the end comes, all the stuff that we bought stays right here in our closets or our garages. While we're on this earth we need to make the right choices and be sure that we are able to be content with what we have. Then we may end up with a few things that we went. 

Childbirth can be a painful experience. Even with the best painkillers available, the stress and trauma of childbirth cannot be lessened greatly. A mother giving birth may travail in labor for hours. Her contractions may be painful and the birth process may be grueling. In that period of labor, she suffers greatly. But as soon as she sees the face of that newborn child, all of that passes away. The suffering, the pain, disappears and is replaced by joy. Here Paul gives us a similar situation. Paul explains here that the Gospel has great power to sustain us in times of trouble. He was not talking only about the trials that Christians in his time had to endure, but the sickness, pain, and trouble that all Christians, throughout time would have to endure. He says that no matter how difficult the suffering in this world is, it does not even compare to the glory that awaits us in heaven. The glory that will be revealed to us is so great in comparison to the suffering that preceded it. We will forget our former trials when we get a glimpse of that glory.         

We are children of God. Think about that for a minute. The God of the universe sent his son to be born of a woman on earth living under the law – a woman like us. He sent his son so that we might be free from this law – the law of sin and death. We are free because of his sacrifice, and we have been made sons and daughters of God through him. How amazing!                                                                                                                      

Paul cries out here in anguish over the indwelling sin that remained in him. He longs for the day when he will be free fully from the power of sin. While we live, a conflict is in us between the old and the new natures. It is a daily battle. It does not end until we leave this world, but God can help us subdue the flesh and live increasingly out of the new nature.              

 Father, I thank You for being with me in my trials. I know that I will have to suffer some in this world and I know I will have to go through trials. I also know, however, that what will be revealed to me when I finally see You face to face will make it all worthwhile. My suffering will fade to nothing as I see the glory of Your face. Amen.                                          

If we hate that which is evil, we will love that which is good. The two go together hand in hand. You cannot love God and love Satan; you cannot love God's Law and also love the paths of unrighteousness. At least, your heart of hearts and your new nature from the new birth will seek what is truly good; the old nature will seek sin, but the Christian must subdue and overcome it.                                                                                         

The age-old question of who's right! There's a commercial for an automobile company that uses the slogan "either/or, or both/and" that I kind of like. Not that I'm supporting the company, but because I believe we sometimes think in an either/or way when it's really important to be a both/and kind of person. In today's gospel, Martha is busy with hospitality and Mary extends hospitality in a quieter manner. We need both, and we need to be both. There are times when we need to be about doing what Jesus tells us to do, but if all we do is "do" and we don't take the time to listen, we just might get it wrong. Mary sits and listens to Jesus while Martha feels overwhelmed with her tasks. When Martha complains, Jesus tells her not to be anxious and worried, and I think that here is the key. When we take the time to sit and listen to Jesus and then move on to follow the will of God, we don't have to be anxious and worried; we can relax in the knowledge that we are doing our best, and that is what is required of us. Jesus doesn't say that what Martha is doing is unimportant; he just seems to imply that she shouldn't be so focused on her work, that she neglects her need for being present and listening. We, too, can be so busy doing that we forget to take the time to pray, to reflect on Scripture, and to sit and listen to Jesus. During the sometimes lazy days of summer, let us take advantage of the laziness and just sit in God's presence and reflect on who we are and who we are called to be so that when the time comes to be busy again, we'll be ready.              

 Micah is a prophet at around the same time as Isaiah and has come to prophesy punishment to those who are behaving in an unjust manner. Just because a person has the power or authority to act unjustly, doesn't mean that he should. One might think that harassment or schemes to defraud people of their property or their inheritance, are something new, but Micah lets us know that these things have been going on since antiquity. God isn't any happier today about these practices than he was then. Micah made known God's displeasure to the kings and leaders of the day. He warns that their unjust practices need to stop and that the people need to repent or else they are leaving themselves open to attack by armies greater than theirs.                                                                                  

 As we know, Assyria and Babylon both decimated Judah and Israel. Think about the Roman Empire, they too had fallen into such a moral decay that they were open to being overcome by Constantine. What about today? We have become lax in our time as well. Corporate takeovers that have little respect for the rights of the workers have become common. Even companies that have not been taken over have been known to change their policies and limit the benefits that their employees enjoy. Communities can take property away from individuals for schools, highways, and shopping centers, by eminent domain, and those who live on the properties are forced to move. Although owners are reimbursed, renters need to fend for themselves. Looking out for number one, whether personally, communally, or nationally can lead to ignoring the essentials and there is nothing to stop others from overcoming us.

 As Micah says, we need to work for justice if we want peace. And so still today, the Jewish people celebrate Passover and one of the traditions is for someone to ask why we celebrate this feast, and the youngest child answers with the story of the Passover. Jesus was celebrating Passover with his friends on the night before he died. I know this reading comes up during the summer, so it's not the time for Passover or the Passion of Jesus, but I have a question. What are our traditions surrounding the passion and death and resurrection of Jesus? Do we celebrate the end of Lent on Holy Thursday? Do we spend time with Jesus on Good Friday remembering his sacrifice? Is Easter all about candy and the Easter bunny? Today, many of our churches are practically empty on Easter Sunday and the children think more about an Easter egg hunt than God. Would the youngest member of the family be able to tell the story of why we celebrate? God brought the Israelites from slavery to freedom at the original Passover, but Jesus brought us from the slavery of sin and the freedom to celebrate eternity with him in heaven. One was temporary, and the other is permanent. Why is it that we take this celebration so lightly? Even though it's summer, let's take a moment to think about how the story of our faith is being passed on to our youth.                         

God's name as it is written in Scripture is either Jehovah or Yahweh, or just YHWH. All are translations of He is Who He is. Because the Jewish people did not call God by the name he gave Moses. It is for this reason that the Jewish people were so angry when Jesus said that before Abraham came to be I AM. To say God's name was to blaspheme. For the people of Moses' time, names had power. They felt that to use the name of God was to say that they had power over God, and so the name was sacred. I can remember an uncle of mine who would often take not just the Lord's name in vain when he was angry, but would also use it to curse whoever he was angry with. I'm sure you know many people who do the same without even blinking an eye.                                                     

Good Christians, all, who would be horrified if they were called on it. We are offended when people use foul language, why are we not offended when the Lord's name is taken in vain? A friend of mine used to work in the office of a major manufacturing company and the man who sat behind her was continually cursing the company and its managers. One day she had had enough and turned to him and said, "No wonder the company is going to pot, you keep asking God to damn it." He had never considered that he was both swearing and cursing, but he stopped. What about us? Do we need to clean up our speech, or ask others to do so? How do I praise God? God doesn't want an animal sacrifice he wants a sacrifice of the heart. He wants a joyous heart, a heart that bursts into song because it can't help itself. A heart is so full of gratitude that song is the only way a body can express it. I love music; I love to sing the songs of praise in church. I might not have the best voice but it's the one God gave me so he must think it's good enough. There is something about music that lifts the soul. It's no wonder that the psalms are music. In fact, this psalm even tells us which piece of music to sing it to – "Lilies!" When we think about it, some of the most glorious music was written for religious reasons: Handel's Messiah is but one example. When we listen to the anthems of many nations, we see how they give thanks and praise to God. Whether we raise our voices in song or not, what is important is that we raise our voices in thanks and praise to God. Our prayers acknowledge that we know who is in charge, to whom we owe everything, and who deserves our praise.                     

Lord, I pray for the older people who do not know You. I pray they will find Your love and joy. Let them lean on You for strength and understanding. Help them to smile and live out the remainder of their days for You. Get them the word if they don't have access to it. Bring Christians into their lives to speak life into them. You are the God who cares for the young and old, weak and strong, rich and poor. Bless our elderly and help us honor them. In Jesus' name. Amen.                             

The writer of this Psalm desperately wanted God to show His strength through him, an old man. He wanted everyone to know God's power. As we grow old, we can still show God's strength. As we become weaker, we can proclaim how strong He is. Do not lose heart as you grow old. The retired missionary now goes door to door to preach even though he's walking slowly. The woman who started doing jail ministry long ago is often decades later faithfully visiting the jail. Whatever God is calling you to, God is greater than your age.                                                     

Lord, as I grow old, let me still serve You faithfully. When I'm weak, help me to show others Your strength. Through wrinkles, let others see the joy on my face that comes only from You. Even if I'm moving slowly, let me still move for You. I will gladly do Your will until my last breath. If I'm on this earth, You have me here for a reason. I will continue to live for You. In Jesus' name. Amen.                                                                                  We were all introduced to our savior, Jesus Christ, through someone else. When we truly understand salvation, it is not enough for us to simply receive it. In our excitement, we will gladly go tell others about this miraculous savior. The prophet describes how when a city came to know the Lord, they rushed to pray and seek God so that they could go to another city to share this good news. The Word tells us we are commissioned to tell others the good news – let us go quickly!

 

 Author: Matthew  

When Written: A.D. 50-60 
Theme: Jesus the King 

 

Key Verse: 16:16–“Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.’” 

 

Key Chapter: Matthew 12 -This chapter is the turning point when the Pharisees, acting as the leadership of the nation of Israel, formally reject Jesus Christ as their Messiah, stating that He comes not from God but from Satan.  

 

The Ole Testament prophets predicted and longed for the coming of the Messiah, who would enter history to bring redemption and deliverance. Through a carefully selected series of Old Testament quotations, Matthew documents Jesus Christ’s claim to be King of the Jews. Matthew also outlines the characteristics of the kingdom of God, both for Israel and the church. Jesus’ genealogy, baptism, message, and miracles all point to the same inescapable conclusion: Jesus is King, the long-awaited Messiah.  

 

President Thomas Jefferson believed the teaching of Jesus embodied the “most sublime system of morals" in the whole world. He stated, “We all agree in the obligation of the moral precepts of Jesus, and nowhere will they be found delivered in greater purity than in His discourses.” The book of Matthew details Jesus' discourses, especially through the Sermon on the Mount (chapter 5,6, and 7. I believe that these three chapters are the opening the eyes, of the heart.) 

 

The book of the genealogy is every important. Jesus, Himself is perfect, but it shows his earthly bloodline has many sinners in it. I thank You Heavenly Father, for Your, the Son of Man, whom began life the moment Our risen King walk out of the grave, Amen, Amen! 

 

 

FREEDOM 

 

Government and Nativity Scene 

 

Matthew 2:11 – And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  

 

Warren Earl Burger, Chief Justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986, delivered the Supreme Court’s opinion in the 1986 case Lynch v. Donnelly, which upheld that the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, did not violate the Constitution by displaying a Nativity Scene. Noting that presidential orders and proclamations from Congress have designated Christmas as a national holiday in religious terms for two centuries and in the Western world for twenty centuries, he wrote: 

 

 

 There is an unbroken history of official acknowledgment by all the three branches of government of the religion in American life. The Constitution does not require a complete separation of church and state. It affirmatively mandates accommodation, not merely tolerance, of all religions and forbids hostility towards any; Anything less would require the “callous indifference” we have said was never intended by the Establishment Clause. Indeed, we have observed, such hostility would bring us into a “war with our national tradition as embodied in the First Amendment’s guaranty of the free exercise of religion.  

 

George H.W. Bush placed his hand of Matthew 5 as he took presidential oath of office in 1989 

Matthew 5:1 – And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him, 

2 – Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: 

 

3 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, 

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  

4 – Blessed are those who mourn,  

For they shall be comforted.  

5 – Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.  

6 – Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.  

7 – Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. 

8 – Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. 

9 – Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. 

10 – Blessed are those who are persecuted for the righteousness’ sake, for there is the kingdom of heaven. 

11 – “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 

12 – Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.  

 

Moral Strength 

 

Then He opened His mouth and taught them Matthew 5:2 

 

The Moral Precepts of Jesus 

In a letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson stated: 

 

The practice of morality being necessary for the well-being of society, He [God] has taken care to impress its precepts so indelibly on our hearts that they shall not be effaced by the subtleties of our brain. We all agree in the obligations of the moral precepts of Jesus, and nowhere will they be found delivered in greater purity than in His discourses. 

 

Honor  

Believers are Salt and Light 

 

Matthew 5:13 – “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is good for nothing but to be thrown put and trampled underfoot by men.   

14 – “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 

 

God’s Covenant People 

Peter Bulkley (1583-1659) was the Puritan leader who founded the city of Concord, Massachusetts. In his book of sermons, the Gospel Covenant, he stated: 

 

We are as city set upon a hill, in the open view of all the earth. We profess ourselves to be a people in covenant with God, and therefore the Lord our God, will cry shame upon us if we talk contrary to the covenant which we have promised to walk in. If we open the mouths of men against our profession, by reason of the scandalousness of our lives, we (of all men) shall have the greater sin. 

 

15 – Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 

16 – Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. 

 

Christ Fulfilled the Law 

 

17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 

 

18 – For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 

 

19 – Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the Kingdom of heaven. 

 

20 – For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribe and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom. 

 

21 – “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 

 

22- But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But who ever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. 

23 – Therefore if you bring your gift to the alter, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 

 

24 – leave your gift there before the alter and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother and then come offer your gift. 

 

25 – Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 

 

26 – Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny. 

 

Adultery in the Heart 

 

27 – “You have heart that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’  

 

28 – But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 

 

29 – If your eye causes you to sin pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. 

 

30 – And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that tone of your members perish, than for your whole body be cast into hell. 

 

Marriage Is Sacred and Binding 

 

31 – “Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 

 

32 – But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery. 

 

Jesus Forbids Oaths 

 

33 – “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ 

 

34 – Bu I say to you, do not swear at all; 

 

35 – nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 

 

36 – Nor shall you swear by your head, because you can’t make one hair white or black. 

 

37 – But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No be ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one. 

 

Go the Second Mile 

 

38 - “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 

39 - But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also. 

40 - If anyone wants to sue you and take away tour tunic, let him have your cloak also. 

41- And whoever compels you to go a mile, go with him two. 

42 – Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow you do not turn away. 

 

Love Your Enemies 

 

43 – “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 

44 – But I sat to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,  

45 – that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and good and sends rain on the just and unjust. 

46 – For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? 

47 – And if you greet you brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 

48 – Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. 

 

Do Good to Bless your Father in heaven  

Chapter 6 

1 – “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have not reward from you Father in heaven. 

2- Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 

3 – But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 

4 – that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father in heaven who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. 

 

A Model Prayer  

5 – And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 

 

6 – But you, when you pray, go into your room and shut the door, pray to your Father in heaven who is the secret place; and your Father who sees the secret place will reward you openly. 

 

7 – And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they wil be heard for their many words. 

 

8 – “Therefore do not be like them. For your father knows the things you have need of before you ask him. 

9 – In the manner, therefore, pray: 

 

Our Father in heaven, 

Hallowed be your name. 

10 – Your kingdom come. 

Your will be done on earth as it is heaven. 

11 – Give us this day our daily bread. 

12 - And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. 

13 - And lead not into temptation, 

But deliver us from evil. 

For thy is the kingdom and the power are your NOW and FOREVER  

AMEN! 

14 – “For if you forgive men of their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 

15 – But if you don’t forgive men of their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 

 

Fasting to be seen only by God 

 

16 – “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 

 

17 – But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 

18 – so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 

 

Layup Treasures in Heaven 

 

19 – “Do not lay-up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in a steal; 

 

20 – but lay for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust can destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. 

 

21 – For where your treasure is, there your heart will be as also. 

 

The Lamp of the Body 

 

 22 – “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  

 23 – But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 

 

You cannot Serve God and riches 

 

24 - “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 

 

Do not Worry 

 

25 – “Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more important than food and clothes?  

26 – Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more value than they?” 

27 – Which of you by worrying can add a cubit to his stature? 

28 – “So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the fields, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 

29 - and yet I say not even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 

30 – Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not more clothe you, O you of little faith? 

31 – “Therefore, do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or “What shall we wear?’ 

32 – For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 

33 – But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 

34 – Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Enough for the day is its own troubles. 

 

Abraham Lincoln placed his hand on Matthew 7:1, 18:7, and Revelation 16:7 as he took the presidential oath of office in 1865. 

7:1 – “Judge not, that you be not judged; 18:7 – “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven; Revelation 16:7 – For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given blood to drinks. For it is their just due.” 

 

Religion Support the State: Moral Strength 

 

Matthew 7:24 – “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 

 

Robert Winthrop, a lawyer and philanthropist who saved as the Speaker of the United Stated house of Representatives (1847-1849), stated 

 

The voice of experience and the voice of our own reason speak but one language. Both united in teaching us that men may as well build their houses upon the sand and expect to see them stand, when the rains falls, and the winds blow, and the floods come, as to found free institutions upon any other basis than that of morality and virtue, of which the Word of God is the only authoritative rule, and the adequate sanction. 

All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they have of stringent state government, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private morals restraint. 

Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or a power without them; either the Word of god or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet.  

It may do for other countries and other governments to talk about state supporting religion. Here, under our own free institutions, it is religion which must support the state.   

 

Men Confess Christ before 

 

Matthew 10:32 – “Therefore whoever confess Me before men, him also I will also confess before My Father in heaven. 

33 – But whoever denies Me before men, him I also deny before the My Father who is in heaven. 

 

Worship: Good Works A tree is known by its Fruit 

 Matthew 12:33 – “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree known by its fruit. 

 

Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s renowned Founding Fathers, wrote: 

 

I can only show my gratitude for these mercies from God, by a readiness to help His children and my brethren. For I do not think that thanks and compliments, though repented weekly, can discharge our real obligations to each other, and much less those to or Creator. 

You will see in this notion of good works, that I am far from expecting to merit heaven by them. By heaven we understand a state of happiness, infinite in degree, and eternal in duration. I can do nothing to deserve such rewards. 

The faith you mention has certainly its use in the worlds. I do not desire to see it diminished, nor would I endeavor to lessen it in any man. But I wish it were more productive of good works than I have generally seen it; I mean real good work; works of kindness, charity, mercy, and public spirit; not holiday keeping, sermon reading or hearing the performing church ceremonies, or making long prayers, filled with flatteries and compliments. 

The worship of God is a duty; the hearing and reading of sermons may be useful; but, if men rest in hearing and praying, as too many do, it is as if a tree should value itself on being watered and putting forth leaved, though it never produce any fruit. 

 

Marriage and Divorce    

 

Matthew 19:1-10 > Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. And great multitudes following Him, and He healed them there. 

The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?” 

And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning, made them male and female, and said “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God joined together, let no man separate.” They say to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?” 

He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so, and I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.” 

His disciples said to Him, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 

 

The Bible and Marriage; Family Values 

 

Our American society has been based upon the belief that the biblical view of a traditional marriage and family is the backbone of a civilized people. The biblical basis for understanding God’s intention for marriage is found in Genesis 2:24:  

“Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” The creation of Adam and Eve (male and female) was the foundation of human civilization, and their union was the first marriage is marriage. Jesus also reminded us in the New Testament that marriage is an institution of God designed as a lifelong covenant relationship between a man and a woman (Matthew 19:1-6). 

 

God’s command to Adam and Eve was to go “be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). God’s design for procreation demanded the union of a man and a woman. From this sanctified union come children, who are born into a secure home with a father and a mother to love, nurture, and teach them how to become healthy, productive, and responsible citizens. God’s plan, and common sense’s plan all support a man and woman producing children within the institution of marriage. 

 Preserving the traditional family vital to the future of America. We must join together to maintain the heritage given to us - marriage is one man and one woman lovingly committed to each other for life. The family is a sacred institution; it is the basic unit of our society and essential to the well-being of the greater community. 

 

Defender; Defending the Unborn 

 

Matthew 25:40 – And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ 

 

Henry Hyde served thirty-two years in the House of Representatives and was described as a passionate, eloquent champion and powerful defender of the unborn and of American freedom. On July 16, 1993, he stated: 

 

“That all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator” – human beings upon creation, not upon birth. That is where our human dignity comes from. It comes from the Creator. It is am endowment, not an achievement. 

By membership in the human family, we are endowed by our Creator with “inalienable rights.” They can’t be voted away by a jury or a court. 

“Among which our life” – the first inalienable right, the first endowment from the Creator. That is mainstream America, the certificate. Th respect the right to life as an endowment from the Creator. 

It is the unborn who are the least of God’s creatures. We have been told that whatsoever we do for the least of these we do unto Jesus. 

 

SERVICE; John Eliot “Apostle to the Indians” 

 

The Great Commission  

Matthew 28:16 – Then the eleven disciples went away into galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. 

17 – When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. 

18 – And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 

19 – Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, 

20 – teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always even to the end of the earth.” Amen.  

 

 

The 1628 charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company stated that one of the chief purposes of establishing a colony in New England was “to win the natives of the country to the knowledge and obedience of the only true God and Savior of mankind.” The seal of the colony had pictures of an Indian and the words of the Macedonian to Paul from Acts 16:9, “Come Over and Help Us.” During the earliest years of the colony, however, the Puritans did all they could do just to survive and establish homes in the American wilderness. 

 

In 1637, the Puritans became involved in an inter-tribal war between the Narragansett and Pequot Indians. Though one might have expected otherwise, the Puritans often treated the Indians brutally. Many Pequot people were killed, and more were captured and sold into slavery. Later, in 1675 and 1676, a bitter armed conflict broke out in which over 600 colonists and 3,000 Native Americas died. Several hundred natives’ captives were tired and executed or sold as slaves. 

 

Surprisingly, the Pequot war triggered the earliest Puritan missions to the Indians. John Eliot, later known as the “Apostle to the Indians,” began learning the Algonquian language, spoken by the Indians put their faith in Christ and leave their nomadic lives to from villages that separated them from their pagan background. These became “praying Indian towns,” over a dozen self-governing communities where the Indians often made strict biblical laws punishing their former practices, including wife beating, polygamy, lying, and stealing. 

 

John Eliot translated the entire Bible into Algonquian. In 1663, this translation became the first Bible printed in America. Eliot also composed an Indian primer, an Indian grammar, and an Indian psalter. Other successful missionary endeavors followed. Harvard University (1636) began a training program for young Indian men minister to their people. At least six Boston area communities, thriving today, were started by Christian Indians. The famous island, Martha’s Vineyard, once was the site of Indian Christian congregations through the missionary endeavors of the Mayhew family. Dartmouth University had its beginning through the efforts of a Connecticut Puritan to train Indian young men to preach the Gospel. 

 

Chapter 2; MARK 

 

Author: Mark 

When Written: Around A.D. 65 

Theme: Jesus the Servant 

 

Key Verses: Mark 10:44-45 – “And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” 

 

Key Chapter: Mark – The pivotal event of the book lies in Peter’s confession, “you are the Christ.” That faith-inspired response triggers a new phase in Jesus’ ministry, where He begins to fortify His disciples for His coming suffering and death at the hands of the Jewish religious leaders. 

Mark, the shortest of the four gospels, give a crisp and fastmoving look at the dual of the life of Christ – His service and sacrifice. Through His teaching, preaching, and healing, Jesus constantly ministers to the needs of others, even to the point of death. Mark traces the steady building of hostility of his earthy ministry – to give His life as a reason for many. 

 

When Benjamin Franklin, the most famous Founding Father at our country’s birth, was confronted by a disgruntled American that his country had failed to provide him with the happiness it had promised, Franklin is said to have smiled and calmly replied “The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.” Similarly, Jesus gave his life to ransom our lives, but we must join Peter and confess that Jesus is the Christ, our personal Savior, to receive the eternal life He has for us. 

 

INSPIRING; Jesus forgives and heals a paralytic 

 Mark 2:10 – But that you may know that the Son of Man has power to forgive sins” – He said to the paralytic, 

11 – “I say to you, arise, take your bed, and go to your house.” 

12 – Immediately he arose, took up his bed and went out in the presents of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” 

 

The Blessed Influence of Jesus 

 William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), known as the “Father of American Poets” and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post, wrote: 

 

The very men who, in the pride of their investigations into the secrets of the internal world, turn a look of scorn upon the Christian system of belief, are not aware how much of the peace and order of society, how much the happiness of household, and the purest of those who are the dearest to them, are owing to the influence of that religion extending beyond their sphere. 

In my view, the life, the teaching, the labors, and the suffering of the blessed Jesus, there can be no admiration too profound, no love of which the human heart is capable too warm, no gratitude too earnest and deep of which He is justly the object. 

 

WORSHIP; “Who but the Ruler of the Winds?” 

Light Under a Basket 

 

Mark 4:21 – Also He said to them, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? 

22 – For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that is should come to light. 

23 – If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 

 

As the president of Yale College (1778-1795), Ezra Stiles gave a major Election Address entitled “The United States Elevated to Glory and honor,” before the governor and the General Assembly of Connecticut in May 1783, stating: 

 

In our lowest and most dangerous state, in 1776 and 1777, we sustained ourselves against the British Army of sixty thousand troops, commanded by, the ablest generals Britain could procure throughout Europe, with a naval force of twenty-wo thousand seamen in above eight men-of-war. 

Who but a Washington, inspired by heaven, could have conceived the surprise move upon the enemy at Princeton – that Christmas eve when Washington and his army crossed the Delaware? 

Who but the Ruler of the winds could have delayed the British reinforcements by three months of contrary ocean winds at a critical point of the war? 

Or what but “a providential miracle” at the last minute detected the treacherous scheme of traitor Benedict Arnold, which would have delivered the American army, including George Washington himself, into the hands of the enemy? 

On the French role in the Revolution, it is God who so ordered the balancing interests of nations as to produce an irresistible motive in the European maritime powers to take our part. 

The United States are under peculiar obligations to become a holy people unto the Lord our God. 

 

“Once I prophesied that this generation of Americans had a rendezvous with destiny. That prophecy comes true.” Franklin D. Roosevelt 

 

 

World War II 

 

In the close of his annual State of the Union message to Congress in January 1939, and with was about to break out in Europe, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt quoted Abraham Lincoln and said, “Once I prophesied that this generation of Americans had a rendezvous with destiny. That generation will ‘nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just a way which if following the world will forever applaud and God must forever bless.’” 

One wonders if Roosevelt realized just how true his words would become for the great generation of young Americans he addressed. By 1940, most of mainland Europe had fallen to Nazi aggression. With German troops controlling Paris, Statin and the communists in the east were rapidly building up one of history’s largest ground armies to defend Russia. Japan had signed a ten-year military pact with Germany and Italy, forming an Axis power they were confident would eventually rule the world. 

With the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Americans whose lives had been shaped by the trying times of the great Depression volunteered by the hundreds of thousands to fight the enemies abroad and to save the world from tyranny. Most of the world’s nations spilt into two opposing military alliances: The Allies and the Axis powers. Over 100 million military would engage in the battle, and over 60 million people, including about 20 million soldiers and 40 million civilians, were killed, making it the deadliest and most widespread war in history. 

By the D-Day invasion of Europe on June 6, 1944, 12 million Americans were in uniform, and over 16 million Americans would eventually fight in World War II. War production had taken over the nation’s industry, representing over 40 percent of the gross national product. When the Battle of the Bulge was fought in December 1944, over 6.5 million women were added to the nation’s work force since 1939. Valiant Marines planted the flag on Iwo Jima in February 1945, and on September 2, the Japanese signed the surrender agreement. Over 400,000 of America’s heroic young people gave their final measure of devotion in this war. 

From overcoming the misery of long years of economic depression in the 1930s, to defeating Nazism and Japanese society, this generation of Americans born for a “rendezvous with destiny” was undoubtedly the most influential of the 20th century. But what was it that made them a generation of patriots, heroes, and builders? 

Perhaps the answer was expressed through one of their own, Mitchell Paige, a recipient of the congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s most prestigious military honor, for his actions at the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. On October 26, 1942, after all of the other Marines in his platoon were killed or wounded, for hours Paige operated four machine guns, single-handedly stopping an entire Japanese regiment. Had that position fallen and the Japanese regained the airfield the Marines had taken, it is possible that the outcome of World War II may have significantly changed. 

In the years to come, Paige was repeatedly asked why he would be willing to put his life on the line for his country. He said that the answers took him back to Pennsylvania three-room country school where the children were so steeped in the traditions of America that they literally felt themselves a part of a glorious heritage -  where the teacher opened the school day with the Bible verse and the Pledge of Allegiance, and where they memorized all the great documents that established the bedrock of America, such as the Gettysburg Address. 

 

Trust in the Lord with all your hearts and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.” 

 

His response went this way: “My undying love of country, and my strong loyalty to the Marines fighting by my side, gave me no choice but to fight on unswervingly throughout my battles, utilizing my God-given ability to make use of what I had been taught and learned: 

 

When Paige left home to walk the two-hundred miles to the nearest Marine recruiting station in 1936, his mother packed him a lunch in which she included the note: “Trust in the Lord, son, and he will guide you always.” He said those words remained forever in his mind, and whenever fear would overtake him, he was comforted by them. 

Paige said, “I will never forget sitting in a foxhole, bloody, burned, and injured the morning after our all-night, fierce, hand-to-hand battle against an overwhelming Japanese force on Guadalcanal. I was alone except for hundreds of dead bodies of the enemy surrounding me. I emptied and out my pack looking for something to stop the bleeding from a bayonet wound and out fell my small Bible. Picking it up in my dirty, bloody hands, I could scarcely believe it when providentially it opened at Proverbs 3 and there were my mother’s words, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” 

Mitchell Paige was true servant and patriot of America; and America is proud to have had hundreds of thousands of valiant soldiers cut from the same cloth. 

 

SERVICE: The Use of Power  

Mark 10:43 – Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. 

44 – And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. 

 

In his 1989 Inaugural Address, George H.W. bush stated: 

 

We meet on democracy’s front porch, a good place to talk as neighbors and as friends. For this is a day when our nation is made whole, when our differences, for a moment, are suspended. 

And my first act a President is ap prayer. I ask you to bow our heads: 

  Heavenly father, we bow our heads and thank You for Your love. Accept our thanks for the peace that yields this day and the shared faith that makes its continuance likely. Make us strong to do Your work, willing to heed and hear Your will, and write on our hearts these words:  

“Use power to help people.” For we are given power not to advance our own purpose, nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use for its power, and it is to serve people. Help us to remember it, Lord, Amen.  

HONOR  

Mark 12:17 – And Jesus answered and said to them, “Render to Caesar’s the things that belong to Caesar’s, and to God the things that belong to God.” 

And they marveled at Him. 

Restore the Constitution. Don’t Shred It. 

The Left is criminalizing the execution of the U.S. Constitution. 

The Deep State is undermining the rule of law and the conservative agenda. 

This is a constitutional moment for the American people. It’s a really big deal. It puts our republic at risk. 

Nearly every day there is a new leak, a new fake accusation, a new attempt to stop the President from doing his job, a new attempt to push the same false narrative on the American people. 

What we’re seeing today is, without a doubt, the shredding of the Constitution. 

At the ACLJ, we’ve spent the better part of three decades defending the Constitution. We’re taking direct action to fight back – to restore the Constitution. We’re in court battling the Deep State in numerous cases. We’re analyzing the law. We’re working on Capitol Hill to ensure the law is followed. 

We will restore the Constitution and root out corruption. But we need you. 

Petition to Restore the Constitution and Stop the Left and the Deep State from Shredding It 

 

Christ and Chaos: Mark 12:17 -  

Peter Marshall, the chaplain of the U.S. Senate (1947-1949) issued a call for Americans to honor God: 

The choice before us is plain: Christ or chaos, conviction or compromise, discipline or disintegration. I am rather tired of hearing about our rights and privileges as American citizens. The time is come – it is now – when we ought to hear about the duties and responsibilities of our citizenship. America’s future depends upon her accepting and demonstrating God’s government. 

 

INSPIRING 

 

Mark 16:14 – And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 

15 – He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 

 

The Haystack, Prayer Meeting 

 

In August 1806, five Williams College students met in a field for one of their twice-weekly prayer meetings, when a thunderstorm drove them to take refuge in a nearby haystack. Continuing in prayer, Samuel John Mills shared his burden that Christianity be sent aboard, and the group prayed that America missions would spread Christianity through the East. The Haystack Prayer Meeting held in Williamstown, Massachusetts, is viewed by many scholars as the spark that ignited American support for would missions for subsequent decades. 

In 1808, the Haystack Prayer group and other Williams students formed “The Brethren,” a society organized to “effect, in the persons of its members, a mission to the heathen.” Within a few years, they inspired the founding of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM). Several of the students, including Adoniram Judson, went to recruit others and later helped organize missions sent from America in 1812), and Samuel Mills stayed stateside to recruit others and later helped organize the American bible Society and the United Foreign Missionary Society. 

In its first fifty years, the ABCFM sent over 1,250 missionaries. In 1961, the American Board merged to form the United Church Board for World Missions (UCBWM). After 150 years, the American Board had sent out nearly 5,000 missionaries to 34 different fields, and it all began with five young men praying in a haystack.  

 

LUKE 

 

Author: Luke 

When Written: Around 62 A.D. 

Theme: Jesus the Son of Man 

 

Key Verse: Luke 19:10 – “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” 

 

Key Chapter: Luke 15 – The three parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son capture the crux of this gospel: that God through Christ has come to seek and to save lost people. 

 

Luke, a physician, writes the compassion of a family doctor as he carefully documents the perfect humanity of the Son of Man, Jesus Christ. He built the gospel narrative on the foundation of historical reliability, emphasizing Jesus’ ancestry, birth, and early life before moving opposition develop side by side, with the opposition finally leading to the death of the Son of Man on the cross. But Jesus’ resurrection insured that His purpose of saving lost is fulfilled. 

 

Christianity welcomes examination into its authenticity, that the inquirer might “know the certainty” of its truth (Luke 1:4 – that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.) 

Alexander Hamilton, a singer of the Constitution and one of America’s first constitutional lawyers. Made such an investigation and concluded, “I have carefully examined the evidence of the Christian religion, and if I was sitting as a juror upon its authenticity, I would unhesitatingly give my verdict in its favor. I can prove the truth as clearly as any proposition ever submitted to the mind of man.” 

 

The Song of Mary; Luke1:46-56   

 “My soul magnifies the Lord, 

And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. 

For He has regarded the lowly state His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. 

For He who is Mighty has done a mighty thing for me. 

And holy is his name. 

From generation to generation. 

He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 

He has out down mighty from their thrones, 

And exalted the lowly. 

He has filled the hungry with good things, 

And the rich he has sent away empty. 

He has helped His servant Israel, 

In remembrance of His mercy. 

As He spoke to our fathers, 

To Abraham and to his seed forever.” 

 

And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her house. 

 

DEFENDER 

Luke 2:14 – “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace and good will towards men!” 

 

Watchmen on the Walls 

 

These are the unforgettable words John F. Kennedy was to deliver in a luncheon speech on the day he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas November 22, 1963:  

 

We in this country, in this generation are, by destiny rather than choice, the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of “peace on earth, goodwill toward men.” That must always, be our goal. For as was written long ago. “Except the Lord keep the city, the watchmen waketh but in vain.” 

 

FREEDOM 

 

The Statue of Liberty 

 

Luke 4:18 – “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor: He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those are oppressed; 

19 – to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” 

 

The Statue of Liberty 

 

The Statue of Liberty was presented to the United States by the people of France in 1886. Locat3ed in New York Harbor and a welcome to all visitors, immigrant, returning Americans. Engraved on the bronze plaque and mounted inside the Statue of Liberty is the renowned sonnet by Emma Lazarus: 

 

The New Colossus 

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, 

With conquering limbs astride from land to land; 

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand a mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand glows worldwide welcome; her mild eyes command the air-bridge harbor that twin cities frame.  

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she with silent lips, 

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me; 

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” 

 

INTEGRITY: The Twelve Apostles 

Luke 6:12 – Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. 

13 – And when it was day, He called his disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: 

14 – Sion, whom is also called Peter and Andrew his brother: James and John; Philip and Bartholomew: 

15 – Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; 

16 – Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor. 

 

Benedict Arnold an American TRAITOR (1741-1801) was considered by many to be the best general and most accomplished leader in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Without his early contributions to the American cause, some historians feel the American Revolution might have been lost. He secured the vital Lake Champlain route to Canada and led a daring march through the wilderness of Maine to attack Quebec. His heroic actions during the pivoted fighting leading up to defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga was key to the American victory, which sealed the French alliance that helped guarantee independence for the country. Thanks in part to his friend George Washington, as of February 1777. 

But to despite being imaginative, daring, and courageous, his name has become a byword for treason in the United States. After marrying a beautiful young British Loyalist, Peggy Shippen, getting into deep debt, becoming frustrated over the lack of recognition he received, and being disgusted with congressional politics, Arnold negotiated his treason with Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander, promising to deliver the well-fortified American stronghold at West Point and its 3,000 defender for 20,300 sterling (about one million dollars today), an act that would devastate the American cause. 

Persuading Washington to place the fort under his command, Arnold moved in September 1780 to execute his treacherous plan. Fortunately, the plot was discovered just before the British attack, but Arnold already escaped. He was rewarded with a commission as a Brigadier General in the British Army and served the British with the same dynamic energy and daring, leading devastating attacks and causing much destruction the Americans. After the war, he returned to England and later died there, virtually unknown. 

The traitor Benedict Arnold abused his position of authority and trust, being willing to betray the entire was for American independence in order to win his own selfish success. He could have been one of the great heroes of the American Revolution, but selfishness and self-pity are formidable foes.  

 

EQUIPPER On Civil Liberty  

 

Luke 10:27 – So He answered and said, “You shall love the Lord, Your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’” 

  

Noah Webster (1758-1843) was an American lexicographer, textbook author, spelling reformer, political writer, word enthusiast, and editor. He has been called the “Father of American Scholarship and Education.” In his public-school textbook History of the United States, published in 1832, he stated:  

 

Almost all the civil liberty now enjoyed in the world owes its origin to the principles of the Christian religion. 

It is the sincere desire of the write that our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New testament or the Christian religion. 

The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His apostles, which enjoins humility, piety, and benevolence; which acknowledges in every person a brother, or a sister, and s citizen with equal rights. This is genuine Christianity, and to this we owe our free constitutions of government. 

The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all of our civil constitutions and laws; All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible. 

 

FEEDOM: “Duty to God” 

Luke 17:10 – So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’” 

 

The Boy Scouts of America believe that no member can grow into bed the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God. According, youth members and adult volunteers’ leaders obligate themselves to do their duty to God and be reverent as embodied in the Scout Oath and the Scout Law. But it hasn’t been without its share of legal battles. 

In the 1993 case of Welsh v. Boy Scouts of America, the United States Court of Appeals – Seventh Circuit ruled that the Boy Scouts could keep the phrase “duty to God” in their oath, and as a private organization they had the right to exclude anyone who refused to take oath. It stated: 

 

The leadership of many in our government is a testimonial to the success of Boy Scout activities; In recent years, single-parent families, gang activity, the availability of drugs, and other factors have increased the dire need for support structures like the Scouts.  

When the government, in this instance, through the courts, seeks to regulate the membership of an organization like the Boy Scouts in a way that scuttles its founding principles, we run the risk of undermining one of the seedbeds of virtue that cultivate the sorts of citizens our nation so desperately needs. 

 

Cases in 1995 and 1998 upheld the “duty to God” requirements for Scouts as well as leaders. 

 

Truth: The General Principles of Liberty 

Luke 21:33 – Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. 

 

In a letter to Thomas Jefferson on June 28, 1813, John Adams wrote: 

The general principles, on which the Fathers achieved independence, were the only principles in which that beautiful assembly of young gentlemen could unite; And what were these general principles of English and American liberty, in which all those young men united, and which had untied all parties in America, in which all those young men united, and which had united all parties in America, in majorities sufficient to assert and maintain her independence. 

Now I will avow, that I then believe, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity, are as eternal and immutable, as the existence and attributes of God; and that those principles of liberty, are as unalterable as human nature and our terrestrial, mundane system. 

 

JOHN 

 

Author: John 

When Written: Around A.D. 90 

Theme: Believe That Jesus Is the Son of Man 

 

Key Verses: John 20:30, 31 – And truly Jesus did many others signs in the present of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you have life in His name. 

 

Key Chapter: John 3 – Captured in the one verse (v.16), is the gospel in its clearest and simplest form: salvation and eternal life are gifts and are obtainable only through belief in Him. 

The Gospel of John is easily the simplest and yet the most profound of the Gospels, and for many people it is the greatest and most powerful. John sets forth His deity and His work for the specific purpose pf bringing his readers to spiritual life through belief in Jesus Christ. John’ Gospel is topical, not primarily chronological, and it revolves around seven miracles and seven “I am statements of Christ. 

When a student entered Harvard University in 1646, under the “Rules and Precepts” of the university, he agreed the “the main end of his life and studies” was found specifically in John 17:3: “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You sent.” In those days, a Harvard education place the knowing of Christ as the “only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.”  

 

Christianity and Equal Rights 

 

When we look at history of the American, the abolitionist movement, the women’s suffrage when a monumental fight for freedom and justice was at hand, faith in God was there to strengthen the activists. We also see, unfortunately, that too often the staunchest to any of these movements came from sectors of the religious establishment of the day. 

The women’s rights movements in America was largely birthed out of the ranks of the abolitionist movement to end slavery. In 1848, at the Seneca Falls Convention in New York, activists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B, Anthony began a seventy-year struggle to secure the right to vote for women. Nearly all the major leaders of the suffrage movement came from Christian backgrounds – women who believed that God created women as equals to men, and thus they demanded that the same rights guaranteed to men in the Constitution be extended to women. 

Some of these women included Lucretia Mott, an evangelical Quaker who helped to find the Anti- slavery Society in 1833: Angelina Brimke, who presented female anti-slavery petitions to the Massachusetts state legislature; as well as Lucy Stone. 

Not only did many churches ministers oppose suffrage, but they were also opposed to women owning property, getting university educations, and competing with men for wages. Most of the activists suffered mistreatment, were jailed. However, during the beginning of the twentieth century, women’s suffrage gained in popularity as more and more people began to realize that there was no biblical support for inequality between the sexes. Finally, President Woodrow urged Congress to pass what became, when it was ratified in 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment, which stated: 

“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” 

 

“I Look to a Day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”- By Martin Luther King Jr.   

The civil rights movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s was led primarily by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who became the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1954. At the time, the world around him was filled with inequality, oppression, and segregation of black citizens. Refusing to stoop to hate and bitterness, Dr. King connected his deep love of God with a powerful determination to achieve civil rights for African-Americans. He rose to national prominence as the leader of the movement through nonviolent, mass demonstrations, beginning with the Montgomery but boycott (1956), which after Rossa Parks was arrested for refusing to give her seat on a bus to a white man. The movement produced scores of men and women who risked and some who gave their lives to secure a more just and inclusive society. 

King and another Montgomery minister, Ralph David Abernathy, organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Jemison, Stanley Levison, Joseph Lowery. Bayard Rustin, Fred Shuttlesworth, C. K. Steele, and others. The organization drew its strength from leaders of the black church in the South. As president of the conference, King focused on the goal of black voting rights. 

Dr. King pursued his dream of a color-blind society through lectures, nonviolent marches, and protests. He suffered harassment, threats, beatings, incarceration – even his house bombed – but he kept marching for justice, equality, and peace. In 1963, during the March on Washington D.C.,  at the Lincoln Memorial, King delivered his famous “I Have A Dream” speech before 200,000 to 300,000 marchers, saying, “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” The speech beautifully and forcefully articulated the hopes and aspirations of the civil rights movement as rooted in two cherished national treasures – the Bible and the promise of true equality in the American Constitution. 

Subsequent years have been many visible triumphs for equality at the highest levels: Thurgood Marshall as Supreme Court justice, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State, and Barack Obama as the President of the United States are just a few examples of how Dr. King’s dream of equal opportunity for all American has become more of a reality. 

 

Calvin Coolidge placed his hand on John1 as he took presidential oath of office 1925 

 

The Eternal Word 

 

John 1:1 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

2- He was in the beginning with God. 

3 – All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 

4 – In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 

5 – And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. 

 

John’s Witness: The True Light 

 

6 – There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 

7 – This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 

8 – He was not the Light but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 

 

INSPIRING 

 

Lighting the World 

 

Samuel Colgate (1822-1897), an American manufacturer and philanthropist of what has become the Colgate-Palmolive Company, stated:  

 

The only spiritual light in the world comes through Jesus Christ and the inspired Book; redemption and forgiveness of sin alone through Christ. Without His presence and the teaching of the Bible, we would be enshrouded in moral darkness and despair. 

The condition of those nations without a Christ, contrasted with those where Christ is accepted, reveals so marked a difference that no arguments are needed. It is an object lesson so plain that it can be seen and understood by all. May “the earth be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”  

 

Selfless 

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that who ever believes in Him should not perish but everlasting life. 

 

Freedom Abroad 

Colin Powell, the U.S. Secretary of State (2001-2005), serving under President George W. Bush, stated: 

Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those who did not return. 

 

John 7:17 – Id anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  

 

The Bible’s Divine Character 

Faith 

John 7:17 – If anyone wills to do his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  

Simon Greenleaf (1783-1853) was the Royall Professor of Law at Harvard and contributed extensively to the school’s development. In correspondence with the American Bible Society, he wrote: 

 

Of the Divine character of the Bible, I think no man who deals honestly with his own mind and heart can entertain a reasonable doubt. For myself, I must say, that having for many years made the evidences of Christianity the subject of close study, the result has been a firm and increasing conviction of the authenticity and plenary inspiration of the Bible. It is indeed the Word of God. 

 

The Bill of Rights 

 

During the debates on the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, some of its opponents, including prominent Founding fathers, argued that it failed to protect the basic principles of human liberty. While the Constitution spelled out the new government’s delegated power, it did not define the citizen’s rights or insure that the federal government would not infringe on the most basic of civil rights at a later point in time, as the British had done before and during the Revolution. In their formal ratification of the Constitution, several states conventions either asked for or understood that such amendments would be offered. 

 

The Bill of rights is the first Ten amendments to the Constitution. They were introduced by James Madison to the First U.S. Congress on 1791 as a series of constitutional amendments and came into effect on December 15, 1791, after being ratified by three-fourths of the Framers further defined the role of the federal government by defining certain actions it would not do. 

 

Without the Bill of Rights, basic human rights such as the freedom of religion and of speech, the freedom to assemble and to petition, the right to free press, and the right to keep and bear arms could have potentially been denied or repressed. The Bill of Rights prohibits unreasonable search and seizure, cruel and unusual punishment  

 

 

 

  

 The New Testament is the second, shorter part of the Christian Bible. Unlike the Old Testament, which covers hundreds of years of history, the New Testament only covers several decades, and is a collection of the religious teachings and beliefs of Christianity. The New Testament is not a single book written by one person, but, rather, a collection of twenty-seven books written in Greek by people from various places. There are many ways to interpret the New Testament. Millions of people view it as true scripture and use its teachings as the basis of their belief systems. Some biblical scholars interpret it as a work of literature that uses beautiful poetry to describe religious myths. Others study its ethical and philosophical ideas, as its stories of the faithful attempt to instill certain values and outline an appropriate way to live. 

The books of the New Testament were written in first- or second-century Palestine, a region that at the time was under the rule of the Roman Empire. Many of the stories are based on the rituals and beliefs of Judaism, as Jesus Christ and his disciples were all Jews. As a result, both Greco-Roman culture and Judaic traditions dominate the political, social, and economic scene of the New Testament. Judaism at that time was not a single tradition or set of beliefs, but contained many different divisions within itself. These divisions figure prominently in New Testament stories. The strictest Jews, the Sadducees, were the upper class of priests. They interpreted scripture literally and adhered to rituals strictly. It opposed them to oral tradition and to the concept of eternal life, since the latter is not discussed in the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament. The Pharisees, in contrast to the Sadducees, interpreted Jewish law for laypeople and established Jewish life outside of the temple. They were more liberal in their acceptance of scripture, regarding oral tradition and the words of prophets as scriptural as well. 

Judaism at the time of Christ involved a rigid social hierarchy. I considered the temple and the high priests who worked there to be pure, holy, and closer to God than anyone else. The hierarchy continued with people who were Jews by birth, followed by converts to Judaism. Jews, were considered by Jews considered Gentiles, or non to be ritually impure and not in the service of God. The New Testament documents a shift in this hierarchy. Christians challenged the system in which birth into the Israelite community determined a person’s level of purity. They said, instead, that repentance and acceptance of the teachings of Jesus Christ determined a person’s purity. 

The writers of the books that now comprise the New Testament did not intend for their writings to replace or rival the Old Testament. The Christian scriptures were originally intended to be utilitarian documents responding to specific needs of the early church. It was only with the passage of more than a hundred years after Jesus’s death that Christians began to use the term “New Testament” to refer to the scriptures that the fledgling church was beginning to view as a single sacred unit. Early Christians viewed the New Testament as the fulfillment of promises made in the Old Testament, rather than as the replacement of the Jewish scriptures. 

The historical context of the New Testament greatly influences the way we interpret it as literature. Many of the speakers in the Bible address issues and problems unique to their moment in history, and a knowledge of the various cultural forces of biblical times provides a basis for understanding the characters’ motivations and reactions. Furthermore, the New Testament’s role as influential religious doctrine is another context. Just as historical situations shaped the development of the New Testament, the New Testament has also influenced the progress of history. Reading religious documents as literature requires an unusual understanding of the events surrounding the writing of the text. 

Structure and Composition 

Only in the second century A.D. did Christians begin to use the term “New Testament” to refer to their collection of scriptures. The New Testament, as we now know it is composed of twenty-seven books, but it was not originally written as a coherent whole. Jesus himself did not produce any written record of his work. The books that comprise the New Testament were mostly written in the century following his death, in response to the specific needs of the early church and its leaders. At the time of Jesus’s crucifixion in approximately 30 A.D., most of the first generation of Christians believed that the end of the world was imminent. They therefore considered it unnecessary to compose records of Jesus’s life. By the mid-60s A.D., however, most Christians who had known Jesus and witnessed his actions firsthand were dying. It became necessary, then, to produce works that would testify to Jesus’s life. As it became clear that the second coming of Jesus would be delayed, the leaders of the church composed works that would enable the nascent Christian Church to survive. 

The books that comprise the New Testament can be separated into three broad categories. First are the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. “Gospel” literally means “good news.” The “good news” to which these gospels refer is the life, teachings, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospels usually appear first among the texts of the New Testament, with Matthew placed first of all. But the order of the New Testament is based on importance, not chronology. The Gospels were probably written between 65 and 110 a.d., with Mark written first and John last. 

The second category of texts in the New Testament are the letters from Paul. Paul of Tarsus was an early church leader and energetic missionary who spread the Gospel of Jesus across the Roman Empire, preaching to Gentiles as well as to Jews, who were the earliest targets of missionary activity. Paul wrote many letters to various Christian communities throughout the Mediterranean, settling points of doctrine and instructing new Christians in matters of faith. By the end of the second century A.D., Christian communities had collected thirteen letters that they attributed to Paul, and each letter became known by the name of the community or individual to whom it was addressed: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. A fourteenth letter, Hebrews, long accepted by Eastern churches, was accepted by Western churches in the fourth century A.D. The actual authorship and date of composition of many of these letters is seriously disputed, but it is generally agreed that Paul wrote some of them in the 50s A.D., making them the oldest existing Christian texts. 

Other books in the New Testament are somewhat harder to classify. Acts of the Apostles (known simply as Acts) is a continuation of the Gospel According to Luke, giving the history of the church in the years after Jesus’s crucifixion. Acts traces the expansion of the church, as it moves out from Jerusalem and spreads throughout the Gentile world. The protagonists of the book are Peter, the chief of the Twelve Apostles, who were Jesus’s closest disciples, and Paul of Tarsus, the greatest early Christian missionary. Also included in the New Testament are seven letters, known as the Letters to all Christians, or the Catholic—in its literal sense, meaning “universal”—Letters, which resemble extended homilies. These letters are generally understood to have been written after the Pauline letters: James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude. Finally, the Book of Revelation, written in the closing years of the first century, is an extended vision predicting the events of the end of the world and the second coming of Jesus. 

In its early centuries, the church was highly decentralized. Each individual church community collected its own sacred documents. The fragmented nature of the church was complicated by the difference in intellectual tradition between the East, which spoke Greek as its scholarly language and was ruled from Byzantium following the division of the Roman Empire, and the West, which spoke Latin and was centered in Rome. The process by which individual church communities came together to decide on a canon of sacred works, and the process by which they preserved those works, is not entirely clear. Criteria that seem to have been important in canonization include the authorship of the texts—texts presumed to have been written by apostles, such as Matthew, or by those who witnessed Jesus’s revelation firsthand, such as Paul, were given priority—and the importance and wide acceptance of the doctrine expressed in the texts. It is known that in the decades just before and after 200 A.D., church leaders widely accepted the sacred nature of a collection of twenty works, including the four Gospels, thirteen Pauline letters, Acts, 1 Peter, and 1 John. The remaining seven works—Hebrews, Revelation, James, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and 2 Peter—were cited from the second to the fourth centuries and accepted as scripture in some, but not all, churches. Finally, by the late fourth century, there was wide, but not absolute, agreement in the Greek East and the Latin West on a canon of twenty-seven works. 

It is generally agreed that the books of the New Testament were originally written in Greek, the scholarly language current at the time, and divided into chapters and verses. It is possible that a few books of the New Testament were originally written in Aramaic, a dialect popular among the Jews of Palestine, and most likely the language that Jesus himself spoke. 

 

   

      

 

   

  

 

 

      

     

Churches and religious charities are pressured – sometimes even forced – to disregard their faith by the government. 

Christian schools are being barred from public funding based on their religious beliefs. 

The right to hire individuals who share a church or a charity’s faith and the right to free exercise of their religious mission are two of the most important rights a religious organization possesses. 

Federal law and the Constitution protect the rights of churches and religious organizations, but many times those laws are ignored or unenforced. 

The ACLJ has fought these religious liberty cases in court and won. W