Sunday School at 9:00 AM
Open to ages pre-school to 6th grade @ 9 AM to 9:45 AM
Association of Free Lutheran Churches
3251 Midway Road, Duluth, MN 55810, USA
218-628-1306
Wednesday Night Bible Study
Wednesday's @ 7 PM
Our Bibles studies are fun and interesting with wonderful fellowship. Come and join us!
Sermon of Pastor Gary Ries
The Last Straw
Taking Sides
Brett Favre’s mom had to choose between her hometown team, the Saints, or her son’s team, the Vikings. She picked the Saints. She couldn’t just root for no one. She had to take sides.
Ahab was king over the northern kingdom of Israel around 850 BC. The northern kingdom never had a good king, but Ahab was probably the worst of the worst. His wife was the infamous Jezebel, who, if anything was worse than he was. The Israelites he ruled over were mixing the worship of God with the worship of the pagan idol Baal.
The prophet Elijah had a big showdown with the people and with hundreds of false prophets up on Mount Carmel. He shouted out, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” You are either on one team or the other, you can’t play for both!
Jesus said, “He who is not with me, is against me.” You have to take sides; otherwise you’re just throwing the game.
The Laodicean church was a lot like the ancient Israelites. It sat on the fence. Jesus warned it, “Because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”
Today we want to play it easy and play it safe. We want to sit on the fence agreeing with the stuff we like and turning away anything hard. Our commitment to marriage is flexible depending on who we meet. In school we want easy courses, little homework, and inflated grades.
As Christians we sometimes view the Bible as a big Sears catalogue of options. We buy what we want, ignore what we don’t want, and throw out anything we bought in the past that we no longer like. We agree with the Bible as long as it agrees with us, and we agree with God as long as he tags along behind us and doesn’t cramp our style or insult our intelligence.
God will have none of it. Make up your mind to serve Him or Baal. Don’t just pretend to honor God and the Bible but do it. Or don’t. Decide who you are and who you want to be and choose.