Author: Heath Lambert

Can Christians Smoke Marijuana?

Written by Heath Lambert on August 1, 2022. Posted in Marked By Grace.

Over the last decade, there has been a surprising number of changes in the laws regarding marijuana. We’re seeing a growing trend in the United States of America to make marijuana legal in some sense; not every law is the same. Not every intention for every law is the same. But there’s no denying that the last decade has seen a growing liberalization with regard to the legality of smoking marijuana. What that does is if you live in a place where it is legal to smoke marijuana, it raises a question for a Christian. And the question is, if it’s legal to smoke marijuana where I live, then am I allowed to smoke it? So that’s the question this week on the podcast, can a Christian smoke marijuana if it’s legal where you live? And the answer is no. Christians cannot...

What Should I Do if I Doubt My Salvation?

Written by Heath Lambert on July 25, 2022. Posted in Marked By Grace.

This week on the podcast, I want to talk about doubting your salvation. But I want to talk about doubting your salvation in a little bit of a different way than we typically do. Typically, when I talk with Christians and church members throughout my ministry, when you’re talking to somebody who doubts their salvation, you’re talking to someone who is in a lot of pain, you are talking to somebody who is struggling, who feels overwhelmed because what they want is to be saved, they are concerned that they are not because of their doubts. They don’t want to be without salvation, and so it’s a painful, difficult process. There is a time and a place to be open and honest about how painful and dark of a place that could be. But what I want to do this week is I want to talk...

How Should Christians Think About Plastic Surgery?

Written by Heath Lambert on July 18, 2022. Posted in Marked By Grace.

We’re talking about Christians and plastic surgery on the podcast this week. About a week or so ago, my wife and I were walking through a crowd of people, and for whatever reason, I just started recognizing that I had walked by four or five women who clearly weren’t a part of the same group. It wasn’t like they were in a group of people that were walking. But I walked by a group of women, four or five of them, who all looked very plasticky. They looked the same. You could tell all of them were looking at the same sort of pictures of what they wanted to look like. You could tell they had had plastic surgery, and you need to know I am clueless about these things. My wife and my daughter make fun of me. They’ll be talking about somebody on television or talking about...

A Personal Health Update

Written by Heath Lambert on July 17, 2022. Posted in First Thoughts.

Dear First Baptist Family, This morning I shared with our church the bad news that I now require another surgery in an attempt to correct the nerve problems in my brain. For anyone who was not there, I wanted to share this information with you. Many of you know that since my second surgery last year, I have endured ongoing symptoms of pain, discomfort, and spasms. I have been able to manage some of these symptoms with medication that have stifled the pain and minimized the involuntary movement, but it has become increasingly clear that my problem has remained. A few months ago, I was recommended to a different neurosurgery team at a different hospital to see if there was anything more that could be done to address this problem. Just over a week ago, I met with my new doctor to review the...

Refusing to Celebrate in a Post-Roe World

Written by Heath Lambert on July 14, 2022. Posted in First Thoughts.

A Moral Earthquake The Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v Jackson was a massive earthquake that rocked the entire world. Only time will tell how massive is the number it registered on the cultural Richter scale. What we know right now is that there was a massive fault line separating professing believers. You might not have seen it before, but the Dobbs earthquake has turned that fault line into a massive chasm. That chasm separates two kinds of people in the Christian community. A Chasm Between Two Kinds of Professing Believers On one side of the chasm are the Christians who are celebrating the end of the era of Roe. On the other side of the chasm are those who are not. I have taken one opportunity to celebrate this moment in a blog and another opportunity in front of the congregation at...

How Should Christians Think About Transgender Names and Pronouns?

Written by Heath Lambert on July 11, 2022. Posted in Marked By Grace.

Seems like one of the biggest things in the news these days has to do with not just the LGBTQ+ revolution but specifically with the “T” in LGBTQ+. There’s just a lot of news that comes out about that there’s a lot of stuff lately about teens and adults who want to detransition. They have done this so-called transition to another gender, and now they regret it. There are rules coming out about sports competitions and who can compete, and when you have to transition in order to be able to compete as the gender you identify with. There’s just a lot of stuff in the news, and it seems like the question that I get asked all the time from faithful Christians is, what do I call a transgender person when a transgender person says, this is my name? Do I call them by their female...

The Bible, The Supreme Court, and Bodily Autonomy

Written by Heath Lambert on July 11, 2022. Posted in First Thoughts.

Since Dobbs v Jackson overturned Roe v Wade the cry of opposition has been that the fundamental rights of women have been abridged. Sometimes that cry sounds like, “my body, my choice.” At other times it sounds like women refusing to let their “reproductive rights” be infringed. The driving logic behind all this is a belief in bodily autonomy. The idea is that since my body is—well—mine, I can do what I want with it. We must think through such a claim from the standpoint of biblical faithfulness. Here, I want to offer four thoughts in response to the claim of bodily autonomy. Bodily Autonomy and Legitimacy First, those who argue for bodily autonomy have some things right. Our bodies are sacred, valuable, and infinitely precious. The Bible is clear that we are made as human beings by God...

Should Your Church Sing Patriotic Songs?

Written by Heath Lambert on July 4, 2022. Posted in Marked By Grace.

All right, it’s almost the Fourth of July. A great time of celebration in the United States of America for the independence of our country for the founding of our nation. And people all across the country are going to be celebrating the Fourth of July. And on the Sunday, surrounding the Fourth of July, some Christians are going to go to churches where they will sing patriotic songs, and other Christians will go to churches where they do not sing patriotic songs. If you’re a Christian, who goes to a church that isn’t going to listen to any patriotic music or sing any patriotic songs, it’s probably not because you hate America or you go to a church that doesn’t love the United States. The ones who don’t sing patriotic songs have a theological and a biblical...

What’s the Difference Between Pro-Life and Abolitionists?

Written by Heath Lambert on June 27, 2022. Posted in Marked By Grace.

I want to talk this week on the podcast about the end of abortion in the United States, and I want to talk about it by discussing the differences and similarities between the pro-life and the abolition movements. I am recording this podcast about a week before it’ll drop. You’re listening to this on Monday, June 27. I’m recording this podcast several days before that, and as I sit here recording, it is still uncertain what the final decision of the Supreme Court is going to be about abortion and overturning Roe V. Wade. Everyone seems encouraged and optimistic about that, and I am certainly prayerful about it. If when you hear this, we now know that Roe V. Wade has been overturned, then I want to be leading the celebration on that, but right now today, I don’t know...

Roe Is Over—Now What?

Written by Heath Lambert on June 24, 2022. Posted in First Thoughts.

A Day I Never Thought Would Come I was born in 1979, just six years after the Supreme Court effectively made abortion the law of the land in Roe v. Wade. My entire life has been overshadowed by the legality of the vile practice of abortion. Since becoming a Christian in 1994 I have done whatever I could to help bring an end to this era of death. I have longed for it, prayed for it, voted for it, and raised money for it. But, in retrospect, I realize I never saw a true path to ending it. I believed my efforts were faithful, but I never really saw how they could be fruitful. The deck always seemed stacked against reversing the decision. And then came this glorious day, June 24, 2022. A day which will be remembered in eternity as one of justice, righteousness, and faithfulness. It is a day...