Pastor Josh Howerton

Senior Pastor, Lakepointe Church. This = where | talk
IG: josh_howerton // FB & TikTok: howertonjosh

This account is handled by me not my team

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

“Love God and do as you please.”
— St Augustine

“If you love me, you will obey what I command.”
— Jesus, John 14v15

There is a sense in which, if Christianity starts to feel really hard and confusing and complicated… Stop thinking about much else and just fall in love with Jesus Christ and everything else will fall into place.

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

In the Bible, there are 4 types of people:

1) Nice people who do good things
2) Rough people who do good things
3) Nice people who do evil things
4) Rough people who do evil things

The most dangerous of the 4 is “nice people who do evil things” (what Jesus called "wolves in sheep's clothing") because they are the most deceitful.

[Griffin Gulledge @griffingulledge]

Reminder: theological liberalism is not a “different kind” of Christianity.

Liberalism is *not* Christianity.

It’s another religion altogether.

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

For 8 years, I prayed desperately for something that never happened.

To anyone going through a season of "unanswered" prayers, please hold on. God might have something even *better* for you that you simply cannot see right now 🙏

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

A lot of wokeness was packaged as "kindness."

But that does not mean that all kindness is wokeness.

"The Lord is... kind"
–– Psalm 103:8

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

// Why appropriate political engagement by the church is not a DISTRACTION from the Great Commission, but a LEAD MEASURE toward it //

Show me a map of the bluest states in America.
Then show me a map of the states with the least churches.

IT'S THE SAME MAP.

UNCOMFORTABLE PRINCIPLE OF OUR ERA: If you want the advance of the church and the accomplishment of the Great Commission to get MUCH harder in a region, here's all you gotta do: Let it go blue.

Helping lead a church planting network that only plants in highly-unchurched secular areas, I can tell you this is for 2 primary reasons...

1) Strangulation by regulation.

Because progressive areas tend toward high-taxation and high-regulation, families tend to have much less disposable income to give to churches and it is MUCH, MUCH harder to get churches built.

In the words of my friend, Washington state pastor @McPherson_Josh1, "They don't make building churches ILLEGAL, they just make it nearly IMPOSSIBLE."

2) Because progressivism reframes many good things as evil and many evil things as good, it installs a plausibiity structure in the populace that makes Christianity emotionally hard to accept.

Once you start believing things like...

- Abortion is moral good and a "civil rights issue"
- Opposing transgender ideology is harmful and causes mass child-suicide
- Any acknowledgement of gender distinctions is the oppressive patriarchy
- Socialism and Socialism-lite = "compassionate caring for the poor"
- LGBTQIA+ acceptance and advocacy is "basic human decency"
- Redefinitions of "justice" toward "equal outcomes for ethnic groups" instead of the Biblical concept of justice being "equal standards for individuals"
- Etc

... Christianity no longer seems just mistaken, but evil.

And when someone is mistaken you can ignore them, but once you believe they are evil, you feel a moral obligation to oppose and stop them...

Which brings back the original point: If you want to make the accomplishment of the Great Commission MUCH, MUCH harder in a city / state / region, here's all you gotta do: Let it go blue.

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

^^^I am self-aware, and realize this is the thing that makes most pastors think I'm a crazy person and off-mission (although, I would point out we baptized over 3k people last year at LP)

But reality is undefeated and you cannot win if you will not "face the brutal facts while maintaining unwavering faith."

The more I watch churches in progressive areas among my friends and the network I help lead, the more this conviction hardens within me.

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

🚨 James Talarico just won the Dem primary in Texas. Still, many people still have no idea who he is or how his campaign was built on the intentional distortion of scripture.

Watch this *full* episode of the Live Free Podcast to learn how to spot a wolf in sheep's clothing 👇

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

If you're so inclined, check out the latest episode of the Live Free Pod and subscribe here: https://t.co/vVizSfmehx

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

"The man on the middle cross said I could come..."

This might be the best 3-minutes of preaching I've *EVER* seen. If you don't feel this in your soul, you need to check your pulse 😭���

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

Check out this full podcast episode!

https://t.co/73chqWfR3z

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

You will notice that secular progressivism specifically seeks to overthrow all 3 authorities established by God:

Family, Church, and State

1) FAMILY: Combo of therapy-culture, Critical Theory, and Queer Theory all result in kids viewing their parents as the primary problems in their lives and things like "going no-contact"

2) CHURCH: The deconstruction movement and off-rails excesses of #MeToo movement trained a generation to view the church as repressive, pastors as the bad guys, correction as "spiritual abuse", and to leave faith.

3) STATE: The whole movement is tends toward protecting law-breakers and opposing law-enforcement, #DefundThePolice, and reframing any civil authorities that enforce law and order as "fascists"

[Wade Stotts @wadestotts]

College, Job, Marriage, Kids, House, Retirement.

This was the path millions of young people were told they could take to success.

But at every stage in that process, the incentive structure is broken.

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

Sin is called "lawlessness" in the Bible and Satan empowers the "Man of Lawlessness."

Whenever you see groups of people who protect lawbreakers and attack (just) law-enforcers, you can make a pretty educated guess as to what spirit is behind the situation.

[Dane Ortlund @daneortlund]

Luther, to a depressed friend, 1544:

"I beg you, join us truly great and hardboiled sinners so that you do not diminish Christ for us, who is not a Savior for imaginary or trivial sins but rather for real sins--not only small ones but great ones.

"You must get used to the fact that Christ is a real Savior and you are a real sinner. God does not play games or indulge in make-believe. It was no joke that he sent us his Son and gave him up for us.

"Therefore bid the depressions of the devil farewell."

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

Why would God send anyone to hell???

That's actually the wrong question ❌

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

Christians should 100% want their government to legislate from a Christian moral perspective.

Why? The answer is more simple than you think 👇

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

🚨 A *WARNING* to Christians about NYC's Zohran Mamdani and the "warmth of collectivism." 👇

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

🔥 Watch our brand new episode of the Live Free Podcast for the full dismantling of socialism/collectivism here:

https://t.co/73chqWfR3z

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

A state that never allowed slavery wants to make residents who never owned slaves pay reparations to people who never were slaves.