Carver's Corner (September)

Before I say anything else, I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the entire congregation for your support of our 2nd annual Liberty’s Kids Back to School Bash lock-in. We had a wonderful night of activities. All the kids had a great time, no one went to sleep, and most importantly God was glorified. Lord willing, we will do it again in 2024!!

I don’t know about you, but I am super excited as we head into September. As an avid fantasy football player, this month is only the beginning of a five month journey to lead all four of my squads to glory. The most serious league that I am in is one made up primarily of fellow ministers and our wiffleball league mates. Smack talk and preparation begin anew as soon as the champion has been crowned, all leading into our draft a week from this writing. For the past several years I have co-managed a team with my best friend. As part of our preparation we make an effort to keep up with free agent signings, trades, the NFL draft, training camp, and preseason games. From this we sort players into tiers. The higher tiers are the players we want on our team and the lower tiers are ones we want to avoid at all costs. This is very similar to what we might catch ourselves doing with the Bible.

In 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul reminds the young preacher Timothy, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Friends, everything that we read in the Bible is important. Each book, chapter, and verse is there for a reason. However, sometimes they don’t line up with the current state of your lives. And when this becomes the case, you might try to spin what is said to conform with it. But you can’t pick and choose, put into tiers, nor add and remove the things you like and dislike. This is not fantasy football, nor a restaurant menu. This is, as Paul so boldly stated, “the inspired word of God.” In Revelation 22, a warning is given. Verse 18 warns against adding to the scriptures, while verse 19 warns against taking away. The Bible is perfect or complete, why would you ever feel the need to change it? Let it change you!!

In Him,

Carver