Church and state don’t really go great together. There are many things that do go great together. Husbands and wives, chocolate and peanut butter, a burger and fries are a few examples. The problem with mixing church and state is that normally one group gets in the way of the other.
Certain things go great together. Church and state aren’t on that list. This Sunday we’ll see how God loves the idea of church and state being separate. There are some dangers that go along with the mixing of the two. In some ways this can’t be avoided – roads, police, fire, etc. However there are very real risks for others. If I take money from the government, will there be strings attached? Join us as we explore this very important topic.
All Hallow’s Eve has morphed into Halloween! How did we get from hijacking a Celtic New Year Holiday to what we see annually as Halloween in America? We take a trip down memory lane and look at some of the traditions. We’ll also see what our God has to say about these topics.
The prophet Daniel was thrown to certain death in a lion’s den. The next morning, after our God protected him from the lions, what do you think his attitude would’ve been towards the king? Defiance? Maybe a little taunting. The point is that Daniel is a great example of showing respect to our leaders. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about a leader whom we voted for or one that we don’t agree with. God calls us to give them respect and honor.
Our Lord controls all things for the good of his children, but that doesn’t mean the state is always a friend of Christianity. We’ll look at few examples in Scripture of the state in action. At times to is a little difficult to tell if an action is truly evil because God has a way of working everything out for the good of his children.
The kingdoms of this world are ruled by our God. It might not look that way. We’ll spend some time comparing the two kingdoms and then apply what we’ve covered. Jesus’ rule is over all.