A Prayer for Unbelievers

Our Father in heaven,

     You are the God who creates, sustains, redeems, judges, and reigns forever and ever. You are the One who is merciful, gracious, and longsuffering. You are love.

     We confess that, as a people, we have not been fully obedient to the charge of the Great Commission to make disciples. We have not prayed for our enemies or made many overtures to reach out to those who are lost in the darkness of this present wicked age. Father, have mercy on us.

     We thank you that you have saved us and that the glorious gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ is available to any and all who will believe. You have made a people for Yourself and continue to add

to it from every nation, tribe, and tongue on the planet. What a privilege we have to be a part of this ministry of reconciliation.

We are humbled.

     To You, O Lord, we lift up our souls. For You, Lord, are good, ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You. We want to stand in the gap and plead in behalf of those we know who are not saved. We call on You, the One who has done all the work, to save our family and friends who are outside of Your will presently. We bring before you those in our community—within our sphere of influence, folks we will come into contact with soon—asking that You make Your glory known to them and in them.

All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and shall glorify Your name; for You are great, and do wondrous things; You alone are God: Would You, God of the nations, continue to save sinners here in our nation? Will You save souls right here in our communities? We pray for evangelistic opportunities in Winston-Salem, Pfafftown, Bethania, Germanton, Tobaccoville, King, and here in Rural Hall. May you bless our efforts for the redeeming sake of others and for your great name.

In Christ’s gracious and powerful name we pray, Amen.

Reflections on Acts 9:10-19

Reflections on Acts 9:10-19

Someone’s past does not disqualify one from salvation or service.  Do you agree with that statement?  Well, we probably all agree with that in theory, but in practice we are quick to think or even say, “I have heard about him/her.  I doubt he/she will ever come to the Lord.”  Or, we may think something like, “Sure, you can join the church, but you will never be allowed to do this/that.” 

Many of us think we have it all figured out.  Maybe we have served the Lord for years and have forgotten how immature or sinful we were in our early years as Christians.  Maybe we were raised in the church and have not committed the “major” or open sins that get so much negative attention.  Let me remind you that none of us are perfect.  Even those of us who have been raised in church and have not committed publicly shameful deeds, do we think that we are better than others?  What if the sins of your heart were exposed?  What if the sins under your roof, behind closed doors were exposed?  Would you be so innocent anymore?  I think not.

The truth is, we all have a past.  We all have had struggles with sin and continue to fight the “flesh,” that is, the old, sinful nature.  We all are in need of a savior, the Savior, Jesus Christ.  Let me encourage you to not only affirm that first sentence in theory but also in practice: Someone’s past does not disqualify one from salvation or service.  How can we believe this?  The Father made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.  Our past is done away with when we commit to God by faith in Jesus Christ.  He forgives us our sins and removes them from our account.

So then, when we consider this passage of Scripture in Acts 9.  Many of us think of others in the same way that Ananias’ first reacted to an urging to minister to Saul of Tarsus, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.”  What Ananias said was true.  His fear was legitimate.  But that did not stop the Lord from saving Saul and using Ananias as an evangelistic tool to minister to him.  The Lord told Ananias to “Go.”  Saul’s horrific sins of his past would not haunt him in the future; they would not keep the Lord from saving him or calling him into His service.  The Lord said “Go,” and Ananias “Went.”  When we sense the urging of the Lord to minister to someone, we, too, should not reject them based on their appearance or their past.  Instead, we should minister to them and make them disciples.  The Lord will extend the offer of salvation to them in the Gospel message, and, if they respond with faith, the Lord will call them into His service.  He did the same for you and for me, why not any other person?

What Should Christians Do with the Santa Claus Fantasy?

What should Christians do with the Santa Claus fantasy?

Dec 14, 2016 by Dr. Wesley C. McCarter

As a pastor, I would simply want Christian parents to carefully think through this subject, biblically and christocentrically, like every other aspect of life. My wife and I did so years ago as a married couple planning to have kids, and we consulted our closest Christian friends and mentors. To my surprise, all of the Christian friends we consulted (and it must have been at least four different couples) had come to the same conclusion when raising their own children: They chose not to reinforce the Santa Claus fantasy. Now, the application of their conclusion was varied from family to family, but they all had come to the same decision. And this confirmed our own conclusion.

Two points, among several others, seem most glaring to us when it comes to the Santa Claus fantasy: (1) The American culture (and yes, influenced by Satan himself) has sought to "steal" Christmas away from Christ; so, this is our small act of rebellion against "the machine," and (2) While we obviously want our little ones to have fun, imagine, and pretend, we also want them to know the difference between fantasy and reality. While we are not constantly saying, "Don't believe in Santa," neither are we constantly reinforcing a lie for the sake of childhood creativity. Our daughters’ creativity has certainly not been stunted by our decision to not play along on this one. Our celebration of Christmas is just as lively, fun, and exciting as any other, if not more so, and all without the big man.

I am not on the offensive here, trying to "convert Santa activists." This is just for clarification on our position, if anyone is interested. By the way, I should add that I was raised to "believe" in Santa and the Easter Bunny just like millions of others. This was not some weird, religious thing passed on to us. This was a thoughtful decision we made as Christian parents. Everyone should think it through for their own families and move on with a clear conscience.

Here is another article on the subject from a well-known Christian scholar: 

https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/question-answer/should-parents-let-their-children-believe-in-santa-claus/

—Peace in the Name of the One Born in Bethlehem, Wesley