The man was extremely kind and Penn was moved by the gesture  – he later shared this: “I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. If you believe there is a heaven and hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, do you really think it’s not worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward?

   “How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate someone to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?” Penn then offered this example: “If I believed, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you – and you didn’t believe it – there’s a certain point that I tackle you – and this is more important than that.”

   Penn is absolutely right about evangelism. Do we really believe the Gospel? And if we do, do we care enough to share it with others? So – here’s the question – is the gospel of Jesus Christ good news or bad news? It’s good news! It’s the best of news!! 

   Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has taken our place, risen from the dead – and so can we! We can live in eternity with Him forever. And all we have to do is place our trust in Him. What amazing news! But if that’s true – and it is – then why are we so reluctant to tell people? Why do we often treat the Good News as if it were bad news?

   If hell is real, should we not warn people? If heaven is easily possible to attain, should we not divulge that good news? Our bodies are just an ‘earth-suit.’ They will eventually grow old and die, but our spirit, which is tied to our soul, will survive that death. Paul said in 2 Corinthians that “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” — if you’re a Christ-follower. 

   Sharing this good news (the Gospel) should be a natural overflow of our Christian life. When we have joy unspeakable and are filled with His light — that tends to leak out. Basically, your life becomes the message!

   A guy recently traveled to a customer site for his work as a computer programmer. He met, along with five other programmers, in a conference room where they had set up some computer terminals. Their makeshift office was right next to the cafeteria and during the course of the long afternoon, he walked over to get some coffee. He found a vending machine; it had coffee, cappuccino and espresso, along with vegetable soup. He looked and looked for a place to put in his money and finally located a little sign – “No coins required.” 

   This seemed a bit odd but he punched in his selection (cappuccino) and out popped the little cup and a couple seconds later – here came the cappuccino. It was free!! He wasn’t sure whether or not it was an employee benefit or just a way to keep their people “caffeined-up.” He didn’t know and he didn’t care. Free coffee! So what did he do next? He went back in the room and told everyone else! That’s what you do when you have good news! 

   Lee Strobel once noted, “I’ve seen far too many Christians who are more than willing to travel halfway around the world to volunteer for a week in an orphanage but who cannot bring themselves to take the personal risk of sharing Jesus with the co-worker who sits day after day in the cubicle right next to them.”

   Bottom line = Don’t snooze with The News!

Bob and Susan Beckett pastor The Dwelling Place City Church at 27100 Girard Street in Hemet, CA. For more information, you may contact them at DPCitychurch.org

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But there is no requirement for cooling equipment to keep your home from becoming dangerously hot. Landlords have no obligation to provide air conditioners, swamp coolers or anything to keep rental units safe for occupants during heat waves.

That might have been understandable decades ago. But it’s unacceptable now that greenhouse gas pollution has driven average temperatures more than two degrees higher than they were in the 1950s, fueling more frequent, dangerous and record-breaking heat waves and a mounting death toll.

Cities and counties across the country, including Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Portland, Ore. and Clark County, Nev., have already established indoor temperature limits or cooling requirements of some kind. Countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan, have them too. L.A. County is developing its own maximum temperature standards for rental units.

But California’s policies haven’t been changed to reflect our new reality.

In 2022 lawmakers failed to advance legislation to establish maximum indoor temperature standards for residential units. Instead they passed watered-down language that directed the Department of Housing and Community Development to come up with recommendations for maximum indoor air temperatures that ensure homes are safe for residents and submit them to the Legislature by the end of this year.

Earlier this month, the department released a disappointingly narrow draft of its recommendations, which suggest a maximum safe indoor air temperature of 82 degrees — but only for newly constructed residential units. While it would apply to rentals and owner-occupied homes, it would exclude more than 14 million existing dwelling units, where the vast majority of Californians live, millions of them without air conditioning. That standard is weaker than a previous draft, in April, that proposed the adoption of an 82-degree temperature limit and did not exclude existing homes.

Is this really the best California officials can do?

Including existing rental units in statewide temperature limits is essential. California only builds roughly 100,000 new homes each year, and most are already likely to include air conditioning anyway. Leaving out existing homes may please landlords, who have opposed requirements to install cooling equipment because of the costs. But it would defeat the purpose of the standard, which is to save lives and protect the most vulnerable communities, whose less-shaded neighborhoods and older, less-insulated housing magnify their risks from extreme heat.

Instead of setting a temperature limit, the department makes other suggestions for existing units, such as policies to ensure renters at high risk for heat-related illness have the right to add cooling equipment and can afford to operate it. The document also encourages the installation of window coverings, shade trees, insulation, solar-reflective roofs and “broader adoption of fans,” which it highlights as a cheaper and more energy-efficient alternative to air conditioning because it costs about $400 to install a ceiling fan compared to $550 for a window A/C unit.

Housing, environmental, and climate justice advocates have pushed the housing department not to limit its recommendations to building standards for new construction. The fact that landlords may incur hundreds or even thousands of dollars in costs to retrofit their units is no reason to shy away from meaningful standards to protect people who are in unsafe conditions in their own homes. Instead, the state should offer solutions, like financial assistance to help property owners manage the expense of installing air conditioners for their tenants.

Extreme heat is the deadliest climate hazard and killed an estimated 3,900 Californians between 2010 and 2019, a Times analysis found. State health officials counted 395 deaths during one 10-day heat wave alone in 2022. And scientists project that if the rate of global warming continues, by mid-century 11,300 Californians could die from heat-related causes each year.

Statewide standards are needed because extreme heat is increasingly putting Californians in harm’s way, and not just in inland areas. People in California’s historically mild coastal regions are especially susceptible during heat waves, because they are not accustomed to such high temperatures and less likely to have air conditioning in their homes, and would be among the areas with the most to gain from cooling requirements.

Kyle Krause, deputy director of Codes and Standards for Housing and Community Development, said that the indoor cooling recommendations are not final and may still be changed before they are submitted to the Legislature. Good. They ought to be revised to make it clear to lawmakers and regulators that it’s time for California’s health and safety protections to change with the climate. No one should be exposed to life-threatening heat inside their home, no matter their ZIP code or type of housing.

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   There’s a fascinating incident that took place during the war between Britain and France. (1803-1814) Men were drafted into the French army by a type of lottery system. When someone’s name was drawn – off to battle they went. But — there was one exception to this. A person could be exempt if another was willing to take his place. A pinch hitter if you will. 

   On one occasion the authorities came to a certain man and told him he was among those who had been drafted. He refused to go saying, “I was shot 2 years ago.” At first they questioned his sanity but he insisted that this indeed had happened. He claimed the military records would show that he had been drafted 2 years before and he had been killed in action.

   He explained that when his name came up, a close friend said to him, “You have a large family but I’m not married and nobody is dependent on me. I’ll take your name and go in your place.” And that’s exactly what the record showed. The case was eventually referred to Napoleon himself, who decided that the country had no legal claim on the man. He was free! Another person had died in his place.

   The principle of substitution is the heart and essence of the gospel. That another would be willing to exchange their life for ours is indeed mind-boggling, but Jesus willingly took our place, died in our stead, and paid the death penalty for our sins. Martin Luther famously put it this way: “All the prophets did foresee that Christ should become the greatest transgressor, murderer, adulterer thief, rebel, blasphemer, etc., that ever was or could be in all the world. For He, being made a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world is not now an innocent person and without sins…but a sinner.” 

   Basically, Luther wrapped up John 3:16-17: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him.”

   There are many advantages for a team coach to put in a pinch hitter but four things stand out from all others: he’s there to score runs – to play in defensive positions – he helps in gaining competitive advantages – and lastly and best of all, he is a match winner. He plays a significant role in winning THE GAME! In my humble spectator, sports-fan mind, it sure sounds like Jesus is a pinch hitter to me!

   But here’s a stellar thought – there was only one pinch hitter qualified when it came to paying the costly price for our salvation. As one pastor put it – “God made a tremendous mistake in sending His Son to die if there is another way to Himself.”

   As that great song attests, “He paid a debt He did not owe, I owed a debt I could 

not pay, I needed someone…” Basically, Jesus came for two reasons: first – to live the life we couldn’t live and second, to die the death we should have died. He did for us what we couldn’t possibly do for ourselves. A pinch hitter at its finest I’d say!

   I absolutely love this thought-provoking quote from John Stott. Please read it at least twice to get the full impact. “The concept of substitution lies at the heart of both sin and salvation. For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man.” Selah! Selah!!

Bob and Susan Beckett pastor The Dwelling Place City Church at 27100 Girard Street in Hemet, CA. For more information, you may contact them at DPCItychurch.org

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