WATCH THIS VIDEO.

Todd Friel talks about this on the July 14 hour 1 show.  Listen to it here, it’s about 10 or 15 minutes into the show.

This reminds me of John the Baptist exposing the sins of the Pharisees and calling them to repent.  Some might say that this heckler was out of line interrupting the service like that.  I say that Gene Robinson shouldn’t be up there preaching sermons at all.  So I say, praise God that this man had the guts to stand up in the middle of this hypocrites’ speech and call him to repent in public!  I agree with Todd Friel when he says that we need more of these people in the church today.  Christians that STAND for righteousness, not for tolerance or acceptance.  Christians that stand for the truth, not for what’s relevant. 

It’s absolutely a tragedy when someone of his stature calls himself a Christian,  and preaches a counterfit gospel attempting to justify his sexually immoral lifestyle.  I’m sorry, but any CHRISTIAN that would divorce his wife and leave his family to move in with his gay lover is not a Christian.  That’s what heathen do… not Christians!

This man is advocating a belief that it’s ok to live anyway you want to live and still be a Christ follower.  He’s actually wondering WHY the church is splitting over this controversy, saying that he is deeply saddened by the outrage against his hypocrisy.  I’m deeply saddened by the apparent blindness of this man’s heart.  He is so blinded by his sin that he can’t even see it for what it is — SIN. 

The true church…  Christ’s bride needs to be on guard against the postmodernism of our current culture.  The world believes that “whatever you believe is right for you,” and sadly this mentality is creeping into the church.  I don’t care what anyone says, Christ did not teach or preach tolerance.  Whoever says that better take another look at their Bibles.  He preached repentance from sin and faith in God.  He called the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes to repent for their apparent hypocrisy.  He called them brood of vipers!  (Matthew 3:7)  Jesus talked more about hell than He ever did about heaven in His earthly ministry. 

All I’m saying is that if you call yourself a Christian, than follow Christ’s example and live like a Christian, being obedient to His commandments.  Don’t go out there committing sinful acts and then trying to justify those acts to the world under the banner of “tolerance and acceptance.”  That’s what the world does and we as Christians should expect them to do so. 

Repentance and Faith in Christ alone! 

R.A. Servin

Jen over @ Reformed SHEology has written 7 things about herself and has tagged me to share a few interesting things about myself.  I don’t even know if I can think of 7 interesting things about myself!   Well, I’ll give it a go:

1. I was born in Aurora, Illinois; a suburb of Chicago and lived there for the first 8 years of my life prior to coming out here to Southern California.
2. I used to hate my English classes, especially when we had to write papers!  I never thought that I would write anything outside of high school but here I am writing at this blog.  (And I love it!)
3. Sadly, I have been drunk many many times in my BC days…  (I was in the Marine Corps for 4 years!)
4. I have never open-air preached, I am to fearful to do that.  It’s much easier for me to talk to someone at work about Christ.
5. I can touch my nose with my tongue.
6. I have been married for over 5 years now, (unbelievable) and have a 3 year old son.
7. I was very shy coming up in elementary, middle, and high school and always hated getting up in front of the class to do anything.  Now, I’m a worship leader in the church and I get up and sing in front of over a hundred high schoolers every Sunday and Wednesday with no problem!  (God’s empowering grace at work!)

There you have it…  7 things about me that you would’ve never known.  

Grace & Peace,

R.A. Servin

In reference to my previous post, I contacted about 4 different At&t stores in the area and I got the same message every time… “were all out, but we’ll have more tomorrow.”  So I guess I’ll try again tomorrow morning.

Knowing that the iPhone has been hyped up sooooo much and that everyone and their momma wants one, wouldn’t you think they would provide the stores with enough equipment to supply the demand?  I thought that was one of the things Apple was seeking to rectify this time around…

All you get is a bunch of disgruntled customers who begin to lose faith that the gizmo giant can deliver the goods.  I can definitely wait until tomorrow but I know that there are many that are going nuts right now because they didn’t get theirs today.

Also, you would think they would be better prepared for the influx of consumers that came out to get the thing.  Not only that, but they weren’t even prepared for the first gen iPhone users that wanted to upgrade their firmware!

Oh well, hopefully everything bids well tomorrow provided the Lord gives me breath to be able to go and get one!

I know there are some iPhone users out there that got it today… what is your impression of the new iPhone 3G??

R.A. Servin

I have been checking in on the iPhone hysteria every time I get a chance while I’m here at work and it doesn’t seem like people are having a nice experience either getting the new one or upgrading their first generation phone.  I have the first one and it’s been great, but I gotta get the new one.  I just hope the slow servers and long wait at the store has dwindled by the time I get out of work to go get mine!  To see what I’m talking about,  check out this post…

Anyone out there gotten theirs yet?  If so, let me know how it’s gone for you so far!

R.A. Servin

My wife was browsing MySpace today and stumbled across a blog post by the Christian rock band, “Rush of Fools.“  They were letting their fans know that all of their merchandise and band gear was stolen from a trailer they had in the driveway.  They lost over 60,000 dollars worth of equipment and merchandise.  You can read about it here.

I love how they are trusting in Christ to provide for them in this unfortunate circumstance.  They are in the middle of a tour and they are in great need of some gear so they are in need of prayer and financial support.

I’ve heard some of their music and they seem to be extremely Christ-centered, their lyrics rich theologically.  They are a very good band that has hit a snag in the road and they need help so I thought I’d provide another outlet for them to be seen by the body of Christ.  If anyone would like to give financially, you can send a check to Rush of Fools Inc at the following address:

Rush Of Fools
PO Box 963
Nolensville, TN 37135

If you can’t support financially, take some time out and pray for them!

Grace & Peace,

R.A. Servin

I read a post on gay marriage and the repercussions of it for children earlier today and I just about blew a gasket. I was reading it on my iPhone and just felt like throwing it against a wall.  (But then I thought about the value of it and decided against it.)   If you’re a Christian, this will undoubtedly make you angry,  just warning you now…

This is just one of many reasons why gay marriage needs to be banned.  What I read is just absolutely ridiculous.  Jenkins, (the non-Christian) is trying to get custody of a child that doesn’t even belong to her, the child sees her as a stranger!  Yet, for some ungodly reason, she’s trying to take her away from her mother.  Praise be to God for saving Lisa Miller from the bondage she was in and from God’s own wrath!  Anyway, I don’t want to take away from the story, just wanted to vent a little.  

Btw, we need to be in prayer for Lisa and her daughter Isabella as they are still in the midst of the custody battle.  Don’t forget to go to the polls and vote against this wickedness that is taking place all around us. 

Read the story and let me know what you think??  Am I wrong?

Grace & Peace,

R.A. Servin

A bunch of us from church went to the “Somebody Loves You” crusade Saturday night @ the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Now, to say the least I was a bit disappointed and grieved.

The conference started with a DJ playing club music for the first 20 minutes.  I literally felt like I was in a club in Hollywood.  If I was being exposed to Christianity for the first time I would be thinking to myself, “man, if I become a Christian tonight I don’t really have to worry about giving up my music or the club scene because they listen to the same thing.”  One of the high schoolers that came with us said that he had heard the song that the DJ was playing on secular radio stations.  The fact that he shouldn’t be listening to secular radio stations is for another post. 

Phil Wickham was the first one out and I don’t have enough good things to say about this brother.  He  was  very Christ-centered as usual, even sharing the gospel in the middle of the set,  leading others in worship of God.  No surprises here.

Up next was a two group act called “Rebirth” and “Anointed S”.  They had more of a reggae feel, with a little bit of beatbox going on.   I didnt really care too much for them, they were talented but didnt really exalt Christ as Phil did. It was more of a narrative of their lives. There was a little Jesus here, and a little Jesus there, but not where it needs to be in order to be an effective witness for the many thousands that were in attendance.  The guy doing the beatboxing was basically just showcasing his talent, and he didn’t give any glory to God.  Not knocking the guy for his talent, for he was definitely skilled in what he does…  But it wasn’t needed.

After they left the stage, the host and a few others came up and started throwing merchandise out to the crowd, just more marketing strategy.  After this, the host started pumping up the crowd by asking, “who did you come to see?”  “who are you waiting for?”  Naturally, the people went nuts, chanting P.O.D.! P.O.D.!  Now for a bunch of Christian leaders and pastors who are trying to reach out and share Christ with these people, you wouldn’t know it by this display.  It seemed like they were exalting the band and making them the highlight of the evening!  Extremely grievous.

Enter P.O.D. and the people naturally went crazy.

I personally don’t like P.O.D., for seemingly obvious reasons.  They have never been sold out for Christ, exalting His name over their own.  They have always been a compromising band, ever since the beginning.  There’s never been a time when I thought they were a Christian band.  In my opinion, they just say that they’re Christian so that they can sell more records.  I mean, they’ve already got the secular market, so why not go after the Christian market too?  But I digress…

Anyway, they started their set and floods of people came down to the stage and many of them started moshing!  I heard that a few people actually got hurt in the midst of all the ruckus.  Now you might say,  “Rog, you’re getting a little out of hand here, you gotta get with the times…”

I say no, we as Christians need to act differently, and be distinct from the ways of the world.  The Apostle Paul said that we need to “come out from among them and be separate.”  Now that doesn’t mean that we need to totally withdraw ourselves from the culture, but we need to draw the line somewhere!   It was pretty grievous to look at the big screen and see people in the crowd bouncing off each other with their tongues hanging out of their mouths!  I felt like I was at a Metallica concert to say the least. In my honest opinion, none of it was God-honoring… It even seemed a little demonic at times.  Many unbelievers came out and basically got a free P.O.D. Concert.

After the moshing was ended, they introduced Raul Ries and as he came up to speak to told everyone to listen as they went back to their seats.  Keep in mind, there was probably about 2 thousand people down there at the stage worshipping P.O.D…  As they slowly walked back to their seats, I was watching them and they were just smiling and yapping away not paying any attention to the message at all.  So Raul gave a heartfelt, emotional, rendering of basically his testimony when he almost killed his wife and himself and even sobbed a little in the middle of it.  He sobbed, “He saved me… He saved me!”  I am not knocking him for sharing part of his testimony.  I just don’t there was enough time dedicated to the preaching of the gospel; especially since this was an “evangelistic” crusade.  He didn’t display from scripture the falleness of man and how depraved man is, without which I believe a person will not see their need for the Savior. 

So the invitation went out and many many people came down to the stage to pray a prayer.  I watched as people in swarms got up and walked down, keeping an eye on their expression.  A group of girls 3 rows in front of us got up and went down holding hands and skipping; all the while looking at each other laughing it up.  Many others were just walking down smiling and talking to each other, with no seeming brokenness of their wretchedness.  I have a problem with this.  Remember, Psalm 51 is the model for brokenness over sin.  It’s a broken and contrite spirit that God will not despise.  I’m not doubting that God can still work through a broken up half version of the Gospel.  I’m sure that there were a few that actually got saved, but the overwhelming majority probably didn’t even know why they were going down there.  (It’s just the thing to do…) 

Will I be going back to that crusade next year?  Probably not.  It’s just getting worse and worse each year.  I really felt like it was a conference put on by the Emergent Church.  I don’t know if I can say that Jesus Christ was the highlight of the evening…  Sadly, I think P.O.D. was. 

Grace & Peace,

R.A. Servin

Pastor Raul Ries of CC Golden Springs will be leading this years “Somebody Loves You” Crusade starting tonight @ the Convention Center in Los Angeles.  Thousands of people will be coming out to hear great Christian bands play, and to hear a Gospel message from Raul Ries.  My wife and I along will be going tomorrow night with the youth ministry from our church.  We are really looking forward to a great time spent with the youth, jammin’ to some great Christian bands as well as a sweet time in worship of our King.  If anyone out there in the meta is planning on going give me a shout!  Be in prayer for the many people that will be coming out this weekend.  Pray that God would save many souls… that heart might be inclined toward Him!  Go here for a detailed schedule of the events for the weekend.

I’ll let ya’ll know how it goes.

Grace & Peace,

Roger Servin

“The dove found no rest for the sole of her foot.”
— Genesis 8:9

Reader, can you find rest apart from the ark, Christ Jesus? Then be assured that your religion is vain. Are you satisfied with anything short of a conscious knowledge of your union and interest in Christ? Then woe unto you. If you profess to be a Christian, yet find full satisfaction in worldly pleasures and pursuits, your profession is false. If your soul can stretch herself at rest, and find the bed long enough, and the coverlet broad enough to cover her in the chambers of sin, then you are a hypocrite, and far enough from any right thoughts of Christ or perception of His preciousness. But if, on the other hand, you feel that if you could indulge in sin without punishment, yet it would be a punishment of itself; and that if you could have the whole world, and abide in it for ever, it would be quite enough misery not to be parted from it; for your God—your God—is what your soul craves after; then be of good courage, thou art a child of God. With all thy sins and imperfections, take this to thy comfort: if thy soul has no rest in sin, thou are not as the sinner is! If thou art still crying after and craving after something better, Christ has not forgotten thee, for thou hast not quite forgotten Him. The believer cannot do without his Lord; words are inadequate to express his thoughts of Him. We cannot live on the sands of the wilderness, we want the manna which drops from on high; our skin bottles of creature confidence cannot yield us a drop of moisture, but we drink of the rock which follows us, and that rock is Christ. When you feed on Him your soul can sing, “He hath satisfied my mouth with good things, so that my youth is renewed like the eagle’s,” but if you have Him not, your bursting wine vat and well-filled barn can give you no sort of satisfaction: rather lament over them in the words of wisdom, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!”          — C.H. Spurgeon

Why  is it that when they find out that you are Christian it seems like they try harder in tempting us to sin? Whats up with that anyway?? Can anyone else empathize with me on this one?

You see, there’s this guy at my work (he’s my lead btw) who got hired in January of this year and he has noticed that I’m different than the rest. (I assumed this when he started holding his tongue around me without asking if I was a Christian) Praise God, That He is working in me. Anyway, we got to talking one day and all of a sudden he asked me where I went to church. So I proceeded to tell him that I attend a Calvary Chapel in the area. He immediately started asking me about different CC pastors, inquiring if I knew any of them. He name a few that I was familiar with and I told him that I had heard a few of their sermons before. Then I asked him how he knew about them since he didn’t profess to be a Christian, and he surely didn’t act like one! He disclosed to me that he used to attend a Calvary Chapel for a few years. I was sort of surprised to hear him say that because of the lifestyle that he now leads. He told me that he used to attend two services a week and he even served in ministry! I didn’t really get to probe and really see where he is at that day but I will when I get the chance. One has to wonder if he heard a watered down Gospel that is so prevalent in churches today.
Now that I’ve given you a little context, I’ll get to the point.

I thought that maybe he would lay off on the nasty jokes, crude humor, etc.. knowing where he came from, and that I’m Christian… but it hasn’t slowed, its actually gotten worse. He still tells the jokes, cusses like a sailor, and makes even more obscene comments about women and sexual immorality. It seems like he plays into it, looking for a reaction from me. Why?  Whats up with guy? 

First of all, I have every reason to doubt his salvation.  He walks and talks like a goat… therefore he is a goat.  Jesus said that if the world hated Him, the world would hate us.  We as Christians are reflections of the God who has saved us and so they naturally repel that light.  I think that in an attempt to bring me down to his level, he tempts me and waits to see if I will succumb to that temptation to be just like him.  He does what everyone else does once they find out who we are in Christ.  He just does it even more because of the excessive guilt he feels since he was once “in the church.”  He is apostate.  I will be praying that the God of all peace will reach down and do His miraculous work of saving this man from certain damnation.  As opportunity arises, I will share the true Gospel with him and hopefully he will sincerely and genuinely repent and trust the Savior.  Be in prayer for me that God would grant me the words to say as I share with him. 

You never know who might be around you…  Joe is the last person that I thought would have been involved in a Calvary Chapel.  Think of this, my previous lead transferred to another facility last October and I thought I as well as everyone else I work with thought I  was a sure shot for the job as the next one in line.  Apparently God had other plans as He has brought Joe here from Dallas to be my lead. 

God is sovereign…

Grace & Peace,

Roger Servin