Philippians 3 October 2, 2015
It is another sad day for Christ followers as hatred overflowed its riverbanks in Oregon yesterday. This story is being repeated time and time again, whether it is Kenya, Egypt, Iran, Columbine High School or a prayer meeting in Charleston, South Carolina. There is a battle between the forces of darkness and Christ's kingdom. We should not be surprised by this, but we should be prepared.
Initial reports state that gunman Chris Harper-Mercer singled out Christians. He asked his victims to stand up if they were Christians. If they stood up, he said, "Good, because you're a Christian, you are going to see God in just about one second." And then he shot and killed them. If they said no or didn't answer, they were shot in the legs.
The apostle Paul warned us in our reading today, "For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."
So the question that must be asked today is, "Would you have stood up?" Is your faith so strong, your hope so secure that in the face of death you would have the courage to stand? On June 23, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said in a speech given in Detroit, "If a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live." It seems that when we discover something we are willing to die for, we also discover what we are willing to live for. I encourage you to live for Jesus and his eternal kingdom.
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