Tag Archives: faithful

Commanded To Stand

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As our nation becomes increasingly anti-Christ we will be called upon to take a stand for God.  Some Christians do not want to do that.  Well, there is no room for wishy-washy Christians in our day any longer.  Our numbers are being beheaded for their faith and killed in various ways.  There is no time for us to be sitting on our padded Church pews singing “Blessed Assurance”.

In the Word of God we are charged, challenged and called to do many things. God gives a command to Jeremiah to God’s people.  Look at what that was.  Jeremiah 6:16, “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.”

First of all God exhorts His children through Jeremiah to “Stand ye in the ways,”.  If we are not careful we will fall for the schemes of the devil.  This is one of those exhortations that is good for you and I to take note of and obey.  God has called each of His children to stand.

If you and I take a stand for God we will be targeted for sure.  The world will laugh at us.  They will make fun of us.  They will ridicule us terribly.  They might even go so far as to take our lives.  Rest in the knowledge that God knows all of this.  You and I need to just simply keep standing for God no matter what the world or anyone else does.

So, how are you doing?

 

Now What?

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As  I have been thinking about my Aunt who went to Heaven earlier this week a thought came to me.  “Now what?”

In the case of my aunt there will be a lot for people to divide up amongst themselves.  You never really know how much a person does until they stop doing things.  I know that my aunt was a faithful Church member.  She was a prayer warrior.  She did many things in the Church that may or may not have been noticed.

This came to me as I was reading Joshua 1:1-2, “Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.”

Well, I have reached the conclusion that all you can do is the next thing.  No matter what the next thing is we need to attack it to the best of our ability with God’s help and do it for the glory of God.

So, how are you doing?

A Gift From God 9

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Last night my wife and I sat and watched “Love Worth Finding” on television.  This is the television ministry of Dr. Adrian Rogers.  He is a wonderful preacher and Bible teacher.  He said that in order for a marriage to work you need two things.  They are foundation and flexibility.

He was telling about the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco, CA.  He shared that what holds up the entire bridge are two pillars.  Those two pillars are built on bedrock.  In other words they dug down deep until they found solid ground to build these two pillars on.

Friend, what is your marriage built upon?  If it is going to be successful in this dark day we live in your marriage (and mine) must be build upon solid bedrock.  The only place you can find solid bedrock for marriage or anything else this day and age is in Jesus Christ.  In the Scriptures He is called “the Rock”.

As a Pastor I have performed weddings.  Before I will commit to do a wedding the parties wanting to get married must agree to and complete a few weeks of counseling.  Why am I so strict?  Because I understand that the world’s system is seeking to destroy the family and I want anyone I perform marriages for to at least have what they need to form a strong foundation upon which to build a marriage.  If you and i are like the wise man Jesus spoke about in the New Testament we will build upon a rock.  Not just any rock; but, upon The Rock, Jesus Christ.

This bridge works because it has flexibility.  The bridge is built to have twenty feet (20′) of sway in each direction side to side.  Concrete and steel will sway back and forth, up and down because it is build to be flexible.  It is the same in our marriages.  We must be flexible.  Men and women are different in many ways.  This is a gift from God.  Think how boring life would be if we were all the same.

Once we understand how each person is wired (men and women) we can begin to understand them completely and it will make our marriages and relationships much better.  Look at I Peter 3:7, “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.”

What we need to do is follow the plan God has for marriage and we can enjoy fulfilling marriages that will last a lifetime.  That is a gift from God.

So, how are you doing?

Joseph’s Example

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For several years now I have wanted to study the life of Joseph the husband of Mary.  I think he is someone that we need to take notice of and we don’t.  From what I read in the Scriptures he was a level headed and a thinker.  I think this for many reasons.

When Mary became pregnant he could have legally put her away; but, he did not.  I believe (as I have been told) that Joseph was probably an older man.  This would account for much of the way he handled what was going on in his life at this time.

He was an obedient man.  Look at Luke 2:4, “And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)”  He was required to do this and he did it.  According to the account of Scripture he did it without complaining or anything.  This is very unlike us today.

The more I read and learn about Joseph the more I would like to be like what I know about him.  Now I must reflect on my own life.  Is there anything about me that would make others want to be like me?  Oh my.  I really don’t want to think about this.  I am afraid of the answer, truthfully.  I know there are some that would call me a hypocrite and for that I am ashamed and deeply sorry.  Yet, there are those on the other extreme that might think I walk on water (like my children).  The truth be known, I am a man of flesh and blood just like Joseph.  As long as I live in this body of flesh I will war against sin and that is the truth.  With God’s help I can overcome sin; but, only with God’s help and His Spirit can I accomplish it.

So, how are you doing?

Overcome

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I was reading an article a few days ago about a popular rap artist (this is a great contradiction in terms).  It seems this “artist” was annoyed that a couple of his concert goers did not stand when he took the stage.  In a ploy to get them to stand he tried to embarrass them into standing.  It turns out that one of these people was confined to a wheel chair and the other had a prosthetic leg.  The prosthetic leg was waved in the air so as to alert this intellectual midget that standing was not possible.  He then said, “My bad.” and went on with the concert.  I would have immediately vacated and vehemently requested a refund.

These persons with disabilities overcame obstacles to be in attendance that evening.  Then they were punished by the pride of yet another self-righteous, sin loving pig.  In case you are wondering I don’t take lightly when others mistreat persons with disabilities.

Hy hat is off to these who have overcome their obstacles to go to such an event.  We often face obstacles in our lives that at times seem insurmountable.  Here is the thing.  We have to keep going.  We never know when we might be the inspiration for someone else that is battling uphill, both ways, in the rain.  What joy it would be to find out that we were someone’s inspiration.

Look at Numbers 13:30, “And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.”  I think Caleb is on to something we need today.  We need to see ourselves as people who with God’s power can overcome any obstacle that is in our way.  Someone (possibly Hudson Taylor) said, “God and I make the majority.”

So, how are you doing?

Smoke In My Nose

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It is sad; but, the day we live in I think that the Church needs the mantra of the ice cream chain Baskin Robbins, “31 Favors”.  Actually it would be grossly more than thirty-one.  There are so many new “movements” within the so-called Church that it is pathetic.  One thing they all have in common is that they do not want to be influenced by authentic Christianity.  They have taken on the attitude and lifestyle of those spoken of by Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 65:5, “Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.

What he is saying is that your “brand” is a stench in my nose and the nose of God.  There it is.  We have come so far from what Jesus established that we have become an obnoxious smell in the nose of Jesus, who started the Church and died for her.  This should break all of our hearts.  The sad reality is that we don’t even care what Jesus’ opinion is because we are going to do things our own way.  It is obvious.  The Church is powerless, prayerless, passionless, painless and generally pathetic.

If we do not have a real revival soon we are going down for the last time for sure.  We cannot continue down the sinful slope and think God is going to continue to bless the Church.  I can assure you that He will not.  There are still a few Churches standing in the gap with the odor of battle smoke in their noses; but, they are precious few.

So, how are you doing?

It Is A Faith Problem

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Sometimes I get so frustrated with myself.  It is irritating not having the means to do the things that seem important to you.  The other day I attended graduation open house parties.  The frustrating part was that we could not buy gifts for all of those that we love who have graduated.  The reason we could not is due to poor decisions on my part.  Looking back that seems to be in my past a lot.

Maybe you and I find ourselves in situations that are unpleasant because we lack faith.  Maybe the decisions we make are not made based upon faith.  Now we are getting somewhere.  It is not a money problem.  It is a faith problem.

Faith is a confident expectation that God will do what He says.  We can take His promises to the bank of life.  If He promises it then it will be done.  Do we have faith?  Even more so do we exercise our faith?  Here is where the rubber meets the road.  So many times we try to operate on auto-pilot so to speak and we wonder why our Christian life is so dull and boring or even does not exist.  It is because we do not exercise our faith.

Look at I Peter 1:7, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”  Just remember that our Heavenly Father cares more about our character than our comfort.

So, how are you doing?

Our Enemy

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The other day as I was taking a shower I noticed a spider on the ceiling.  They don’t scare me; but, I sure didn’t want one hanging above my head no matter where it might be.  I swatted at it with my wash cloth.  It began swinging back and forth on a web it had spun.  I fought and fought this spider.  It finally fell off the ceiling.  It landed on my back.  So, I danced around and around trying to get it off my while swatting myself with the wash cloth.  This was a delicate dance in the shower I will tell you.  I finally noticed the spider in the water so I kicked it down the drain and bid it farewell as it took the water taxi to the sewer plant.

I thought about the devil and how he likes to jump on our back.  This thought became real as this spider tried to defend against my attacks.  We have an enemy that seeks to destroy us at any given moment.  We have to know who the enemy is in order to defend against this enemy.

Look at Ephesians 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”  We need to quit fighting one another and get busy fighting the real enemy.

So, how are you doing?

The Glory Is Departed 5

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Yesterday morning I took some friends to the airport so they could leave town.  The left just before the storms and hail hit.  We should have went with them.  Nevertheless.  As I was driving away from dropping them off at their departure I noticed something.  I saw a young lady and a young man.  They must have kissed half a dozen times while I was driving away.  They were at the opposite end that I pulled away from.

I thought to myself, “The Glory Is Departed”.  I had to giggle because of the tongue in cheek humor.  Then I began to think about their relationship.  Will their relationship grow stale because of their time apart?  Will they even break up because of the length of absence so they seek the love of another?

Then I thought about our relationship with our Heavenly Father.  Far too many times we take long periods of time away from Him (we think) and the relationship goes stale (on our end) so to speak.  God no longer answers our prayers.  He does not speak to us like He once did.  Who moved?  Us, that is right.

If we are going to see the return of the glory of God then we are going to have to roll up our sleeves and get busy.  We must return to where we were when “The Glory Is Departed”.  Look at Nehemiah 3:1, “Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel.”

Notice here that they did not build all over the city.  They each built where they lived.  If you read on you will find that each man had his weapon in one hand and his tool in the other.  This is exactly what we must do.  We must rebuild the walls of our life and family and pray that we will once again see the glory of God on us, our Church and nation.

So, how are you doing?

Do You See What I See?

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Saturday I was afforded the opportunity to participate in one of my favorite pass times.  No, I was not eating.  I took my cousin’s 1950 John Deere tractor out for the first ride this year.  Some guys ride Harley’s.  Some guys ride BMW’s.  I ride a big green machine that will squash those to gravel sized pieces.

While riding I noticed that my sunglasses were beginning to get covered in bugs.  Yes, a tractor will go fast enough to make bugs splatter on your sunglasses if you do not have a cab on the tractor.  When I finally noticed this I thought about Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. ”

If my sunglasses had gotten so covered in bugs then my vision would have been so hampered that I would have had to stop and clean them off.  Then I began to think.  Dangerous territory, I know.  My mind went to the spiritual side of life.  What about vision when it relates to our spiritual life?  We just saw what God’s Word says about those who do not have vision.  They “perish”.

What vision do you have?  I don’t mean a light at the end of the tunnel kind of garbage.  I mean real vision.  What has God put into your heart to accomplish?  What have you done about it.  I know one thing.  God impressed something on me so large that I cannot accomplish it myself so I will rely upon Him and seek counsel from His men that have done what He is asking me to do before.  What is your vision?  Run with it.

So, how are you doing?