Idaho – Page 11 – PaulThompsonBlog

A Sacred Occasion

Posted on December 21, 20141 Comment

This afternoon Eastside Baptist Church adopted new policy, based on Scripture, to help wedding parties understand with clarity that Eastside Baptist Church does not approve, condone, participate in or in any way recognize any marriage that is not between one man and one woman.

The full policy is posted at www.esbcTwinFalls.com

Eastside Southern Baptist Church
Wedding and Marriage Policy

Wedding and Marriage Policy for Eastside Southern Baptist Church:
All weddings that are requested to take place on Eastside Southern Baptist Church (ESBC) property or parties requesting a minister of ESBC to officiate a wedding ceremony must be scheduled through a pastor. All pastors of ESBC are required to follow the guidelines of this policy.

This marriage and wedding policy was established by Eastside Southern Baptist Church to express our belief and to help you in your planning. ESBC holds that the marriage ceremony is a sacred occasion and should be performed with high honor to the glory of God. We believe that marriage is established by God and should be done with care and respect to biblical authority.

It is not required that you believe all that is stated in this policy, but if use of ESBC property or requesting an ESBC pastor to officiate your wedding you will be required to submit to the following policy. With respect to you and the law of our land, others in the region are able to perform ceremonies that don’t meet the standard set forth in this policy.

Please note: ESBC does not approve, condone, participate in or in any way recognize any marriage that is not between one man and one woman. Same-sex “marriages” will not be performed at ESBC and the pastors of ESBC are not permitted to officiate same-sex “marriages.” Nor will ESBC and the pastors of ESBC approve, condone, and participate in any marriage ceremony that is opposed to Holy Scripture.

Definition of Marriage:
Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race. (Baptist Faith and Message 2000)

Non-Eastside Southern Baptist Pastors:
We do allow non-ESBC pastors to officiate the ceremony and/or premarital counseling. In the event that an ESBC pastor is not performing the ceremony or participating in it, you must choose an ESBC pastor as a sponsor to oversee the process. All requirements of this policy must be followed for non-ESBC pastors/ministers.

Premarital Counseling:
ESBC requires 5-6 hours of premarital counseling. The premarital counseling may be conducted by a non-ESBC pastor, approved by an ESBC pastor.

Other:
• A church wedding is a service of ESBC and the music should honor and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. In order to assure appropriate music is used, the final approval of any musician and all music used in the ceremony and reception rests with an ESBC pastor. Use of any sound equipment will need to be coordinated with a pastor and qualified technician.
• No alcohol (exception of wine for communion with bride and groom) or smoking is permitted anywhere on church property.
• Any damage done to the building or property related to the wedding party will be the responsibility of the wedding party.
• It is the responsibility of the wedding party to clean ESBC rooms used during the rehearsal and wedding ceremony after use of the building.

December, 2014

Stop Trying to Save Yourself

Posted on December 10, 2014Leave a comment

In preparing for the Christmas Eve service at Eastside Baptist Church coming up on December 24, at 6:00 p.m. I came across an last year’s message. It was also published in the Times News as my Here is a good reminder to all of the redeeming work of Christ. By the way… you are invited to join us.

TimesNews: December 28, 2013

Audio Version:

Stop Trying to Save Yourself

As one devoted to giving my attention to the study of the Bible and the preaching of the Bible to
a weekly gathering of Magic Valley residents, I hope to be clear and concise on a matter of
greatest importance.

It is likely that you have crossed paths with the biblical nativity scene somewhere in the past
several weeks. Have you stopped long enough to consider that scene? After all, why would
anyone make such an ordeal of this baby in a manger? It is just a baby right? If so, why do so
many people want to display this manger scene and why do so many want it removed from
public places? How is it possible that a baby in a manger and a man on a cross can generate such
opposite emotions?

Take a moment with me and ponder one more time and ponder these acts of the Almighty God
toward humanity.

According to Scripture, all have sinned against God and are found insufficient to reconcile this
offence of sinning against God and justly condemned to face the full wrath of God. Do not try to
save yourself from this wrath.

Be mindful of this; if it were possible for us to save ourselves, there would be no need for God to
send His only begotten son, born of a virgin, to eventually satisfy His wrath against sinners on a
cross.

God put the value of heaven at a price that we are not capable of paying. As God placed a value
on heaven, it required that He bring all of humanity through the death, burial, and resurrection of
His son. Will you still hold that your good works are sufficient to buy heaven for yourself? Will
you dare to gamble on any price less than the blood of His only begotten Son?

Have you considered this insult?

Why would he put His only begotten Son to this task if a better deal could be offered? Why
begin with a manger? Why a cross if this act of salvation could be done any other way? Why
even attempt to barter with such a requirement as this?

To accept these terms means we must be humbled by the weight of such an offence. To accept
these terms means we are too weak, too sick and completely spiritually bankrupt to meet the
terms and in need of a Redeemer.

As you begin to see the manger scenes removed from yards look quickly to the cross of Golgotha
and see the price due for our wretchedness. Believe quickly with joy! Rejoice that this payment
has been made and is credited to your spiritually bankrupt account. It is no longer insufficient.
This cross will be, to some, an offence and foolishness, to others it is the best news we have ever
heard.

Stop trying to save yourself.

Broadcasting at Sermon Audio

Posted on November 24, 2014Leave a comment

For the past four years Eastside Baptist has been broadcasting sermons online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We currently have over 200 sermons available. By the kindness of generous friends of Eastside, we are able to provide this ministry to local shut-ins, those who miss upon occasion due to illness or travel, and anywhere internet access is possible. You can listen directly online, download to a phone, save on a disc, mail to a friend, share on Facebook or Twitter, or email a group of friends.

The 200+ sermons that are currently available from Eastside have been downloaded over 6,400 times (1,406 of those downloads are from mobile devices.)

May the Lord bless the kindness of generous friends. May the Lord bless the preaching of His word. May the nations hear the gospel.

Here is yesterday’s message from Philippians 4.

Access to all archived sermons: www.sermonaudio.com/thebridge

Certain Persons Have Crept in Unnoticed

Posted on October 16, 2014Leave a comment

The Bible makes itself clear that homosexuality is not, nor ever has been a lifestyle that God blesses. Homosexuality does not, contrary to sentiment of the day, bring the favor of God upon the union or the land.

There is a great deal of civil complexity in this matter of same-sex marriage.

No one denies that the pursuit of happiness is a path for all citizens of this amazing land. The pursuit of happiness is not God given permission to do whatever one wants to do.

To oppose unions that are not biblical is not an attempt to stop someone from pursuing happiness. It is an attempt to warn someone that their behavior has a consequence different than what they may think it will bring about.

I have two greater concerns in this matter than one may accuse me of.

1) My first concern is that of the judicial atrocity of a court system.
2) My second concern, and the greater, is a wolf in sheep’s clothing performing a union in the name of God who is clearly not a spokesman for God. How long and how many weddings one performs does not make one a spokesman for God.

Reported in the Twin Falls Times News (www.magicvalley.com)

MARK THIS: If Bud Liptrap believes that God approves of the marriage union of anyone other than one man and one woman, he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing and has perverted the word of God. He is free to believe what he wants and at liberty to share that belief with all he wants. If all he is is one authorized by the state of Idaho law to perform weddings then let him be what he is. But if he, or any pastor (myself included), dare to speak God’s blessing upon the practice of homosexuality he is outside the authority of Scripture and is a curse on the land.

Let me tell of the kind of grace it takes to save a sinner like me. It is outside of my ability to achieve the favor of God on my own. It required, to my shame, a holy God to cover my wretched condition with righteousness. I long to submit myself to the Lordship of Christ, setting aside what I think brings about happiness and believing the pursuit of Him is the only way to be happy.

I don’t wish unhappiness to anyone. I want to simply point to the sovereign Creator, Almighty God.

“The Lord rebuke you!” But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed . Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.

Jude 1:9-13 (NASB)

When Those Who Preach Don’t Know God

Posted on October 9, 20144 Comments

Today (October9, 2014) at 5 p.m., mountain time, we will know what the courts will say in regard to Idaho’s defense of marriage. In the mean time I’ve received messages like this in response to my calling the church (Eastside Baptist) to prayer.

“OK, well in my place of worship my pastor fully supports gay rights. I’m a bisexual Christian I married a man when I was 19 and that man cheated on me and divorced me and with man or woman I’m happy and God is happy to call me his child and is proud that I spread love throughout the state.. So keep your rude remarks to yourself.. Same sex is here to stay and God is proud of his same sex children.”

When I’m in conversation with someone that goes here I recognize immediately that this person has found a church that will make them feel good about their sin. But the greatest tragedy in this conversation is when she said… “in my place of worship my pastor fully supports gay rights.” As a result of that kind of apostasy, the people begin to assert other lies about God being proud to have practicing bisexuals spread love throughout the state.

She has great capacity to spread love throughout the state as a converted repenter, no longer in the practice of depravity. When the grace of God rests on a persons life it is the result of a costly grace. Few people want to submit to that kind of grace, they want a cheap grace that doesn’t call them out of the sin they are in.

I don’t doubt that she believes what she’s saying. There is little doubt she is passionate about her belief, more so than many professing conservative “Christians”. The problem is that it is a belief based on lies.

In his sermon “Backsliding”, Richard Owen Roberts says:

“The religious leaders had joined the backsliding hosts. The priests failed to ask, “Where is the Lord?” Those responsible for handling the law did not know God. The pastors also transgressed against the Lord, and the prophets joined the forces of Baal. Thus, all the religious leaders engaged in activities totally devoid of spiritual benefit.”

7 “I brought you into the fruitful land
To eat its fruit and its good things.
But you came and defiled My land,
And My inheritance you made an abomination.
8 “The priests did not say, ‘Where is the LORD?’
And those who handle the law did not know Me;
The rulers also transgressed against Me,
And the prophets prophesied by Baal
And walked after things that did not profit.
Jer 2:7-8 (NASB)

Preachers, be sure this Sunday, when we speak the oracles of God that we don’t spew a spiritual poison that makes our hearers twice as fit for hell as we would be for such blasphemy.

Call To Prayer

Posted on October 8, 2014Leave a comment

Early this morning (TimesNews), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Anthony Kennedy, issued a temporary block on yesterday’s ruling to over rule Idaho’s defense of marriage. This ruling is only temporary and appears to be only a formality in the judicial process.

But this is the day that the Lord has made. Church, don’t miss this moment. This moment is not our moment to shout a victory, this is our moment to gather in humility at the church-house and pray. Even though many don’t see the church of the Lord Jesus the Christ as relevant, we have been given the moment by our Lord.

This is a call to all born again believers to prayer. I’m calling in the Lord’s people of Eastside Baptist Church to gather at 6:30 p.m. tonight. I’m calling upon husbands and fathers to gather your family this evening during the evening devotion/worship time to prayer for the sanctity of marriage in the state of Idaho.

Church, if there is ever a day to cry out in repentance it is while it is still called today.

This is not a day of reprieve, this is a day of spiritual battle.

1 To You I lift up my eyes,
O You who are enthroned in the heavens!
2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the LORD our God,
Until He is gracious to us.
3 Be gracious to us, O LORD, be gracious to us,
For we are greatly filled with contempt.
4 Our soul is greatly filled
With the scoffing of those who are at ease,
And with the contempt of the proud.
(Psalms 123:1-4 NASB)

Words I’ll Never Say

Posted on October 7, 2014Leave a comment

Today, I have drawn a line in the sand, I will be bond by a higher court than the court in the land. I will not be able to ever say: “Applicant A, you may now kiss Applicant B”.

Church of the Living God, we must speak into this matter. We must speak with care and compassion as we speak as boldly as ever.

Today, the federal appeals court in San Francisco has ruled against the state State of Idaho. God have mercy upon the Land. My hope is not in a Supreme Court, a court of appeals or the court of public opinion. My hope is in Christ.

Will the church awaken now? We are in a land that is hostile toward God. The people in the land grow in their arrogance with every ruling. This is a good day to be the church of the Lord Jesus the Christ. Speak church, speak! Stay on the wall and speak truth in love.

Arrogance grows as “life moves on as normal”. See the grace of God in that he has not delivered a final judgement upon you yet.

Today (October 7, 2014) in SAN FRANCISCO (AP) : “A federal appeals court on Tuesday struck down gay marriage bans in Idaho and Nevada. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that gay couples’ equal protection rights were violated by the bans.”

God , your creator, has given his blessing to the partnership union for sexual relations and childbearing to unions between one man and one woman, in a covenant relationship. I don’t hate anyone who wants to fulfill their love for another person. There is a God ordained way and there is an arrogant way. Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Submit to Christ.

1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:1-8 NASB)

The Fall of Sodom and Gomorrah

Posted on October 6, 2014Leave a comment

The fall of Sodom and Gomorrah has long been noted as being linked to homosexuality. Where there is biblical argument that these were cities that allowed this sin, Scripture shows that there was something much closer to home to all of us that brought the judgement of God upon the cities. “Arrogance, abundant food, careless ease and not helping the poor and needy…” these are the things that God charged against Sodom and Gomorrah. (Ezekiel 16:49)

Today the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, by not making a ruling, that lower court decisions will stand on the issues of same-sex unions. This sinful lifestyle is the fruit of arrogance. What does that mean for Idaho? What does this mean for the United States of America? Historically when the Supreme Court rules on social or biblical issues it is nearly impossible to change. Unless the Lord intervenes, the once God fearing land of America will arrogantly thumb her nose at God and rebel against His word.

The land needs God fearing people to cry out to God in humility for repentance.

Oh that God would heal the land.

Oh that the church of the Lord Jesus the Christ awaken and cry out to God.

Church, you are as needed today as you ever have been to raise up an army of God fearing men and women. May the Gospel banner be advanced even today.

Packing List

Posted on August 21, 2014Leave a comment

The following should only be considered as a recommendation, not as authoritative. Each participant is responsible for being a well informed and responsible hiker. Here is my recommended packing list for anyone planning on joining me on my 2014 attempt to summit Borah Peak on August 30.

Beware: Borah Peak is the highest elevation in Idaho at 12,662 ft above sea level. The hike is approx. 3.7 miles long (one way) and nearly 5,000 feet elevation gain. Temperatures can vary from extreme cold to extreme hot in the same day. Afternoon thunderstorms are normal with danger of lightning. Come prepared. If you are planning to attempt the climb with me and want to know more details of what I recommend, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Recommended List of Things to Bring:

•Meal for Thursday night
•Day pack (I do have day packs available upon request)
•Water (I recommend a minimum of 120 oz of water. There is no water source on the trail. Do not plan on getting more water once you leave the trail head.)
•Trail mix (nuts, m&m’s, dried fruit)
•Energy bar/sandwich/beef jerky
•Sleeping Bag/tent or tarp/pillow/
•Well worn hiking boots with good durable sole (do not attempt this hike with brand new, never worn boots)
•Three pairs of socks
•Hat with a brim
•rain gear
•I recommend pants to be warn for the entire hike
•I recommend shirts with sleeves (sun burn happens quicker and with greater severity on shoulders)
•clothes for warm weather
•clothes for cold weather (weather changes with little warning)
•Winter hat (that covers your ears)
•Flash light
•Deodorant
•toilet paper
•chap stick
•Leather gloves (garden type)
•Sun Block
•Bug Spray
•Sun Glasses
•The night and early morning will most likely be very cold. (be prepared for extreme cold and extreme hot)
•Bible (small, pocket size)
•$10 for celebration meal on the return trip home.

Optional Items:
•Walking sticks (ski poles work fine, helpful for parts of the climb and decent)
•camera
•Be very picky on any other optional items you bring.

The Top of Idaho

Posted on August 13, 2014Leave a comment

I’m planning to make the climb to the top of Idaho again in a few weeks. The challenge to the top is always sure, but the decent is where the pain is. All in all, I enjoy the journey, those on the journey and the pictures from the journey. Hey, if you’re not busy on August 30 you should join me and the others.

Here are some photos from some of the past years.