Monday, September 15, 2025

A difficult week last week.  
Should have already been somber with 9/11/01 reflections.
The assassination on Wednesday afternoon changed this.  
It will remain in the conversation for weeks.  As it should.  

Dr. Phineas D. Gurley preached these words at President Lincoln's funeral in 1865 - they seem fitting for this moment (and sound as if written for Charlie's passing):
He is dead; but the God in whom he trusted lives, and He can guide and strengthen his successor, as He guided and strengthened him. He is dead; but the memory of his virtues, of his wise and patriotic counsels and labors, of his calm and steady faith in God lives, is precious, and will be a power for good in the country quite down to the end of time. He is dead; but the cause he so ardently loved, so ably, patiently, faithfully represented and defended--not for himself only, not for us only, but for all people in all their coming generations, till time shall be no more--that cause survives his fall, and will survive it. The light of its brightening prospects flashes cheeringly to-day athwart the gloom occasioned by his death, and the language of God's united providences is telling us that, though the friends of Liberty die, Liberty itself is immortal. There is no assassin strong enough and no weapon deadly enough to quench its inextinguishable life, or arrest its onward march to the conquest and empire of the world. This is our confidence, and this is our consolation, as we weep and mourn to-day.

If we are truly fighting for God's cause (contending for the faith) and for God Himself, we should rest in the knowledge that no assassin is strong enough and no weapon deadly enough to truly quench that life.   God cannot be thwarted or defeated.  A life fighting for Him may be extinguished.  It may even seem, looking at the scoreboard, that we are losing the game.  But, we've read the book, and we know the final score.   In the end, God is victorious.  He wins!   We win!   "Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen" (Revelation 1:7).

Wednesday morning I spoke to the Joyous Hearts crowd on Joy. Little did we know that an enemy would try to steal our joy that afternoon.  What I shared that morning still rings true...   "The secret to being joyful is in the source of the joy."   It isn't about circumstances, feelings, or stuff.   Two ways we can place our hope in God to gain joy:   First, we have joy because of our confidence in God's sovereignty.  No matter what happens... no matter how difficult or discouraging life might be, we can have confidence in God's sovereignty (note Paul in Philippians 1:12-26 - while in jail). Being in jail, he rejoices.  God ordained Charlie Kirk's death last week.   Tough for me to write that but true, nonetheless.  God knew before the worlds were framed that at 12:23 mountain time Wednesday that Charlie would be in His presence.  

We need to hold on to that truth.  No matter what happens, it is part of God's sovereign plan.  He is control of all things - the good, the bad, and the ugly.   He is working and moving in ways we can't always and may never understand.   He will get glory and He has you and I . . .  He has us in the palm of His hands.  

Second, we can  have joy because of our hope in heaven.  Paul said in Philippians 3:14… "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."   We need a clear vision of heaven.  If this life is all there is, then our joy is really going to be diminished.   But, knowing that this world is not all there is…  that there is a new life ahead where there will be no more death, no more sorrow, no more suffering of any kind…  we should be celebrating that in joy right now.  .  .   a joy inexpressible and full of glory (1 Peter 1:8).  

We grieve but we do so without losing our joy - may the joy of the Lord be your strength!  

This 12-week study continues Saturday morning at 9am.   Foundations of the Faith is a study of the "elementary" doctrines that we should know and upon which we should begin.