More like Mary

“Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. 

And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. 

But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. 

And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42

I look around at my fellow Americans today, and it seems as though we are always “on the go”; consumed with our “have-to’s”, “need to’s”, and “want-to’s.”  We “have-to” do this or that, RIGHT NOW.  We “need to” do this or that, RIGHT NOW and we “want to” do this or that right now.  We live in a culture that pushes urgency, and some things require urgent attention, however, do you really need to check your Facebook at the dinner table?  Do you really need to respond to that text while you’re driving?  When did the thoughts that are birthed in our own minds become ill equipped to occupy our time?  What is so wrong with just sitting down and TALKING to one another?  Not talking and texting.  Pintresting, game playing, texting and talking.  Youtube watching, game playing, texting and talking.  Youtube watching, texting……Ok, I think you get the point.  This week God has blessed me with the thought: When did we declare war on being still?            

In this day and age we have more automated “stuff” than we ever had. We have more time saving devices than ever before; for the first time in human history you can know virtually anything you would like to know in .068 seconds.  Why ask God when I can ask Google?  Why read the Bible when I can read the commentary?  Seriously, I don’t have time to wait on the Lord, I got places to be.  We have more technology in place than any generation before us, yet we seem to be busier than ever.  The simple fact is…we all have 24 hours in a day, we each one choose what to do with that twenty four hours, and all these gadgets and gizmos have an off button.  God will not compete for your time, you must give it to him.  You must be still, I must be still.  A conscious decision to turn off the world and wait at the feet of Jesus, while not glamorous, is so very profitable to our spiritual wellbeing.  It is good conversation and communication that keeps a relationship healthy-and Jesus wants us to pine for his time, he is ready and willing to pour out blessings, and daily load us with benefits.  Not only that, you will find that your one on one time with God can be so much more entertaining than anything that comes with a cord or has a screen.  So, why bring this up?  Why should we be so concerned about what everybody else does with their private time?  Well the truth is…I am not all that concerned, at the end of the day, people are going to do what they want to do, but let me offer this outlook before you go. 

The Church is built of individuals, the stronger the individual-the stronger the Church.  If you want things to get better in your community, home, church…..if you really want revival in this country.  It. Starts. With. YOU………..and it starts with me.  We must be the people, and if we be the people, he WILL be the God.        

The highest office

“When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.”-2 Timothy 1:5

            Someone once told me, kids will follow what you do, long before they will listen to what you say.  This is absolutely true.  No doubt, every man has to choose for themselves if they will serve God, but there is a great advantage in seeing the faith lived before your eyes; and how much more so when you see it from those who you love and respect most.  Your mother and father.  Of all the titles one can have, none more blessed than mother or father.  Of all the institutions in the world, there is none more precious than the home.       

Without question the most underappreciated and overlooked job in America right now, is the Christian housewife.  Not really sure when it happened, but it seems the process of progression took us to a place of gender neutrality and gender equality, and in doing so, we never stopped to think about what was being sacrificed to fuel our progression.  Truly, America is and should always be the land of the free, and everyone should have equal opportunity.  That being said, if it is a women’s ambition to be a wife, mother, and housewife; you will scarcely find a nobler calling.  Modern culture exalts education, business, and enterprise; champions free thinking and me first discovery.  You can be what you want, do what you want, and marry whomever you want.  The subliminal message is that the Bible, the home, and the title of “housewife” is simply a way to keep the women in her place.  It is published, that the modern women is not so one dimensional, you can do what you want to do, go where you want to go, and be what you want to be; being a mom can simply be one of the many hats you wear.  However the result is, we are all too encumbered to ask: while were all out finding our own way in this world, who is guarding the home?  Who is guiding the home?  Modern day parents are working 60 hour a week jobs, paying babysitters, virtually killing themselves so they can send their kids to top universities.  Universities that will teach them this same “me” first thinking; never realizing that the greatest university in the world is a solid Christian home.  The most valuable teaching facility in American is a Godly home, guided by a Godly husband and wife.  The most important lessons will not be taught in a classroom, but in the living room; or at the kitchen table.  My mother was never college educated, she never ran a company or wrote a best seller; but I learned more from her than I ever did from any university.  Businessmen and women make products for profit, mothers mold lives.  Teachers and educators instruct students, mothers fashion the character of future generations.  She stayed at home, put up with our craziness, and taught us about Jesus; not just with her words but with her life, and her mother did the same.  Grandma is a child from the Great Depression, and has known loss and struggle.  That said, she continues to serve God with reverence and godly fear.  She may never be recognized at a business luncheon or receive an award for services to her community, but she did more good by faithfully serving her God and dutifully raising her children than many who commit their all to education or industry.  The world doesn’t champion it, and our culture doesn’t exalt it, but the gospel is generational and mothers carry the torch (more so than most) from one generation to the next.  Think of those who influenced you the most, those who taught you about Christ, those who you wish to emulate.  Odds are good a mother or grandmother is in that rank.  Admittedly, not everyone is afforded this great blessing, but no one should be robbed of it because of stereo-typical cultural or world views.  When kids see their parents and grandparents faith it builds their faith.  When children are raised and guided by consistent, compassionate, determined, God fearing women; accompanied by a husband who loves Jesus and accepts his role as the chief servant in the hierarchy of the household, it effectively prepares the soil so that one day the Word of God can one day take root. 

We live in a world that has so many opinions and “movements” it sometimes is easy to lose sight of what matters.  Please don’t misinterpret, it is not my intention to tell anyone what they should do or how they should live, rather, call attention to the value of one of the highest offices a person can hold on this Earth: the Christian mother and housewife.  The future is not determined by those who we elect, educate or appoint; but by those who raise them.  Let the Church rally around those who embrace this calling.            

The Bread

“I am that bread of life.” – John 6:48

The more you exist in this physical world, the more you begin to realize how fleeting it is.  When you are full of youth your strength seems to spring eternal, but as you grow older you begin to realize that the “world passeth away.”  No one, nowhere, can contend against this truth.  We will all physically get older, weaker, and one day pass away.  These facts being readily present, let us seek after that “bread” which will give life beyond the physical and profit far more than the manna that fell in the wilderness. 

In my opinion (take it or leave it) the 6^th chapter of John is an often misunderstood text.  Jesus is not suggesting in this passage that we substitute one forum of physical bread for another and then label the second His flesh.  Rather, he is commanding that we look to a different source for nutrients that will feed an unseen spiritual man.  Jesus begins by telling of Moses and the bread that fell from heaven in the wilderness.  His audience would have understood this reference because they were Jews (note, make sure that if you reference Biblical text your audience understands your reference).  You see, long ago, for the space of 40 years the Jewish nation that then was wandered in the wilderness as a result of their own disobedience.  Now, while they were there, God fed them all by dropping bread or manna out of the sky for them to gather each morning and eat each day.  That bread fed their physical bodies.  Eventually time lapsed and they all died a physical death just like you and I will one day do.  It did not grant them spiritual life only prolonged their day of death.  How many today are wandering this land and country looking for “manna” that will prolong their day of death?  There is a reason why health and wellness is over a 100 billion dollar industry in the US.  The bread that Jesus is offering is not something that can be seen with the natural eye, and it is not something that is meant to sustain the natural body.  It is a spiritual bread that brings spiritual life; it is Jesus, it’s for you, and for me. 

Jesus Christ is the bread of life; not physical life mind you but spiritual life.  We do not physically eat his flesh and drink his blood, nor do we eat and drink anything that represents Him.  However, we must spiritually partake of Jesus Christ, and how is that done?  Good question.  First by partaking in His death.  We do this by dying out to our wills, ways, and wishes.  We consecrate all that we are, and plan to be.  You must totally surrender everything to Him.  “Must I do this one time?”  You must do this when you are wed to Christ and everyday thereafter.  Like a marriage, you make a vow to your wife at the marriage, but you also make the same vow everyday thereafter until death.  After you partake in His death you will be resurrected and granted eternal life.  This is not done because you are so awesome, no friends, the power of God raises you out of the grave of sin just as it raised Jesus Christ out.  Now you have the bread of life, but you must continually nurse your new spiritual life.  You are now a new born baby and as such you must continually partake of Jesus Christ: by reading the Bible, praying, and assembling with like-minded Christians.  By partaking of this bread you will find that your spiritual man will grow stronger and stronger even though your physical body waxes weaker and weaker.  Jesus Christ is the bread of life, everlasting life, let us therefore set our hearts after this bread.       

A writing on Wolfs, Leopards, and Lions

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.”-Isaiah 11: 6    

            The birth of Jesus was foretold long ago by the prophets and mark by miraculous happenings.  A virgin carried him, angel choirs announced him, and kings bowed before him; all while he slept in a manger.  The greatest man to walk this Earth, born of such humble beginnings.  A child would lead His people and bring salvation from sin.  Jesus brought salvation, he brought change: real, genuine, supernatural change.

           

There are certain basic elements that are embedded in the fiber of nature, and the sun rises, the rain falls, the animals eat, and so it goes.  The world turns and time passes on.  The natural is as we know it with our eyes exist before us and we are a part of that existences as human beings.  There is also another nature that exists and operates on basic principles.  The nature of man.  That which is found within, and bears fruit without.  I am talking of course about the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.  This is not of the Father but of the world.  It is of the world because it lives in man, and man lives in the world and because we live in this world we bring the sin of our carnal nature to it.  As sure as the sun will rise in the east, so a man with the carnal nature in his heart will sin against God.  He will desire to have and he will steal.  He will hate and commit murder.  He will lust and sin.  The basic principles of sin are found within man and make up the carnal nature, just the same as the basic elements fabricate the natural Earth we live on.  It is not natural for a wolf to dwell with a lamb or a leopard a goat; these animals are natural enemies.  There is a nature within that causes one to attack the other.  They are not going to be in the same presence with one another without one trying to tearing apart the other.  One is a hunter and the other a gatherer.  One is a carnivore and the other a herbivore; it is their nature.  The basic principles of nature would have to be dramatically changed before any of the prophecy in Isaiah 11:6 would occur.  It all has to be revolutionized, and it was; when Jesus Christ was born.  Jesus Christ brought change to this world, or rather to opportunity to change.  He gives mankind salvation from the inbred nature to sin.  Jesus Christ can change your life; if you give it to him.  He can change your life, because he can change your heart.  Jesus through the power of God and the Holy Ghost can change the natural man; he can banish the carnal nature out of your life and cause the impossible to be possible.  He changed the nature of water when they crossed the Red Sea, he changed the nature of a lion when Daniel was in the den, and he changed the nature of a rock in the wilderness to bring forth water.  Jesus can change the nature of your heart.  He can bring love where there was once hate, contentment where there was once covetousness, and humility in the place of pride.  Jesus Christ is change: real, genuine, supernatural change.  He can make the change, and if you let him, he will keep the change. 

The baby was born, the Son given, and all power was bought and won over sin.  We have the opportunity to be changed, if we yield our all and give it over to Jesus.  If we but let this little child, this great King, lead us.    

The Division Within-WW-11-30-16

“And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.” Genesis 1:4

In the beginning, God divided the light from the darkness.  The two cannot mix, both cannot be present anywhere at any time.  The light rules over the darkness, and darkness must flee before it.  God saw the light and that is was good, and by extension good is draw to the light.  Rarely do you see a crowded bar or club in the daytime.  There is a reason that people looking for a “good time” inquire about the “nightlife.”  The Bible says that “they loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)” God saw that the light was good, good draws goodness and promotes goodness.  The darkness is divided from the light and forever will be.  Jesus is the light.

The analogies and allegories, while may be painfully obvious to some, are not, or rather cannot, be overstated.  Jesus is the “light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (John 1:9)” He is the bright and morning star, he is the day star that shall arise in our hearts.  We can be physically born into this world in the night or the day, but spiritually, we are always born into darkness.  That is the condition in which every soul finds themselves, and just as the physical light is divided from the darkness, so is the spiritual light divided from the darkness.  There is no communion or fellowship with the Father of light and His Son Jesus Christ, because there is darkness within our hearts.  Sin is that darkness.  It is silent, cold, and bleak.  It robs us of warmth, sight and fellowship with our Creator.  God desires that you have light, he sent His Son so that we might have light and life; so when you come to Jesus Christ, asking for forgiveness he forgives.  Then you pled the blood calling for Christ to come into your heart and he does.  The light of God enters in and brings warm, light and life.  It is from this point forward that the devil seeks and tempts you, trying to draw you back to the darkness.  God divided the light from the darkness in the beginning not only for our physical benefit, but that we might understand good and evil, holiness and sin, righteousness and wickedness; Jesus and the devil.  The Holy Ghost comes down to sanctify us, so that we might have the light and life of Jesus.  As the sun rises in the eastern sky, so is the sanctifying power of Jesus Christ in our hearts.  It dawns on us in an instant and we are changed from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to that of God (Acts 26:18).  The light is birthed within us and we walk in the light as he is in the light and have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).  It is not a continual cleansing but a sanctifying and keeping cleansing.  A complete change.  

The blood of Jesus removes all sin and the light of God reigns within, keeping us from sin; as long as we keep ourselves close to him.  Through the power of Christ, God can/will divide us from the darkness within; and He can keep us that way as long as we yield and obey.      

                                   

Home Cookin'

“So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.” 1 Samuel 25:35

One must never underestimate the power of a good meal, and the impact the hands can have that prepare it.  In America it is more than a basic necessity.  We congregate, share stories, learn, engage, and bond around mealtime.  How many a child has turned into an adolescent over a birthday dinner?  How many sermon discussed over Sunday afternoon fried chicken?  The table and the food that furnishes it is grafted into the fabric of our daily lives.  We can never underestimate the power of a good meal, or the profit that can come from simply gathering around the kitchen table.  There is a lot that can be said for good ole fashion home cookin’. 

            In the 25^th chapter of Samuel, would be King David crosses pass with a foolish man (quite literally) named Nabal.  Nabal snubs the King in a way that enrages David.  Nabal was foolish by all accounts, but thankfully his wife Abigail was not.  She recognized the authority that David held through God, not simply because he was David the warrior, but rather because he was David the anointed King.  In faith she saw the Lords anointed reigning on the throne and knew that to cross him was to cross God.  Knowing that David was hungry and needed food, her immediate response was to gather up a big feast for him and his men and run to meet them, before he came to seek vengeance on all that was in her house.  What she brought to the table and the manner in which she brought it pleased David and he heard her counsel; thereby refraining himself from doing something that he might regret later.  Who’s to say that the same would have transpired if she had brought nothing, but the reality is, a good meal granted her audience with the future king, and gave opportunity for counsel, guidance, and a moment to minister.  There is no virtue in food, like all things in this world, it is temporal.  However, as with many things in this world, it can be used as a resource for the ministry.  I had a dear brother say to me one time while we were sitting having dinner at our kitchen table: “Brother, I think one of the biggest resources we have to minister with is this right here (as he pointed at the table).”  The kitchen table in the American home is a valuable resource to advance God’s kingdom.  Growing up, we ate home cooked meals almost every night.  Day after day I watched my mother prepare, cook, and serve us.  It took work, sacrifice, and dedication.  When the table was set, we would all come stop what we were doing to gather around the table.  Then, we said the blessing.  Day after day, week after week, year after year; we thanked God as a family for what we had.  We discussed what had been, what was, and prepared for what was to come; as a family.  I can still remember saying my Sunday school verse again on Sunday afternoon at the kitchen table (and I can still say those verses), I can remember discussing the Sunday sermon, I can remember watching my Dad ignore phone calls from work; dinner time was just dinner time to a child, but now looking back, it’s a class room, a sanctuary, and pillar of my childhood.  The opportunity to minister and the tools to do it with is right in your home.  The battle for America is in a house, but not the White House, it is in your house and mine. 

We have the ability to gain the audience of those we want to reach, and we have the tools to do it with.  How often is this opportunity squandered?  What can the television teach us about God?  What can the IPhone do for fellowship?  The world can only have as much influence in our homes as we allow.  We commission pastors, laymen, preachers, Sunday school teachers to educate our youth about God and Jesus, but honestly, what better teaching agent is there than the American home?  What better educators than a sanctified Husband and Wife?  What better venue than a good meal: prepared, presented and attended?  

 “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved “ Acts 2: 46-47

Christmas Come Early

“For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,”-Hebrews 2:11

It seems like every year the Christmas paraphernalia comes quicker and earlier to the stores and shops of America.  As Christmas comes earlier and earlier, I am sure will the “Reason for the Season” banners, signs, and sermons. Perhaps this is just me wanting to get a jump on it all, stay in front of the curve.  While I am not overjoyed at the obvious commercialism; at least it helps bring to mind Christmas itself, and hopefully, the meaning of Christmas.  Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became flesh, was born of a virgin, walked this earth as the first perfect man, died on a cross, and was raised again on the third day.  Jesus was/is the first sanctified man in every sense of the word, and both he who sanctifies and they who are, are all of one.      

Jesus told the Pharisees that they were of their father the devil and the lust of their father they will do.  He plainly laid out that because they were sinners, they were not children of God and furthermore, they were children of the devil.  When we are born into this world, we are born through the seed of Adam and therefore the works of sinful Adam we will do.  This is because the seed of unrighteousness is within us.  We are children of the devil.  The works of the devil we will do.  You see this plain in little kids.  They lie, cheat, steal, covet, etc.; and then they grow up to be adults who lie, cheat, steal, covet, etc.  We are what is within, and what is within every man at birth is the seed of sin.  This is true for every man that is born into the world, except for Jesus.  He was born of a virgin, conceived by the Holy Ghost.  The Son of God had God within and he did no sin; he did only the will of the Father.  Jesus was the first sanctified man and because of that he is the sanctifier.  We must understand and accept this if we want to be sanctified, because as he is so are we in this world.  He sanctified himself so that we also might be sanctified.  This is the will of God even your sanctification.  Jesus is the example that we are to be in this world and he is the one who provides the means and grace for us to live that example.  Without Christ: we are without hope, without love, and without a true relationship with our heavenly Father.  We are lost, stumbling through this world serving diverse lust and pleasures that only mask the true calamity of it all, which is; that the devil himself is living within letting us destroy our own lives while we think we are living.  We in America recognize Christmas day as the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, but how few recognize him as a Savior and sanctifier.  One who does not save us in our sins, but saves us from our sins (to quote Bro Ray Smith).  A Savior that we desperately needed to sanctify himself, so that we might also be sanctified.

Like Jesus, when the Holy Ghost comes upon us, there is a new birth inside.  The old man of sin destroyed and the new life of righteous born within.  We are sanctified by the Holy Ghost.  This brings us into full fellowship with Jesus, and we are now one with Him and therefore one with the Father.  The gulf of sin that separated a Holy God from an unholy man was spanned by the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We can be sanctified, by the sanctifier, and be brought back into full fellowship with God the Father.  This is Christmas, the meaning of it, the purpose for it.  It is the greatest gift of all.  

Care Hoarders

“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”-1 Peter 5:7

Hoarding, a known clinical disorder where people find it difficult to part with their possessions because of the perceived need to save them.  Hoarding cases can range from moderate to severe.  It is likely that most of us hoard our possession to some degree; because of sentiment, ambition, business, laziness, or some other reason.  The reality is, everything we own, owns us.  Whether we care to admit this or not, what you care for influences the cares you have in this world, and what you care about is manifested in what you’re caring for.

Recently, the house coworker’s relative (sister to be exact) caught fire. They woke in the middle of the night to the smoke alarm going off and the house being engulfed in flames.  It being an old home, they had but a few precious seconds to grab the kids and race out the door.  Only to watch as everything they owned burned to the ground.  It all happened so fast, the only thing they were able to take with them was the clothes on their backs and their two small children.  The cell phones, laptops, TV, pictures, toys, books, furniture, lamps, clothes, everything; all those things in this life that we hoard and hold onto; gone forever.  They were left with only what was most important to them in this life.  It is remarkable, and tragic, how quickly the fire sorted out what was most important to them.  Truly, we need things of this world to live, but we are not living for the things of this world.  If you let it, everything you own or hope to own, will own you.  The world’s idea is to work, strive, labor, buy, sell, and get gain; in doing so we heap to ourselves cares and cares of this world.  Some of this process is needful, in order to exist and provide for those whom you are responsible for, but the rest is just hoarding.  What is it about human nature that causes us to hoard?  What is it about human nature that drives us to wallow in confusion, chaos, and clutter?  This is true for not only the things we own, but the cares that come with them.  We would spend our lives buying, selling, gaining, getting, and worrying about how we are going to keep safe all that we have gain and gotten.  Working all our lives to get and gain, hoping that we get and gain enough so that we one day don't have to worry?  This is one reason why the things of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word and it becometh unfruitful; because they lead us into thinking that we are the masters of our life, and the ones who can bring peace and contentment to our souls.  This is why the Bible says that the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect quietness and assurance forever.  It is God’s working that brings peace and contentment.  It is Jesus who comforts and directs us.  The Word is trying to lead us in a path away from the cares of this world, and the flesh is constantly crying at us to care, to hoard care, and to obtain that which will one day fade away.  Please do not misinterpret; I am not saying that simply having stuff in this life means that we are un-Christian or full of care.  Rather, that when you have/hoard the world and all it brings into your heart how long until it is in your life?  The opposite is also true, when you have/hoard the world in your life, how long until it is in your heart?  When it’s in our hearts, that is when we stand in danger of losing our souls.  When our care is our care and not his. 

The extortion of the Apostle Peter is to cast all your care upon Him for he careth for you.  What you care for, care about, and what calls out at you to care; cast it upon Jesus.  Let him be the one that purges or adds to your life.  The one who directs you in the way most profitable for His kingdom.  God does not want us to hoard care and worry.  He wants to be the holder of all care.  Give it to God, let it go, and let him guide.          

It’s Personal

 “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63

The Word of God saved my life.

Personal, habitual Bible reading saved my life.  During a long space of my teenage years I relied on the euphoria of meetings (that meaning the emotional experience that comes from attending church), and the attraction of the “youth group” social atmosphere to keep me from falling.  Personal Bible reading was a practice, but it was not habitual, and it did not influence my life.  Please let me pause for just a moment and say that I am not against church or the gathering of youth, only that like Martha, when you begin to put secondary things primary……problems arise.  Blessings and emotion that come from attending church are the byproduct of a strong spiritual experience, but not the very experience itself.  Likewise, the social experience that comes with spending time with your brothers and sisters in the faith is beneficial to your walk with God (I believe); however it is not the bread that will sustain the spiritual man.  Due to the fact that meetings and “hanging-out” were the pillars that supported my house of cards, I frequented both, testifying and preaching not to save the lost, but because it was “what we did”.  However, if you could x-ray my spiritual man you would find a heart that burned with but a little flame……So, why am I bringing this up?

I believe that many Christians today are in this same condition.  Salvation is not in the social, nor is it divorced from it.  What brings about solid soldiers for the cause of Christ is…..no surprise here, a commitment to God and God’s Word; a commitment to taking time for it, to studying it, and to living it.  If this is done, I believe it will “iron out” a lot of the fringe issues that plague the Church- i.e. church attendance, relationship incompetence, gossip, clicks, church participation, decline in evangelism, watered down preaching, pride, politics, etc.  Not only that, it will do more for the Church than we probably can imagine.  The Word of God saved my life; and the lives of countless others.  The Word strengthens the inner man, the inner man is the individual, and the individual is the Church.  If your inner man is strong, the Church is strong, if you’re inner man is weak, the church is weak.  “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” (Matthew: 24-25)

How do we hear God?  We hear him through the Word (among other avenues).  Jesus was the Word and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.  He was the messenger when we hear him, we hear God.  He speaks the will of the Father;  through the vehicle of the Holy Ghost, and when you get the Holy Ghost inside it will open the scriptures to you and teach you all things (1 John 2:27).  But we have to read them, we have to hear them, we have to do them; or the house will not stand.  So I ask you, as I ask myself:  What are we emphasizing in our own lives?  What are we standing on?  What are we stressing to those that come behind us?  Not with our words, but with our lives.

Way Home

Way Home

“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” – Isaiah 55:7

Anyone who has ever been hiking, skiing, or climbing in the mountains knows that there must be a way home.  Mountain ranges like the Rockies or Serra Nevada are so vast that any deviation from the way home could place you in a lost and life threating position.  It is dangerous to not know the way home, and dangerous still to know it and decide to ignore it.  To create your own way. 

When Moses left Egypt with the children of Israel; God carried them out into the wilderness and they were headed for their new home.  They were headed for Canaan and the land of promise.  It was supposed to be a short trip, but they lost faith in God and began to trust in idols.  In this way they deviated from the path and took on themselves their own way and their own devices.  They may not have known geographically where Canaan was, they didn’t have it plotted on a map, but they had the God of the universe guiding them home; because they knew Him so they knew the way.  If they would have trusted in God, they would have made it, but they lost faith and that cost them their lives.  As Christians and sanctified people, the devil is always trying to tempt us to lose faith, and trick us into going our own way.  This world is not our home, and it will never be our home, we are a people seeking a country that is not temporal but spiritual.  It is a country that you cannot see, that Google maps cannot find, and we may not know the way home in that sense, but we “know the knower”(as a dear brother in our church used to say).  The God of creation lives within the heart of the born again and he is taking you home.  We have to trust in him, and yield to him.  The devil would try to convince us to take our own way home and find our own path.  He is always trying to belittle God, tell you lies, and make you trust in idols.  Whether it’s money, people, theology, pleasure; you name it, he wants you to have your own way, take your own path; the biggest idol is yourself.  This is dangerous and wicked.  Once I had the privilege to ski the Rocky Mountains.  The size of those mountains are indescribable; signs are posted all over urging people to stay on the trials, and not go out of bounds.  If you do, you do it at your own risk.  There was a certain trail that traversed back to the lodge from the west side of the mountain labeled “Way Home.”  It was narrow, long, and flat; sometimes uncomfortable to ride on, but it was your last chance to get home.  If you missed this trail or tried to go your own way, then you would be lost to the mountain.  The trail was there for your sake, the signs were there for your sake, and the way home was traveled by the obedient.  It was not a matter of intelligence or talent, but of trust.  It was trust that got you home, trusting in the path, the path that had be trodden before, a path that’s not your way, but yours all the same.  

        As the children of Israel, if you try to make your own path or want your own way it, will cost you your life.  It will cost you your home in Heaven.  This is why the Bible tells us to forsake our way, and our thoughts; turn to the Lord.  It is for our own good.  Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow him.  Jesus wants us to be as he was, to be Christians, Christ like, that is: “Lord thy will be done.”  Jesus did always the will of the Father and we are called to the same.  It is not our will but His, and His will is the way home.      

Answer of Peace

“And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” - Genesis 41:16

Life is filled with uncertainty.  Every new day brings new challenges, new questions, and more uncertainty.  With all the questions and concerns that life brings, I ask you, has this world ever been able to give you an answer of peace?  Many of us have this world’s knowledge at our fingertips; Google gets over a billion queries a day.  There is a constant felling of lack, which produces a want for more; as it says in the book of Haggi: “6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.”  There are plenty of questions out there, and plenty more answers, but none from the world can offer an answer of peace. 

We are all born into this world with enmity between us and God.  There is always warfare going on internally; while we are in the flesh.  Preachers will tell you that this warfare will continue until you die, they will tell you that there is no peace within.  This is a lie; the scripture says “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” (Isaiah 26:3)  When the Word talks about being in the flesh, it is saying that your spiritual man is in the flesh; this is to say “in sin” or “in carnality”; basically you are bent to sin and thereby separated from God.  There are those who spend their whole lives in this state of sinfulness trying to numb their feeling of separation from God; by various endeavors.  However, “there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” (Isaiah 57:21) This is because in man’s search for answers to questions of uncertainty they can find no answer of peace, because only God can give an answer of peace.  You cannot find reconciliation and redemption anywhere but in God and through Christ.  No matter how popular the attraction, how gratifying the love affair, how intense the rush; no matter what it is, or where it is coming from; if not from God, then there will be no answer of peace.  We were separated from God so we must be reconciled to God, only then will we find true peace.  Jesus told us that “my peace I give unto, and not as the world giveth.”  (John 14:27)  He was speaking of a day when the Comforter would come, and abide in the heart of the converted.  This Holy Ghost would give us an abiding peace.      

      

Stop and imagine for me, if you will, a harsh, rugged, snow covered mountain side; barren, dark, and cold.  On it sits a small log cabin, with two square windows on the front side and a big, heavy, wooden front door; shut and locked.  Inside the cabin through the front windows you can see a man nestled into a comfy chair, with a warm blanket draped over his body.  He is seated close to a roaring fire, with a hot mug of coco in his hand, gazing introspectively at the fire, and glad for shelter from the cold blizzard outside……….This is the peace of God to the sanctified soul.  It is a glorious resting place, in the fellowship of Jesus Christ.  Outside the world swirls and blows; no life can be found, no comfort, no peace.  However, inside the fellowship of Jesus Christ, gloriously resting in His Spirit; we find peace, contentment, and comfort.  This place cannot be found through the answers of man, but only through God and his Son Jesus Christ.          

A land of faith

“For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.” – Proverbs 2:21

Abraham is the patriarch of the Jewish people.  He is in the linage of Jesus Christ.  A man of great faith and a friend of God.  Abraham was called out of his dwelling, and asked to “go out” not knowing where he was going.  He did so, trusting in God to lead him to a land of promise, Canaan land.

In the Bible, Canaan land was/is the land that Abraham and his seed was promised after he left his home.  In the book of Genesis we find the beginning of God’s people and in the book of Exodus we find the story of God taking the Jews out of bondage and into the promise land, which is Canaan land.  Furthermore, once you read over in the New Testament and you begin to find and understand that God gave for us the example of Canaan so that we might understand and experience the spiritual Canaan land.  A land that we can spiritually live in because of His Son Jesus.  When you are forgive of your sins you are brought out of bondage, and when you receive the Holy Spirit you are sanctified and brought into Canaan land.  You can be living in Canaan land, no matter where you are on this earth.  Canaan was prepared for Abraham, and in a way, Abraham was prepared for Canaan.  The man of faith, the man of righteousness, the upright and perfect man; that was the man who could dwell in Canaan.  It was his people who would one day enter in and possess the land.  It is no small thing for people to “go out” on faith.  We live in a world of natural, and we are called by God to leave it (spiritually) and dwell in the spiritual.  The natural man looks, touches, reasons, and uses logic to govern his life.  He lives for himself, and the things that he cares about.  When God called Abraham, he was living in a city of commerce, he had a family and extended family.  His situation was one of comfort and stability.  It was everything that the natural man aspires after.  It was the equivalent of the modern day: house in the suburbs, with two kids, two car garage, and white picket fence.  God called Abraham, and told him to “go out;” to leave all that he had and trust that God would bring him into a better land.  Those who live in Canaan land will always be a people of faith.  A people who shun the natural and seek the spiritual.  A people who “go out;” following the will of God over and above everything else.  It takes faith to get into Canaan land, and faith to stay in Canaan land; faith to follow the will of God, and remain in the will of God.  The people of Abraham, the people of Canaan, the people of Jesus Christ; are and always will be, a people of faith.  If you are to be sanctified and remain sanctified, then you have to “go out.”  You have to leave your old life, old ways, and old wishes; basically you have to die to your idea of everything and trust in God completely.  God will bless this sacrifice and give you his Spirit; not by measure, no, rather by promise.  The Holy Ghost will come and dwell within your heart bringing you into the land of Canaan.  This is why the upright shall dwell in the land and the perfect shall remain in it.  It takes faith to get into Canaan and faith to stay in Canaan.  Faith becomes your new operating principle, forsaking your own way and following His way.  This is living in Canaan.    

It is a good land, the land of Canaan.  When you are sanctified, you find the same marvelous truths that Abraham found; which is, serving God is far more wonderful than serving anything else.  The way of faith is far better than the way of sight.  The spiritual, better than the natural, and the land of Canaan is and always will be the land of promise.  God’s promises never fail; if you trust him, he will comfort and keep you.  For the upright dwell in the land, and it is a good land. 

Question Week: God & sin

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”-John 3:16

Question: Why does an all-powerful and all-knowing God, care so much about me sinning?

Short Answer:

He cares about sin because he cares about us.

Long Answer: 

To truly understand why God is so concerned with sin; we first must understand the nature of God, and then the nature of sin.  The Holy Bible is the inspired Word of God.  Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and they wrote to us the Word of God.  Within this book contains all the answers to life on earth, and life eternal.  In addition to that, it gives us insight into the character of God, the heart of God, and the ways of God.  Truly, we could never understand the God in total, no more than an ant could totally understand the world he lives in, but we can learn from the Bible truths about God and about who He is.  Firstly, God is love. The love that a mother has for her newborn child, God is.  The love that makes a marriage last a lifetime, God is.  The love that causes one man to die for another, God is.  The love that God is and the love that God has for all humanity is evident in humanity, but far greater than can ever be seen in humanity.  The love of God is bigger and more powerful than anything we can ever imagine.  The second thing God is; God is just.  He is as just as he is loving, and he is as loving as he is just.  When a parent tells their child “don’t do that;” and they do it anyway, there is punishment administered for the disobedience.  To not discipline the child would be unjust, and further, to just let them continue in their disobedience would be wicked.  In this we see the love of God, and the judgement of God walk hand in hand.  Finally (at least for this tract), God is holy.  He does not sin, and cannot be associated with sin.  It is like fire and water or light and darkness; the two cannot mix.  Therefore, those that would dwell in God, and with God must have the characteristics of God.  Sin is the exact opposite of God.  It hates and does not love, it is unjust, selfish, and unrighteous.  Sin separates us from God.  It takes many forms in this wicked world; pride, lust, envy, backbiting, fornication, adultery, idolatry, and the list goes on and on.  The wickedness of sin only serves to separate us further and further from a God that loves us, will judge us, and desperately wants us to be holy like He is.  It is enmity against God and not subject to the law of God.  This evil is the very thing that universally plagues mankind; it keeps us from peace with God and peace with one another. 

God cares so much about sin because he care so much about His creation.  He loves us, he made us in his imagine, and he gave us choice; free will.  We then disobeyed Him, from that disobedience sin entered into the heart of man and has brought destruction to us ever since.  God longs for us to come back to Him, he loves us and he wants to: redeem us, save us, and bring us into His holiness.  For this purpose, he sent his only Son Jesus Christ to die for us.  That we might be sanctified, that is: redeemed, saved, and holy.  Sin is the problem and Jesus is the solution.       

Where is your Citizenship?

  

“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” – Hebrews 11:13

 Citizenship in America, even today, is still a highly sought after.  If not born to a US citizen or married to one, the application process to become a legal American citizen can take anywhere from six months to a year; sometimes even longer.  A citizen of this country must abide by the laws and statues of this Nation.  Further, most will find themselves assimilating and gravitating towards the customs and traditions that make America, America.  Typically, if and American citizen got on a plane headed to some far away land, the moment you stepped off that plane it would be evident that you were not from that country.  You can tell that just by looking at you; you are not a citizen, you are a stranger, a pilgrim; you don’t belong there. 

To be a Christian is to be a citizen of God’s country, and we are made a citizen not by birth of man, but by the spiritual birth through the power of the Holy Ghost.  Furthermore, if we are a citizen of God’s country then by default we cannot be a citizen of the world (as defined in 1 John 2:16).  The converse is also true; if you claim to be a citizen of the world then you cannot be a citizen of God’s country.  There is no dual citizenship in God’s kingdom, you are either known there and a stranger here; or you are known here and a stranger there.  This is Biblical truth, so the question then becomes, where do you call home?  Where is your citizenship?  If you know that you have not been born again, and affirm that you are a sinner in need of a Savior, then no doubt you are a citizen of the world.  Do not despair, for we were once all in this state and by repenting of your sins and inviting the Holy Ghost to come and lead your life; you can be born again and become a citizen of God’s country.  What then for those of us who currently claim they are Christians?  We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we let them slip (Heb 2:1).  What we say and what we do can often be two very different things.  Cain hated his brother Abel and slew him.  The righteousness of Abel’s heart was fleshed out in the works that he did; and the unrighteousness of Cain’s heart was fleshed out in the works that he did.  Where your citizenship is, is not determined by lip service, but by heart service.  Take for example military personal that are called to serve in a foreign country.  You will find that there is certain things they avoid.  They don’t not buy homes, they typically don’t marry into that country, they don’t willingly assimilate into the culture, they don’t invest a lot of time in gaining the things that the citizens of that country hold dear…….Why is this?   Simply because that’s not where their heart is, that’s not where their allegiance is, and they don’t plan to stay very long.  US soldiers don’t want to live aboard; they want to come home!  One of the devils strongest temptations is right along these lines.  He wants Christian’s to believe that this world is our home.  He wants us to get acclimated, plan to stay awhile, build up OUR kingdom, and forget about God’s.  He wants us to live in houses that are more shelter than we need, drive cars that we can’t afford, work, work, work, and buy, buy, buy.  Tempting us to a “better” lifestyle that takes more time and effort to maintain.  Tempting us, wooing us, into loving this world and forgetting about the one to come.

The lie that we belong here is constantly being sown into our lives.  When in reality, if we are truly children of God we will never feel at home in this world, nor endeavor to be at home; we will remain pilgrims.  We must remain pilgrims here, if we seek a home up there.

A Candid View

“But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” –Romans 6:22

A plant is the seed, and the seed is the plant.  This is the way God created it.  When you plant an apple seed, it will grow an apple tree; which will yield apples.  This fruit will not be oranges or watermelon, but apples.  Why?  Because the plant is the seed and the seed is the plant.  People are the same way, the seed that is planted in our heart is who we are.  If we have the seed of sin within, then by and by we will do sinful things; and we will be defined by those things.  If we are made free from sin, and have the holiness of God within, then we will do Godly things; and we will be defined by those things.  Our desires, drive our choices, which turn into our actions; that in turn, reflects our desires.  We are what is within.  Granted, people are complicated beings, so intelligence, environment, and various other factors can curtail this truth, but ultimately, when you take a candid view of yourself, it stands: We are what is within.

The bad news is that we are born in sin and shapen in iniquity.  You can reject the Bible and it’s teaches if you please, but any reasonable man or women must agree that people are not born into this world with a desire to be righteous.  They have the inbred inclination to steal, cheat, lie, and do things that are not right.  The sooner we as individuals accept that the Bible is true, and Jesus is the Son of God, and he is the answer to the sin that reigns within man’s heart; the better off we all will be.  The seed that is in us when we come into this world is sin, and by and by it begins to bear fruit.  We desire things that are ungodly, unholy, and unrighteous; that desire drives our choices, which in turn shows itself in our actions.  The grace of God works with us via our conscience, and conviction, trying to show that we are going the wrong way.  That we have a seed of sin within our hearts and it is the cancer that plagues our life.  Sin will destroy your life, and it will destroy your soul.  The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Chirst our Lord.  The devil would mask, and overlay the issue of sin with self-justification, there have been a many a people who have died and gone to hell because they thought they were “basically, a good person.”  One might say: “so I get drunk now and again, or slip up and lie, or had a little one night stand, I am still a good person, basically.”  If you have sin reigning within and that is the seed that is sown; you are not a good person.  Nobody, who is born into this world is a good person, and when the Spirit of conviction falls upon you showing you the holiness of God, and the judgment of God, and the love of Christ; calling you to be made free from sin, you realize that you are not a good person and that you are lost and need a Savior.  That is the bad news, which is, you are lost and need a Savior; and it is also the good news.  I is the good news because there is a Savior, and since you realize you’re lost you can be saved!  There is a way out of sin!  Yes, you can be made free from sin.  The power of God through Jesus Christ can clean you up and purge out the inbred sin that is sown within.  It can take out the seed of sin, and plant within you the seed of holiness.  When you yield your all over to God, when you give your heart to him, and say Lord “have thine own way.”  He can clean you up, and clean you out.  He can put holiness within so that there will be holiness without.  In doing so make you free from sin.  You no longer have sin reigning within, but you have God within, and your desires which were once unrighteous are now righteous.  This seed of holiness yields fruit that is holy.  If you are a drunk then you stop drinking, if you are a thief then you stop stealing, and if you’re a liar than you stop lying.  Jesus Christ is a Savior who saves from sin!

Now, holiness is not a magic bean; that just grows and grows once it’s planted.  As any other seed on this Earth, it needs to be watered, and weeded, and tended to on a daily basis.  You have to read, prayer, fellowship with believers and witness to others the glorious experience that you have been gifted.  The devil is still out there and the storms of life are still brewing, but you have the power within to defeat him and you can bear fruit unto holiness; unto the holiness that God planted within.  In this you glorify Him, and there is no greater calling in life.   

Labor Regardless

            “38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.” – John 4:38

The sanctified life is one that includes discouragement, temptations, and trials; this is because every life includes discouragement, temptations, and trials.  Jesus himself prayed saying “I pray not that thou take them out of the world but keep them from the evil of the world.”  Among the more discouraging notions in my opinion is the idea of “lack of harvest” or “lack of reaping”.  The devil will tell you “clearly, God has left your ministry because there is no visible fruit.”  This is a lie laced with truth; true, God may leave your ministry and there will be no fruit, but that does not automatically mean there is no visible fruit therefore God is not there.   

In South Georgia there is a specific occupation that comes available around the May/June time period.  This occupation is known in the local vernacular as “chunkin melons”.  Every year around the beginning of summer, watermelon farmers hire young strong men to walk through their fields and throw ripe water melons into the back of a truck or bus.  These men are “reaping whereon they have bestowed no labour.”  They did none of the sowing, but are experiencing all of the reaping.  Now, do you think the farm hands that were instrumental in the planting are resentful of the “melon chunkers” in the harvesting?  NO!  Of course not, because the end goal remains the same for both parties, and that is to bring in the harvest for the owner of the land.  Furthermore, if a farmhand does not get the call to take part in the melon chunkin do you think they would feel discouraged and not want to plant come next planting season?  If they do, they should not; because the object of it all is to labor for the land owner to bring in a good crop!  Granted, harvest is often more rewarding than planting, but no matter, no discouragement should accompany either occupation because both should be focused on the ultimate goal.  Satan’s lies when placed against the backdrop of the scripture will always appear out of place.  Why should we worry, fret, and feel discouraged when there is no fruit?  If we are truly working for the “land owner” and doing His will in all things, then the season in which we labor is not our concern.  You might be planting and laboring for another who is instructed to come and reap down the road.  There is sowing preaching, and reaping preaching.  There is a time and a season for all things.  It does us no good to consider if we are sowing or reaping, rather we should be focused on laboring for the Master in every season.  Furthermore, (those who are reaping currently) take no pride or arrogance in this, you may be simply gathering the fruit of those who labored before you; praise God for the season you are called into whether planting or reaping.  Noah was a preacher of righteousness and saved only eight souls, Peter preached one sermon and saved three thousand.  What then?  Is Peter a better preacher than Noah?  Do you think Peter boasted of the souls that he saved to Noah when he walked through the gates of heaven?  Or rather did they rejoice because they were counted as “good and faithful servants?”  Utilitarian religion is no religion at all.  If you base your evangelism on numbers and how many people are walking through your doors on Sunday, then you will be quickly led astray.  Your church will soon become more of a country club, than a church.  May God help us to take the Word of God and go forward, laboring in the season where we are called; and look not to the lack of numbers or visitors as reason to doubt, but rather look to Jesus!  Look to Him no matter what season we find ourselves in and let not the devil discourage us in planting (or reaping, or anywhere in between).  Let us look to Jesus in all things, in feast or famine, in planting or reaping, for truly “God adds to the church daily such as should be saved.”  

Oswald Chambers the author of My Utmost for His Highest preached for years to soldier’s in Egypt.  Talk about a “dead end” if there ever was one; preaching to a congregation in the morning that may not even return from battle for the evening service.  It would seem to all who looked on that he was wasting his talents, but how could anyone know that his precious wife was transcribing every sermon by hand, and after his death she would go on to complied them and publish My Utmost for His Highest.  This devotional book would prove to be one of the most read devotional books in the world!  Inspiring and instructions millions to Jesus Christ!  So take courage my brother, my sister; concern not yourself what season you’re in, but rather that you have been called to the labor and God will bless it in His time.      

Shockingly Simple

 “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 11:3

Sometimes, the simplicity of the gospel can be shocking.  Salvation is not a twelve step process, or a business plan.  It is not a four week course or a weekend retreat.  There is just something about people, something in us, we want “do” something.  By that I mean, we want it to be something that “we do,” and not God.  We want it to lead back to our merits and abilities, and not His.  The salvation that Jesus brings is a simple salvation, but it’s not about your gifts or talents.  It is his gift, it is grace, and it is unmerited.  We do not obtain it by accomplishment, but by yielding.

In South Georgia there is this natural wonder, if you will, known to those down here as a blue hole or blue spring.  It is what it sounds like, a hole in the earth that is blue; why is it blue?  That’s a good question, it is blue because the spring water that shoots out of it is so pure and clear that it actually fills up the hole in the ground and causes it to appear blue.  The interesting part about these blue springs is that no matter where you find them you can always count on two things.  First, the water that comes out of it will be different than the river or creek water around it.  It will not be brown, or green, it will not have the same temperature or the same pollution.  The current that comes from the water springing out of the ground protects the blue spring from impurities.  The second thing, is that they are lasting and generational.  An eighty year old native of South Georgia can tell you about a blue hole that he hasn’t been to since he was a kid.  You can then go visit it and it will look exactly the same as he said it did years and years ago.  The blue holes that populate the South are attractive, scenic, and alluring.  They draw people to them because they are different and enduring.  They are the way they are not because of merit, action, or initiative, but because God made them that way.  The scripture tells us that the devil would corrupt us from the simplicity that is in Christ.  When we are in sin, the last thing the devil wants us to realize is that we are in sin.  He wants you to think that you have a broken marriage that YOU have to fix.  He wants you to think that you have an addiction that YOU have to beat.  He wants you to think YOU are rich, famous, intelligent, popular; whatever you have to be so you don’t realize that you are not serving God and you are serving yourself.  When you realize that you are lost in sin, it’s only a short hop until you recognize that you can be found.  When you accept that you are disobeying God, then it’s only a matter of time before you can understand how to obey him.  When you realize you are lost, and that you need a Savior, and guess what: it isn’t you that is when the simplicity of the gospel can take hold and you can find salvation.  It is not your plan, your process, your merit or your accomplishments that will bring you salvation.  No, it is only yielding; totaling yielding your heart and life over to the Creator so that he can make your heart anew.  By simply yielding your all over to God, we can be one with Jesus Christ; this simplicity can be shocking to a ME first mentality.

The scripture tells us that out of the heart are all the issues of life.  When God has your heart, he has you.  He has your check book, your marriage, your job, your family; he has everything.  God wants to change your heart into a blue spring.  A spring of righteousness that continually flows from within to the world that is without.  This is the salvation that Jesus brings.  You will not be affected by the polluted world around you, but you will affect it.  You will not wavier with the changing trends, but you will be steadfast.  Out of your heart will flow a continual current of righteousness that will keep you from sin as you keep yourself with God.  This will be lasting and generational, because it’s Jesus, its holiness, and he is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  This is the simplicity that is in Christ.    

Fashioning through Following

“And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” – Matthew 4:19

Peter was not a great preacher when Jesus called him; he was a fisherman.  However he became a fisher-of-men.  How did he get that way?  He followed Jesus, and Jesus made him that way.

“Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”  We need not concern ourselves with “how” Jesus is going to do it; just follow him and “let” him do it.  If we are malleable, he will work a work in our lives.  The focus is singular…….Jesus.  Satan would have us “busy up” our lives and “organize” our evangelism effort until we have no need for faith, only a schedule.  Jesus said “Follow me” and “I” will make you fishers of men.  He didn’t say “Peter, come, follow me, and let us have a meeting about how we can save the lost in Israel.”  Then Peter replies: “well good idea Lord, in fact, given my abundant experience of saving souls I recommend the following course of action: we should develop a financial plan that anyone can understand.  This will attract the masses because everyone is poor in this day and age.  Then we could go around the country teaching folks how not to be poor.  Somewhere in that process we will preach some of what God wants you to preach.”  Now I realize that this seems a little comical at first glance, but sometimes I wonder; is this exactly what we are doing?  Are we content to reason with God, but not follow him?  Do we have the idea meetings and evangelism Bible studies because we earnestly want to save those that are lost; or because talking about it makes us feel like we are taking steps to do something for God?  Are the meetings and studies are on the rise, but our prayer life and personal daily reading time on the decline?  Do we find that we can stand up and shout through a two and a half hour concert, but cannot stay in church for thirty minutes to help a seeking soul pray through?  In any case, Jesus said “Follow me.”  It is a singular message that demands a complete commitment.  If we lift Him up, He will draw all men unto him.  Jesus took twelve men who were willing to forsake all to follow him, and made a worldwide Church.  They didn’t have any training or experience, but they had faith, and they had the Spirit.  These were the men that were handpicked to carry a message that would forever change the world; men of faith.  They followed Jesus and he made them fishers of men.

            Perhaps the question is not, “how do we reach the lost?”  Rather, “how do we follow Jesus?”  Jesus is the captain, and he knows how to fish for men; we need not but to obey, to follow him, and let him fashion us through following.   

“Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” – John 6: 28 & 29

Basic Principle: Service

“14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.  15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. 17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”  -John 13-12-17

As you progress in life (both spiritual and physical), you begin to polarize yourself to the Biblical truths that were manifested by Jesus Christ, or you gravitate to the world (what is the world?  See 1 John 2:16).  If you trend toward Biblical truths you will find yourself becoming less and less like the world, caring less and less about the world, and ceasing to define yourself among their standards.  This type of growth is not always quick and easy, it can often be quite painful, and as difficult as this progression may or may not be; it’s necessary that you draw nigh to Jesus.  Jesus in your life will produce a wonderful, peaceful, content, happy, joyful, stress reduced, complete, wholesome, and holy life, while here.  If you do not desire that, then feel free to do whatever you please.  The above text is a singular Biblical example of a basic principle in the scriptures that contradicts a great majority of the teaching that you will find in this world.  It serves to further illustrate that the Bible will take us away from the world and into a life of righteousness.

Jesus Christ was the Son of God.  He was the greatest person to ever walk this earth.  Moreover, he could command the sea, heal the sick, and raise the dead; if ever there was a man that was worth of praise, honor, and glory, it was Jesus.  The disciples were not worthy, they were not highly esteemed, they were not the “best and the brightest;” the world did not praise them for their talents and Jesus did not call them because of their intelligence.  By the world’s standards, Jesus should be exalted and the disciples abased, but that was not so.   Jesus came to serve, to serve God and to serve his fellowman.  He died for you and me.  He lived the example of how we should exalt one another and not ourselves, and on the eve of his death he stooped down to wash his disciple’s feet, leaving a powerful “example” of a basic principle of servitude and how we ought to live in this world as Christians.  This gesture of humility, of servitude; this is the example that Jesus left, and the lesson he taught with his life.  Now contrast that with the teachings and testimonies of the world today.  Jesus said that “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”  How many commercials do you see on TV broadcasting this message?  How many billboards?  How many magazines, sports writers, news anchors, and college professors?  The clarion call of the world is happy are ye if ye do what’s best for you.  Happy are ye if you indulge yourself; eat, sleep, and rise up to play.  When you take a step back and really look around, do you not see a lot of people who are whole heartily embracing this ME, ME, ME theology?  Of those people, how many are happy?  Then look once again, at a few, a very few group of individuals following after the teachings of a man called Jesus, who left an example to serve and……they are HAPPY!  They are filled with joy, love, peace, and contentment.  These are not those that wish to be masters of their own lives, but those that have accepted that they are a servant to all, and to Jesus first of all.  Imagine a household where everyone serves as Jesus served.  Imagine a church where everyone serves as Jesus served, imagine a country where everyone serves as he served; imagine a world where everyone serves as Jesus served.  Imagine if we followed his example.  Do you think it would be different?  Do you think it would be better?  We would not be fussing over who has or has not “paid their fair share.”  We would not be killing one another because of skin color.  We are all so busy trying to determine who is right and who is wrong, and we forget the words in red.  We forget that Christ called his people to serve, and those who serve are happy.  The ME theology that the world endorses only serves to divide, and those seeking power use it as a weapon to gain power, by getting the most ME’s in their corner they get to be at the top of the hill.  Jesus’s teaching undermines this entire system and cuts to the core of mankind’s need, and that need is simple. 

We need a Savior, we need Jesus.  When you lay aside your own agenda and look to him, then and only then can you be truly happy.  Happiness is in service, not being served; that is a basic principle of the scripture that is opposite the teaching of the world.  

The carpenter’s Son

“I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in forever.” -1 Kings 8:13

A place for habitation is the natural pursuit of mankind.  We as people look to homes and dwellings for security, warmth, and completeness.  We need them to protect ourselves, our kids, and the things we procure in this life.  In the beginning, heaven is/was the habitation of God.  Then God made earth for the habitation of man.  Then Jesus, in his astounding and extraordinary grace, offered up himself, so that man could be the habitation of God.  The creator, dwelling in the creation.  Why?  He loves us that much.

            Solomon was the next king after David.  David was a man after God’s own heart and he determined that he was going to build God a house to dwell in.  This was a show of love, humility, and adoration for God.  However, God said David was not to be the one who built it; it would be his son Solomon.  Solomon committed an extraordinary amount of his nation's resources and built the temple, or house of God, in seven years.  The finish product was every bit as extraordinary as the devotion that was put into it.  The house and vessels were overlaid with gold.  The wood was cut and shipped from the forest of Lebanon.  The entire house in building, not a tool was lifted against the material; everything was cut to perfection.  There was never a house, before or since, that was like this house.  The wisest man on earth, ruling the richest kingdom on earth, devoted all his time and effort for seven years to build this house for God.  As magnificent as it was, it was only temporary.  For what Solomon did not know was that God had another dwelling place in mind, another habitation for himself, and Jesus, the carpenter's Son, was to go to work centuries later.  Many years past, the temple that Solomon built fell from its initial glory, and the Jewish people fell with it.  Then Jesus came.  When Jesus came onto this earth, he possessed within himself the materials, tools, and abilities to create the future habitation of God.  In Solomon’s day the people had to visit the temple for sacrifice; they have to look to the temple for forgiveness and pardon.  The physical temple was the epicenter for salvation.  This was the old law, the old way; Jesus was to bring us the New Covenant.  He paved the way, so that sinful man could be righteous, and a Holy God could dwell within us (thereby making us holy and free from sin).  Jesus sanctified himself so that we also might be sanctified.  This was his passion, his work, and when he fulfilled all, he pronounced “It is finished.”  The book of Revelation tells us: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”  Jesus had a mighty job to do, and a mighty work to do, but he performed it.  The Son of God, brought God, to you and to me.  No longer do we have to worship at Jerusalem, no longer do we have to protect the temple.  The tabernacle of God is with men; God can come into your heart and live within!

Jesus built for God (and himself) an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in forever.  He built a dwelling place for God that all the world's riches never could, he built a dwelling place with his own body and his own blood.  Jesus Christ brought sanctification to man.  He brought a way out of sin.  You can be “made free from sin and become servants to God, and have your fruit unto holiness.”  If you meet to condition, the creator can dwell within, today.  Jesus Christ and God can dwell within you through the power of the Holy Ghost.  He can dwell within us and we in Him.  This is the redemption story, this is the song of salvation; like the old folks used to say in my church, we have a heaven to go to heaven in.