​​Our church has unanimously approved the plan to raise $15,000 to match a $12,000 donation already in hand for the purpose of constructing and installing a new 8’ X 10” church sign and message board by which the gospel of Christ Jesus will be proclaimed every day to people passing by on Mundy Mill Road. This sign will be the only one of its kind all the way from the Blackshear Place crossing to McEver Road. Yes, there are business signs, bank signs, even church signs along this corridor, but ours will be the only Gospel sign for people to see and read the Good News of Jesus Christ.
 
The Bible says of Jesus, when He first began His ministry in Galilee, “Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.” (Matthew 4:23)
 
The gospel does its own promotion. Its faithful proclamation will lead to what the Bible says, “Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.” (Matthew 4:25)
 
Trusting in the power of the gospel will lead to people hearing, growing numbers following, and people receiving the gospel by which they will be saved. Grace church is trusting in the power of the gospel to do its work in the lives of people who will be regularly informed with its truth.
 
The title of our campaign to raise the necessary funds will be known as

 
capital campaign. Last Sunday, $1,100 was received in donations toward the goal. This Sunday, we will call the church to prayer and ask you to contribute to the fulfillment of the plan. Prayer is the key. We do not want God to endorse what we have done apart from the movement of the Holy Spirit to make it happen. We have been praying and talking about this gospel sign for 9 years.
​

• God has given us over these years a permanent property that belongs to our church on which the sign will be placed.
• God has led our church to raise over $150,000 to match funds contributed by Mr. Jim Walters to pay for renovations to our buildings.
• We have reduced the overall debt we owe to $300,000 when a recent appraisal shows that our location and buildings are worth well over a million dollars.

 
God has been leading us, blessing us, and giving us sufficient evidence of His mighty hand at work among us. We can accomplish this worthy goal, not because we are financially well off, but because the evidence proves that the mighty hand of God is with us.
 
I look forward to all that God is going to do as we trust Him and the power of His gospel. Jesus said, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to myself” (John 12:32). Putting this gospel sign in front of our property is a means to lift up Jesus Christ. His powerful name will be shown to people passing by every day. There is power in His name. The truth of the gospel will be broadcast continually in large letters, illuminated by sharp and distinct lighting. This sign will be a bold testimony of our faith in the Bible and its revelation about Jesus through the gospel. It will reveal that we believe what the Bible says, and God will receive glory through its daily messages.

​Today we begin a new series of sermons entitled, “WHEN YOU PRAY.” This series will be based on the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount about prayer. We will also cover two parables Jesus told about prayer. Once we have finished His teaching about prayer, we will turn to Christ’s actual prayers like those He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and the ones He prayed from the Cross. We will look at His High Priestly Prayer that He prayed for His disciples in John, chapter 17. Prayer is more than a conversation with God. It is communion with God. Prayer is a relationship with God. It is not an occasional “stop-over” with God. Prayer is a daily walk together with God.
 
The Psalmist said, “Today, if you will hear His voice: ‘Do not harden your hearts.’” (Psalm 95:7-8)
 
Tom Elliff says, “Many believers are under the misconception that they can return to intimacy with the Lord whenever they want. They believe restored fellowship is solely a matter of their personal discretion, available at the drop of a hat. But in moments of deep searching and quiet desperation they admit that even the willingness to will themselves back to God is missing. They come to the startling revelation that we must come to Him on His terms and at His time or we will not come to Him at all.”
 
The cold heart is a matter of the unbent knee and lack of prayer.
 
F.B. Meyer said, “The greatest tragedy in life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.”
 
Our whole nation suffers from this great tragedy. When the people of God fail to pray, the nation of God’s people suffers.
 
Today’s sermon makes 4 points for us to remember:

• Prayer is an Act of Worship – How can you make worship better in your life through prayer?
• Become a NOW disciple in prayer – Make a prayer schedule and stick to it!
• Pray Sacrificially – Pray like God is the only one listening. What should you do NOW to make God the only one who really matters when you pray?
• Pray in your Private Place – Do you have a special place in which you pray? If you do not, clean out a place, fix it up and set apart/sanctify a spot somewhere that is your special place of prayer.

 
You will be asked today to respond to these four points which Jesus spoke about in the Sermon on the Mount when He taught about prayer. Prayer changes the cold heart into a spiritual heart sensitive to the word and way of God. Determine now to become a believer who prays like Jesus taught us all to pray.
 
“Father, make us a more sensitive and determined people in prayer. Warm our hearts, convict our souls and move us in our spirits to make prayer a daily priority in our homes, in our families, and in our dealings with others. May we put You first in our prayers. Help us to pray not to please others, but to obey You and listen to what You have to say. Jesus, show us how to pray to You like You prayed for us. Make Grace Baptist Church a place of powerful God-honoring prayer. May we today, truly ‘Hear Your voice…’ like the Psalmist prayed. In Jesus’ holy name, Amen.”
 
Pastor Mike

I give thanks to God for the awesome praise team God has given our church to lead our worship. We have been studying the letter to the Ephesian church on Wednesday nights. In Paul’s teaching, he uses a series of comparisons to highlight what the church should be and how the people of God should live. We are now in chapter 5 where we see that God’s people should live lives that are different from people who are in the world. Believers should act differently than non-believers. The church should live above the culture and demonstrate what Godliness is.
 
Paul calls this the difference between living in the light rather than in the darkness, “Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:7-10). Light is different than darkness. Light pleases God. Light dispels darkness. God’s people are to be people of the Light.
 
One of the ways God’s people let their Light shine over darkness is by what they sing and how the sing. The songs of the Light are not like the songs of darkness. People inside the church sing differently than those outside. Paul says, “…but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19). The songs of the Light must be different songs than the world sings. The songs of Light must be sung differently than the world sings. The music God’s people sings is to be higher, cleaner, happier, and holier than any song you hear in the secular world. We simply do not sing like they sing.
 
I am not talking about the difference between contemporary and traditional music. I am not comparing the music sung by choirs and the music sung by praise teams. I’m talking about music sung by rock bands, country singers, hip-hop, and gross uncouth grunge groups. I’m talking about the difference between what we sing in church and what the world sings in bars, back alleys, beer bashes, tailgate parties, or even department store elevators. Paul calls that kind of music, “…disgraceful even to speak about” (Ephesians 5:12). We are not to sing like the world sings.
 
I praise God that Brian and all our praise team folks get it. They know what singing songs about Light is and that darkness has no place in the worship of God’s people. Paul says, “But all things become visible when they are exposed by light, for everything that becomes visible is light” (Ephesians 5:13). We sing differently than the world sings. Our music on Sundays rises above the dark music of the world around us. Praise God! Let’s sing today the songs of light like we mean it.
 
The other day I was putting gas in my trunk when a convertible pulled into the place with its blaster blasting full blast. The sound was so loud the concrete underneath my feet was shaking. The guy’s music was vibrating the concrete. I thought, man this concrete will crack under this kind of pressure. There was an older man filling up his car behind my truck. I asked him after the blaster guy turned his car off and the noise went silent, “Did you hear that?” He nodded yes and we both made unapproving faces at each other.
 
Why is it that some people’s music is noise to other people?
Why does the Light of the Gospel not dispel more of the darkness?
 
Sometimes the volume of Light is not turned up enough. Thanks Brian and Praise Team for the volume and commitment you have to the Light of Jesus.

...more than a building with an address. It is more than a budget, a calendar of activities, and a weekly schedule. Grace Baptist Church is a family of believers who live, work, grieve and rejoice together in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior. In the little letter John wrote to his fellow bond-servant Jude, he writes, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life” (Jude 20-21). To him, church is where the “beloved” of the Lord build together, pray together and wait together. For Mrs. Alma Adams, our beloved sister in Christ, and Martha Embrick, Chris Pace’s mother, there is no more waiting. They have now passed from this life into the next. They are in heaven with Jesus.
 
We have within our church family shared over the past few weeks the heartache of watching loved ones suffer. We have walked together through the portals of grief and sorrow as our beloved brothers and sisters have buried loved ones. We have grieved with them, loved on them, and comforted one another in the dark moments of death and separation. That’s what being the church, what being the fellowship, the family of God is about. We walk through “…the valley of the shadow of death” together with the Great Shepherd of the sheep, Jesus, and with one another. Church is not always about Halleluiahs and Amens. Sometimes its about shedding tears and carrying burdens. In all of it, God has called us to be His people and to be united together in One Faith, One Lord and One Baptism. We cannot be the complete Body of Christ without tears, or without the aches and pains of carrying someone else’s load. I praise God today that our church is a burden-bearing, grief sharing, second-mile walking, bended-knee praying, good-times rolling, praise-lifting family of God. We are together through the good and the bad. We are the Family of God.
 
Jesus said in the gospel of John, “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep” (John 10:14-15). Jesus is the good shepherd because he “knows” His sheep. He is with His sheep. He is with them through thick and thin. He is on sight and on task in the middle of His sheep’s daily lives. He does not depend on second-hand information. He does not care what other people say about His sheep. He does not compare His sheep with someone else’s sheep. He does not look at what is posted on-line about His sheep. He is with His sheep, and He “knows” His sheep.
 
Anybody that does not spend time with the sheep of the Lord cannot “know” the sheep. And worst yet, the sheep do not know them. You must be with them to “know” them. I want the “know” the Lord’s sheep like the good shepherd knows them. That’s why the Lord has given me this week the opportunity to be with His sheep in their sickness and their sorrow. He has blessed me to share with His sheep their praise and their pain. I have shed tears with the Lord’s sheep, and I have rejoiced in joy as good memories and happy stories have been told. I love being a pastor/shepherd to this body of sheep called Grace Baptist Church. It’s what God has called me to do.

​We were all rejoicing yesterday with the amazing progress Alma Adams was making following by-pass surgery. Then, in an instant, without warning, her condition changed because of a blood clot and a stroke that no one saw coming. Now she has undergone a second surgery to remove the blood clot, is again in ICU at Northeast Georgia Medical Center, and our church family is praying for her life and her recovery. How quickly life can take an about face.
 
I was sitting with her family yesterday and praying with them as my heart and mind reflected on how uncertain life can be. The apostle Paul said, “…while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18)
 
Think about that. Everything we own, every material thing we value, all our belongings, our status, our careers, even our health is temporary. Everything about us can change and become irrelevant in an instant.
 
Do you remember the parable Jesus told of the rich landowner whose land was so productive that he tore down his old barns and built new ones to hold all his produce?
 
He said to himself after his massive renovation project, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry” (Luke 12:19).
 
Remember what God said to him?
 
“You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?” (Luke 12:20)
 
In the very next verse following the man’s statement about security, his circumstances abruptly changed and everything he had worked so hard to store and maintain became irrelevant. Nothing in this life is 100% certain. Your life can change before you can blink your eyes, just like that man’s did who owned the barns and just like Alma’s did yesterday.
 
Here’s a good verse to remember when things change around you: “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Corinthians 5:1)
 
There are some things, Praise God, that never change, things that last forever:

• Heaven is changeless – “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
• God’s word never changes – “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)
• Love never ends – “But now faith, hope, love abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)
• God’s plans are perfect and never fail – “The Lord of hosts has sworn saying, ‘Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand.’” (Isaiah 14:24)
• Jesus Christ is forever – “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8).

 
It did me good to look at these verses again this morning and renew my trust that everything about God is sure and changeless. In Him, there is no east or west, no north or south. I can trust Him even though everything around me is temporary and subject to change. I am praying for Alma today in the truth, that our changeless God will hold her tight in His almighty, safe, and secure hands. I believe He truly is able to accomplish His plan and bring her back to us. 

I was in my quiet place praying this morning, asking God to protect our church from the COVID delta variant and pleading with Him to keep us unified as a church family. In the middle of my prayer, He interrupted me clearly saying, “Go get your Bible and read Matthew 5:38-42” which says, “You have heard it said ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth’; but I say to you, ‘That you resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue you at the law, and take away your coat, let him have you cloak also. And whosoever shall compel you to go a mile, go with him two miles. Give to him that asks and from him that would borrow and do not turn away.’”
 
Even though our deacons have chosen to lead our church to re-mask according to recent CDC guidelines, what God’s word says is more important to me. This admonition of the Lord comes from the greatest sermon ever preached on this earth, The Sermon on the Mount. Clearly, Jesus is teaching his people how to live like the Children of God when the world wants us to be contentious and disagreeable. To me, living out the Sermon on the Mount is more important than what other people do or say. I want to be obedient to Jesus and faithful to everything His kingdom requires of me. In this case, wearing a mask meets the “turn-the-other-cheek”, “go-the-second-mile”, “give-more-than-expected” guidelines Jesus preached about. I gladly put my mask on today, because doing so meets the kingdom of God standard set forth by Jesus.
 
You have the misfortune of having a missionary as your pastor. I have done all kinds of unpleasant things over the years because God has led me to different countries, different language groups, different cultures and different politically challenging places to preach the gospel, build churches, and minister to people in the name of Jesus. I have had more vaccinations than I can count. I have eaten food that does not agree with my taste or my digestive system. I have delivered food, clothes, medical supplies—purchased tractors, surgical equipment, fertilizers, and educational tools—taught preachers, preached sermons, baptized new believers, and simply prayed with missionaries who needed encouragement. I have tried to do in my years what the apostle Paul said he did, “I have become all things to all men, that I by all means might save some.” (1 Thessalonians 1:10)
 
There is one country where I had to give up my identity in order to serve. This country requires you to hand over your purse or billfold, your driver’s license, your passport, and any other form of identification in your possession before you are allowed to enter. While in this country, you literally do not exist with any document that might identify you or prove that you were there. Your heart and soul may belong to Jesus, but your body belongs to them while you are with them.
 
When you’ve given up everything to serve Jesus, wearing a mask on Sunday is small potatoes. Of course, I will never say something like, “If you wear a mask or don’t wear one, you don’t belong at Grace and are forbidden to worship here.” I will never tell people with tattoos to leave, or those that voted one way or the other that they have no place at Grace. Notice that Jesus used the word “WHOSOEVER” while preaching the Sermon on the Mount. Mask wearing does not qualify you or disqualify you to worship. It simply shows others that you listen to God’s word and that you love others and want them to stay well and safe. It is not about ME; it is all about WE. So, put on your mask again this morning and let’s have a great time at Grace. Let’s practice together in one accord what Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount.

​Our Grace Baptist Church family is 100% all into Vacation Bible School. This week has been a clear and powerful demonstration of the character and commitment our church has in teaching children what “Jesus is Our Strong Foundation” is all about. Our church loves children. Every night our adult leaders came early to prepare the sound and video systems for the worship service. Teachers were in place to lead the children in their Bible studies. Volunteers helped the kids with crafts, games and snacks. There were as many adults involved this year in Vacation Bible School as there were children. Our adults believe in doing the best job possible for the children. The quality of a church can be judged by the time and energy given to lead its children to know and love Jesus.
 
Our teenagers showed up in great numbers to lead in worship. They danced, sang, and did all the hand motions, with great joy and enthusiasm. Our young people assisted in activities, teaching, craft creation and overall oversight of the schedule each night. They are in the mountains on retreat this morning continuing the “Jesus is Our Strong Foundation” motto. They will be back this afternoon to join us at the Church Picnic and Baptism Service.  We all love our students and know that God is working in them and through them to advance His kingdom here at Grace.
 
How about the backdrops, classroom décor, and overall atmosphere established inside our church during this year’s VBS?
 
All of the decorations were donated to us from other churches. Following this year’s event, we will pass them on to other churches in the area who will be having their Vacation Bible School’s later on. The “Concrete and Cranes” theme has brought churches together helping each other. We have saved a good amount of money by just participating with other churches this year.
 
Saving money, creating a visual atmosphere, enlisting volunteers, teachers, leaders, as well as getting children to participate is largely due to the way God has led and used our two Vacation Bible School directors – Carol Childers and Phyllis Simmons. These are extraordinary ladies. They are both called by God to minister to children. They are tireless leaders. They go the second and third mile. They get the job done. God has blessed Grace with these two women who have answered the call of God to reach a new generation with the truth of the gospel. Praise God for Carol and Phyllis along with all the adults and young people who made this year’s “Concrete and Cranes” a week to remember.  

It is Wednesday, July 14, at 8:53 am, and I am in my office at the church getting ready to begin decorating the stage area which will result in the entire church being set up and made ready for this year’s Vacation Bible School event. I am praising the Lord this morning and rejoicing in the strong recovery of our church from one of the most difficult year’s I can remember in my 52 years of ministry. We have been through 2 separate shutdowns in our on-campus worship and work since the beginning of the pandemic. We have endured a national debate and disruption over mask wearing and shot taking. People have been at odds over presidential politics, fake news, and conspiracy theories. There has been a general feeling of negativity, fear, and anger in the air throughout the land. Our people have endured sickness, loss of jobs, and economic hardships that have taken their toll. It’s like our church has been under siege from an outside enemy which has sought to bring us down.

 
Sunday 91 of our folks worshiped in-house here on our campus. There were guests present along with several families returning that we have not seen in a while. Robbie commented to me after the service that the people were happy to be back with a spirit of joy and excitement permeating the service. Then, today we are putting up decorations and getting everything ready for a return to Vacation Bible School. We are coming out of a dark time. We are on the road to recovery.
 
Last week I learned that a dear widow lady, well into her eighties, posted on Facebook that she was being evicted from her apartment. The complex had changed hands and she was a part of the new owner’s plans to renovate the property. She only had a month to find a new home and move all her possessions. She was desperate.
 
This lady had attended our church in the past a couple of times. One of our members saw the post she made and felt a strong tug from the Holy Spirit to get involved in helping her. Sandra Pace began immediately to reach out to the lady and make contacts throughout Hall County and our church family to find ways and resources to help. Through Sandra’s loving ministry, the lady now has a new home in which to live made available by one of our own church families. Men of our church have volunteered to help move her. Our church members have visited, in her apartment, offering encouragement, love, and support. Folks from Grace have helped her get rid of old unwanted items from her home. She now has a church family loving on her and helping with her needs all because one member saw her post on Facebook and became active in her life.
 
This is just one example of the presence of our Savior, or redeemer and our Lord Jesus among us. God never gives in. He never gives up. The Lord is always working and using His people to do His work. Praise God, Grace is back and is on its way to full recovery. We are going to be better because we have endured hardship together and we have made it through. Listen to God’s word: “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” (James 1:12)
 
I praise God today for a church family that has persevered through a year of trials and is now in position to reap the “crown of life” which God has promised.

I love hot dogs. I’m sure we ate hot dogs at home before 1965. That year is when one of my best friends and I went to the Baptist World Alliance between our sophomore and junior year to carry the American and Christian flags in the parade of the nations. My friend’s dad worked at the Baptist Sunday School Board in Nashville, Tennessee and had arranged for us to carry the flags in the parade that was to be a part of the opening ceremony in what was then the Orange Bowl stadium. It was the biggest event I had ever been to except for a Billy Graham crusade in Vanderbilt Stadium when I was 10.
 
The thing I remember most about my carrying the flag was not how many were watching, or the feelings of representing our country in that massive display. I remember the hot dogs we practically lived on during our stay in the hotel where the James Bond movie Gold Finger had been filmed. I had never eaten a hot dog loaded down with mustard, ketchup, and sweet pickle relish before. I couldn’t get enough of them then, and I love them now 56 years later. I’ve eaten Piking Duck in Beijing, China. I’ve had Kim Chee in both North and South Korea. I’ve eaten Borsh with a dollop of sour cream in the dead of winter in downtown Moscow. Nothing anywhere beats a fire-roasted hot dog on the 4th of July. One thing I love about America is hot dogs.
 
I love waking up in the morning in America. I have woken up in the morning just after our military took back Panama City, Panama in 1989. I have been awakened in the dead of winter in Yanji, China and Ragin, North Korea. Of all the places where you can wake up, having your eyes open and your mind come alive in this country is by far the most wonderful. Every morning is a new morning no matter where you are but waking up in these United States of America is the best. I wake up here every morning without wonder who is watching me from some secret vantage point. I wake up here without thinking somebody will be listening to me today through a hidden device. I wake up here and read my Bible without any thought that I am doing something wrong or breaking a law. I can wake up here and listen to whatever new channel I choose without worry that the truth is being slanted or abandoned toward some lesser or even some outright lie. I love waking up free—free to think--free to believe—free to speak—free to do whatever I am led to do without being made to do anything. I normally, wake up, drink by coffee, read my Bible, pray to my Lord who leads me to do whatever He chooses. That’s pretty great!
 
I love being with my family!
I love pastoring my church!
I love being the son of John Frack and Maxie Lee Williams!
I love washing dishes!
I love vacuuming the floor!
 
I love being a Born Again, Bible Believing, Southern Talking citizen of these United States of America. 
 

In 1776 our forefathers broke the yoke of dependence upon a foreign monarchy to declare a free and independent government that would be “Of the People, For the People and By the People.” No longer would our country be dominated by foreign rule dictated by a king not duly appointed by its citizens. This nation would be a republic whose civil leaders are chosen by and answerable to the people they serve. Rather than a top-down hierarchy, our country was created to be a bottom-up democracy in which its people voluntarily associate and work together for the common good.
 
Abraham Lincoln said, “Government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth.”
 
Real freedom is not cheap, neither is freedom free. The Bible says, “You my brothers, were called to be free.  But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Galatians 5:13)
 
Freedom is not guaranteed by the laws it creates.
Freedom is not sustained by the armies it places in the field.
Freedom is not bought through its tax codes and economic systems.
Freedom is sustained by the personal choices its citizens make to love and serve one another.
 
People must choose to love one another if freedom is to survive. Hear the very next verse which follows the one stated above, “If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” (Galatians 5:14)
 
Freedom is costly. It costs us our personal independence to secure the national independence. It costs us our love and commitment to serve others if we are to preserve and protect the freedom we have for each other.
 
My oldest Son Matthew left home the day after he graduated from high school to join the Marines. That was one of the hardest days in my memory. I can still see the taillights of the Marine Core officer’s car as they left our home to take him to Paris Island. It was hard to give my son to the Marine Core, but it was a sacrifice necessary to preserve and further the cause of freedom in this land. Freedom requires giving. It calls for sacrifice and service. Freedom is not free, neither is it cheap. I’m afraid our country would rather fuss and fight than pay the price of service and love it takes to make freedom stronger and more resilient against its enemies.
 
I remember the chilling prediction the Russian President, Nakita Khrushchev, made in 1956 when he said, “We will take America without firing a shot. We do not have to invade the U.S. We will destroy you from within…”
 
I was 8-years old at that time. His words did not mean a lot to me then, but now they do. With Russian interference and disinformation so prevalent in our social media platforms and political structures; with the sad display of violence and hate storming our nation’s capital on January 6th this year, with continued grievance and hate rhetoric so in vogue throughout our land, we seem to be picking and chewing each other apart rather than serving and loving one another as we should. We seem to know more about what divides us than we do about what unites us.
 
Is Mr. Khrushchev more of a prophet than I thought he was?
 
I’m going to fight back. I’m not going to allow selfish disunity and personal privilege to rob my freedom. My commitment is to love and serve. I’m going to follow the great commandment to “…love God with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my strength”, and then as best I know how to, “…love my neighbor as I love myself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)
 
I’m going to give what it takes for the sake of freedom.
 
Will you join me?