God's Grace and a rainbow flag

"I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.” Genesis 9:13-17

There was a time, when I first saw the rainbow flag used as a symbol of the solidarity of homosexuality, that I felt indignant. I felt like this was intended to be a symbol from God displaying His grace, this is a symbol to remind Christians of His promise to never again judge the Earth with a deluge.

The thing I forgot was that this was never a symbol that God would cease to have wrath toward sin, He is unchanging (Psalm 102:25-27). The thing that I forgot was that this was a symbol for all living, not just for Christians, the symbol is of God's covenant with His creation.

So when I see all of these rainbow flags being waved and posted and illuminated across North America as a loud and proud symbol of the sin of homosexuality, as a fist shaking rebellion against a good and Holy God; I'm meant to remember that it is reminding God that He once poured His wrath on the Earth in our sin and that He will not do so the same way again. I'm meant to remember that even though God hates sin and those who work in it (Psalm 5:5), that His judgement of that sin is an abandonment to that sin (Romans 1:18-32).

A Christian cannot celebrate that which God condemns. It's not complicated, if you love Jesus, you cannot love sin.

"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." Isaiah 5:20

You cannot hold your sin in one hand and Jesus Christ in the other hand (1 John 3:1-10, Luke 9:23-24, Galatians 6:14, Galatians 5:24, Romans 12:1-2).

But Christian, you must not be indignant or self-righteous in the knowledge that the symbol of sin being waved in our culture is actually a symbol of God's judgement on our culture. It is a time for humility and prayer, it is a time for the Gospel. All of this talk about LGBT issues are symptomatic of a Godless culture that, in fact, hates God (Matthew 6:24). If we are going to understand 2 Timothy 3:12 - "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,"; we must know that mockery, slander and hatred must be the farthest things from our lips (Mark 12:28-31), lest we fall into greater judgement (James 3:1, Matthew 7:1). But we have to be so very careful that we do not fall into the same trap as so many moderate Christians and misunderstand and misrepresent that passage in Matthew 7:1. It can be easy to think that any criticism of a lifestyle is inappropriate judgement, but that is simply not the case; read the words of Christ in John 7:24 - "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

We are meant to stand for righteousness, we are meant to stand for Christ and do so in a way that honors Him. We are meant to be different from the world as aliens and strangers (1 Peter 2:11), in the world and not of it (Romans 12:1), hated by the world (John 15:18), Crucified to the World (Galatians 6:14).

"That means the world thinks of you as a fool that has nothing to contribute to society, and that there is nothing the world offers that you could desire - That you now have NOTHING to do with sin and EVERYTHING to do with God." - Nate Pfeil

As you find yourself getting muddy in complex conversations these days, step back out of your passion in the argument and pray that Go would give you wisdom to answer rightly and kindly, with respect but most importantly in Biblical truth.

The lost need the Gospel.

God is Holy, that is the center of this conversation.

So, see the rainbow flags, remember the covenant of God in Grace and the spitting in His Holy perfect face that is happening with the waving of the rainbow flag; remember that what the flag actually symbolizes is God's judgement in grace and a giving over to sinful passions and desires. And weep. Pray and weep and proclaim the Holiness of the Righteous God that is being offended and profaned.

LWCA Graduation

It was our privilege to travel to the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia this past weekend. I had the immense privilege of addressing the 3 graduates for 2015 from Living Waters Christian Academy. The graduation was on Friday night, I took the opportunity to address the young people with Colossians 3:17, challenging them to submit to the Lord in their lives; in obedience, in sacrifice, in worship and in thanksgiving. So many young people leave our churches and go on to fall away from the Faith that they were raised to understand. May the Lord hold and keep His own and give the gift of Faith to those who have yet to have the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit change them and make them Christs'.

On Sunday I was given the opportunity at Habitation Baptist Church to update them about the ministries of NCEM at Arrowhead Native Bible Center. The church folk there had collected tuck shop items for our "Grocery Grabber" program and filled up our van with them as we left! We are so thankful for this practical ministry that people take part in with us at Arrowhead. It is really through these sort of gifts that we are able to offer our summer camp programs.

travels and tales

On Sunday, June 31st it was my pleasure to be able to bring a presentation of the ministry at Arrowhead to the folks at Chipman Fundamental Baptist Church. It was a pleasure to share with them about the ministry of NCEM at Arrowhead for their Sunday School hour and then open the Word together with them for the morning service. It is a blessing for us to be able to be with friends and brothers and sisters and are happy to join with you in your church as well if you would like for us to share about just what it is the Lord is doing among First Nations people in Atlantic Canada.

Last Wednesday, I was blessed to be able to visit the McCain's plant in Florenceville, NB. They very generously donated enough French Fries, Cakes and pies for our entire on site summer camp program! We are so thankful for their kindness in donating these delicious foods to Arrowhead - I can't wait to try one of the Cookies & Cream pies!

My little minivan parked at "door #1" in next to the trucks, the lads had to pass down the boxes to me to hand pack the van. It was a fun adventure.

ANBC lodge roof

I am so pleased to announce that we have had an immense blessing at Arrowhead! Thanks to the kind donors through NCEM's Minute Man program, funds were made available to have a new roof put on the lodge at Arrowhead. But that is only the beginning of the story of how the Lord worked in His ministry here at Arrowhead. The kind folks at Kauffmann Metals in Maine made the materials available to us at their own cost, providing us with access to good steel and all of the fittings for the roof while remaining within our budget. Tom, of Tom's Construction was able to facilitate the transport of the materials to us and refused to charge us a thing. On May 29th he arrived with his skilled team of guys; each had volunteered their time to see the roof installed correctly! It was amazing to see these guys work together, our roof is almost 4200 sq. ft. and they had the entire thing completed by suppertime! What a huge blessing this is to the ministry at Arrowhead. We now have no worries about our roof here at the Center!

Getting the steel ready to haul up to the roof.

It took a lot of strapping.

It's going to make such a huge difference to our building, and keeping it healthy.

This was near the end of the day, just a couple of panels left.

Completing the roof over the dining hall. We installed snow rail on the entire roof to prevent snow slides.

 

The completed building!