Psalms 148:8, “Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word:”

Today is Monday.  Some people look at it as the first day of the week.  Yet, Sunday is the first day of the week.  I hope you started your week in Church.  This is the beginning to a great week.

So many people dread Monday like a visit to the dentist.  They have their focus wrong.  If we know that we have a hard week ahead it is even more important to be in Church on Sunday to get your spiritual bearings for the week.

Storms are a real part of life.  Some people feel like their entire life is one big, long storm.  They can be overwhelming to us.  Remember to keep your moorings in Christ and when the “stormy wind” comes along you will be moored to one who can weather the storm with us and bring us through safely.  Have a great week!

So, how are you doing?

Proverbs 28:2, “For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged.”

On April 27, 2012 Todd Starnes of Fox News reported that a guest speaker at the “National High School Journalism Conference sponsored by the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association. But it turned into an episode of Christian-bashing.”  The speaker, Dan Savage became so grotesque and offensive with his language and further began to bash the Word of God and Christians that some students and adults left his so-called speech.  It appears that the one who came to lecture against bullying became the bully.

Here in America we have allowed homosexuality to run over traditional Christian values that God blesses.  It does not take someone with an above average IQ to see that God has removed His hand of blessing off this nation that is due to our abandonment of Him and His ways.

If we are going to salvage America we are going to have to get busy and win others to Christ so the opposition will no longer be opposition; but, will be in fact on the Lord’s side.

So, how are you doing?

Psalms 27:8, “When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.”

I remember many times over my years playing peek-a-boo with different infants.  The fun part was to move where they could not see you when you ducked out of sight.  Then they would really hunt for you.  I know, I am so mean.

Have you ever thought about this in our spiritual life?  Our Heavenly Father does not play “peek-a-boo” with us.  So long as we do not have sin in our lives we have open access to Him at any second of any day.  No peek-a-boo here.

When Jesus died on the cross the veil of the temple tore from the top to the bottom signaling and symbolizing that we now have direct access to God.  There is no more going through a man once a year.  We can walk right in and confidently know that  we can have our prayers answered.

Think about your relationship with the Heavenly Father.  Are you just playing spiritual “Peek-A-Boo”?  Hopefully, you are taking full advantage of having an “All-Access” pass that has been purchased for you with the blood of Jesus.  Priceless!

So, how are you doing?

II Kings 16:17, “And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones.”

As I was reading our text for today I could not help but think of some parallels to our present day.  I will promise you that I will not be a popular writer at the completion of this writing.  You see, as I was reading this passage my thoughts went to the Church of today.  So-called Christians have come in and changed so many things. We have blurred the lines of demarcation to the point you cannot tell the world from the Church hardly.

King Ahaz came in and wrecked the temple of God.  He tore it apart.  Yet, our Churches today are being torn apart by liberal thinkers from the inside.  Job 24:2, “Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.”  It is high time we get back to the Bible and give up on worldly programs and the things that God cannot and will not put His hand of blessing upon.

Proverbs 22:28, “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.” The word “landmark” means bound.  God has given us boundaries and we like cattle push against them and try to get to the outside.  They are there for our protection. Also look at Proverbs 23:10, “Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:”

Look out Church!  Don’t be guilty of bringing down the house.

So, how are you doing?

II Kings 6:15-17, “And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?  And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.  And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”

When people go through trials we seem to get our focus wrong from time to time.  I don’t think this is on purpose, really.  I think we feel we get overwhelmed and the next thing we know we are focused on the negative side of the problem and not the positive side of what God can do through the trial.  You might be thinking that is more easily said than done.  Well, when the focus is wrong it is; but, when the focus is right it is no problem.

Here is a man that got his focus all wrong.  He saw only the host that was coming against them like an overwhelming flood.  Because he focused on the nasty now and now he could have easily missed what God was about to do on their behalf.  When their eyes were opened they saw the deliverance of God all around them.  Friend, focus today on the deliverance God has for you and not your circumstances.

So, how are you doing?

II Kings 21:13, “And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.”

My grandfather on my dad’s side of the family was a wonderful carpenter.  He built nearly an entire subdivision here in our town back before I was born.  There was really nothing he could not build.  I remember how he and my dad built me a sandbox when I was a kid.

One thing you could count on with Grandpa Dale was that it was built to last.  He put his best effort into his work.  Things were not crooked or out of plumb.

He often used a plummet.  That is a weight with a line attached.  When the plummet and the wall did not match up he did not move the line.  He made corrections in the wall.

The same could be said of our spiritual life.  So often our lives do not match up to the Word of God.  When this happens too many people want to change God’s Word to fit their lives.  We need to change our lives to fit the Word of God.

So, how are you doing?

II Kings 5:27, “The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.”

When I was growing up on the farm I would get so dirty.  Sometimes I was hard to recognize because I was so dirty.  Still today I love to take a hot shower and get clean.  There is nothing like coming out of a good hot shower and the feeling you get.

It should be the same in our spiritual lives too.  We get dirty as we rub shoulders with the world and we get spiritually dirty so to speak.  How do we deal with this uncleanness?  It is pretty simple and there is no water involved no matter what some system of beliefs will tell you.

All a person has to do is simply pray and ask God for forgiveness as one of His children.  If you are not one of His children you must turn from your sin and accept Him as your Saviour and then you can go to Him as often as you need to get forgiveness.

You see, leprosy in the Bible is a picture of sin.  Sometimes you just have to get the sin cleaned up and Jesus is the One who has and will take care of that.

So, how are you doing?

II Kings 20:8-11, “And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the LORD the third day?  And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?  And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.  And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.”

Have you ever been driving along and seen a sign advertising, “Eat At Joe’s And Get Gas” or something similar?  I have a couple times in my life.  It is always funny.  It gets even more funny when you realize that the gas pumps had been removed years ago.  At least the owner of the place was being honest.  That is more than one could say for a lot of places in our day and age.

With God you do not have to wonder.  If you are a student of His Word then you will know full well Who you are getting.  So many of us like Gideon fleece God because we lack Bible faith.

What big decision do you have in your life that you need to hear from God about?  When He speaks just take Him at His Word and go on.  If He chooses not to speak do not venture out on your own because the results will be disastrous.

So, how are you doing?

II Samuel 9:5-7, “Then king David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lodebar.  Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant!  And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.”

Today’s passage of Scripture is longer than usual.  I love the story of Mephibosheth.  He is a picture of salvation.  Notice how.

Mephibosheth was sent for by the king just like you and I have been sent for by the King of kings and Lord of lords.  God reaches out to people to show them salvation, the possibility of eternal life with Him.  Mephibosheth did reverence to the king and called himself his servant.  He was acknowledging that he was inferior to the king.  We are lost without Christ and are not worthy to call Him anything..  The king extended grace to Mephibosheth by giving to him all that belonged to his family.  God gives to you and I that which we do not deserve and it is called grace.  Mephibosheth was told he would eat at the king’s table for the rest of his life.  You and I who know Christ as our Saviour will dine at the King’s table for eternity.  Do you have a seat at the heavenly table?  I hope so.

So, how are you doing?

II Samuel 11:4, “And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.”

The Word of God does not give us all the little details of the account of David’s sin with Bathsheba and I think I am glad.  Moral failure is rampant in our world today.  We call it everything; but, what God calls it.  Sin.

King David had a big moral failure in our Scripture for today.  He stayed home from the battle which was not the norm.  He saw the woman bathing.  Then to go further down the slippery slope he sent for her.  What woman in that time would not be flattered and honored to be called by the king of her nation.  Really.  The Word of God records no resistance from the woman Bathsheba.  Then David sinned with the woman.

As a result; the fruit of this ungodly relationship, the child, died.  Not to mention the murder of Uriah the Hittite.  Yet you and I are no better if we are still living under the penalty of sin as passed down from Adam our father.  If we trust Christ as our Saviour we can be free from this burden of sin through the power in the blood of Jesus Christ.

So, how are you doing?