BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS

Proclamation:

"Watch out for false prophets.  They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves." Matthew 7:15 (NIV)

Explanation:

These are the words of Jesus, The Christ, which He spoke to His disciples and to the surrounding crowd during His Sermon on The Mount as recorded by the Apostle Matthew.  Jesus was warning them to beware of false teachers.  These false teachers are known by their false doctrine and by their evil living.

Application:

Everything that sounds good is not the truth.  Just because someone says that something is in The Bible does not mean that it is actually there.  Some of time people will take things out of context in order to make a point that is Biblically incorrect.  Be careful of who you follow and who you listen to.  Everyone who claims to be a man of God, or a child of God, is not telling the truth.  "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)  “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:23)  We all need to read and study The Bible for ourselves. "Study to show thyself approved unto God ... rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15)  Be careful, there are false prophets out there.

DELIGHT IN THE WORD OF GOD

Proclamation:

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of The Lord, and who meditates on His law day and night.  That person … whatever they do prospers.” Psalm 1:1-3

Explanation:

This psalm was written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God and the human author is generally agreed upon to be King David.  It begins in the same manner which Jesus, The Christ, began His Sermon on the Mount.  “Blessed is the man …” has been rendered happy and blessed is this man in things temporal and spiritual, in this world, and in the world to come.  This man does not hang out with ungodly sinners.  He finds joy in The Word of God and he meditates on that both day and night.  Whatever he does in faith and in love to the glory of God will prosper.

Application:

What do we really delight in doing?  I am sure that we delight in a number of things.  The question is, 'Do we delight in reading and hearing The Word of God?'  Most Christians would say that they do, but our actions speak louder than our words.  We should enjoy, take pleasure in, and receive great satisfaction from reading the Bible.  This verse suggests that the 'blessed man' reads and meditates, reflects on or ponders, God's Word at least twice each day, "... day and night."  Do we think about and study the Bible twice each day?  We say that we love The Lord, but some of us only want to talk about Him or hear about Him once a week.  It has been said that some of us only open our Bibles on Sunday mornings, and maybe again on Wednesday night for Bible study. That's only twice a week and not twice a day.  Let us commit to praying and reading our Bible twice each day, the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night.  I am sure that would please God, and pleasing God is a good thing to do.  Who knows, we might be like the “blessed man” and whatever we do will also prosper.  We should pray that The Good Lord will restore to us the joy of salvation and grant us joy, wisdom, and understanding as we read and study His Holy Word.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!

Please remember those who helped to keep us free and independent.  May The Good Lord bless you today, and continue to bless you every day.

WALK WORTHY

Proclamation:

“… I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Make every effort to keep the unity of The Spirit …” Ephesians 4:1-3 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by the Apostle Paul to the believers in Ephesus to encourage them to keep the faith and to live a Christ-like life.  Paul wanted them to show evidence of the fruit of The Holy Spirit in their daily walk.

Application:

As Christians, we fall short and mess up daily.  We sin and do not act, talk, or think in a Christ-like manner.  However, even though we are far from perfect, we need to endeavor to be more Christ-like each day.  While it really is not possible for us to count up all of our sins on a daily basis, we should attempt to commit one less sin each day than we did the day before.  Unfortunately, it is probably possible for us to count the number of Christ-like behaviors that we do each day and we should perform one more each day than we did the day before.  That way we would be clearly becoming more Christ-like with each passing day.  We need to "... walk worthy ..." and be the best that we can be at whatever we are called to do.  Be the best street sweeper, secretary, clerk, repairman, administrator, doctor, lawyer, or whatever that we can be.  That includes being the best Christian that we can be.  "... Walk worthy ..." don't just talk the talk on Sunday, but also walk the walk of a Christian daily.  It doesn’t matter how good we are, there is still room for improvement.  In order to do so we must make a commitment and a conscience effort and think before we act or speak.  Live a life that pleases God and be blessed. (Psalms 119:1-2, Proverbs 8:32 and Luke 11:28)

LET GO OF "FRIENDS"

Proclamation:

“But if you do not drive out the inhabitants ... those you allow to remain will become … thorns in your sides.  They will give you trouble … And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.” Numbers 33:55-56 (NIV)

Explanation:

These are the words of The Lord God which were spoken to and recorded by Moses.  God told Moses to speak to the Israelites as they were about to the Jordan and enter to promise land.  They were to drive out of the land all of the idol worshiping inhabitants, and destroy all of their carved images and their idols.  God said that if they didn’t do this, then those that remained would bring them trouble.  And then God said that He would treat them like He was going to treat their enemies.

Application:

Some people should only be in our life for a season.  They serve a purpose, usually to teach us a lesson.  However, they were not meant to stay in our lives.  We were not supposed to hold on to them and keep them in our lives.  If our “friends” are not believers in Christ, then what do they believe and who is influencing whom?  It is time to let those people go.  It's not good to hang on to people after God has said for us to move away from them.  Those that we let remain in our lives will cause us nothing but trouble.  If they are remnants of our life before we accepted Christ then they are a temptation to return to our previous sinful habits.  We changed when we became believers and we are now new creatures. (2 Corinthians 5:17)  All of the people that we used to hang out with will not want to come with us on our new walk.  Only birds of the same feather will flock together.  Only people who are in agreement will walk the same walk together. (Amos 3:3)  We can’t walk with The Lord and continue to hold hands with the devil.  Not everybody that was in our “old” life should be with us in our “new” life.  We need to let go of any “friend” who is pulling us away from God.  We do not want to incur the wrath of God because we wanted to keep walking with our evil doing non-believing friends.

THE HIGHER STANDARD OF CHRISTIAN LOVE

Proclamation:

“... Love your enemies, bless those that curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you, and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father which is in heaven ..." Matthew 5:44-45 (NKJ)

Explanation:

These are the words of The Lord Jesus, The Christ, as recorded under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by the Apostle Matthew.  Jesus spoke these words to His disciples, and to the surrounding crowd, during His Sermon on The Mount.  He was contrasting how the world acts with how a believer should behave.  The world says love your neighbor and hate your enemy. (Matthew 5:43)  Jesus said that believers should love their enemies.  If they only love those who love them then they are no different from the non-believers in the world. (Matthew 5:46)

Application:

Sometimes being a Christian is not easy to do.  It is easy to love those that love us.  However, as believers, Jesus has challenged to love those people who do not love us.  We are told to love, bless, do good to and pray for the people that we would normally hate, curse, want to get even with, and want bad things to happen to.  God's way for us to treat people is not the way that we would normally behave.  We are to treat them with kindness.  Maybe this is what is meant by "killing them with kindness".  Our being nice to them will be like pouring burning coals on their heads.  Vengeance belongs to The Lord and He will take care of them. (Romans 12:19-21)  We are to apply the "golden rule" to all people.  We are to do unto others as we would have them to do unto us. (Matthew 7:12)  We are to treat people like we would like to be treated, not as they treat us.  As a believer we should live and love by a higher standard.  Sometimes being a Christian is not easy, but it is well worth it. 

A PRAYER OF DAVID

Proclamation:

“Teach me, Lord, the way of Your decrees, that I may follow it to the end.  Give me understanding, so that I may keep Your law and obey it with all my heart.  Direct me in the path of Your commands, for there I find delight.  Turn my heart toward Your statutes and not toward selfish gain.” Psalm 119:33-36 (NIV)

Explanation:

This psalm was written by King David under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  Here David is praying and asking The Lord to teach him and give him understanding so that he would know and follow God’s law.  He also wants The Lord to direct his heart and his path towards God and His laws and to turn him away from selfish gain.  David knows that he is a sinner and that he needs God’s help to keep him from his deceitful ways. (Psalm 119:28-29)

Application:

King David recognized that he needed help to follow The Word of God and he prayed and asked for that help.  We need to come to the same understanding and recognize that we need God’s help to follow His commands and statutes.  Our problem is that we think that we know it all and we offer up excuses for why don’t follow God’s word.  When we pray we should ask for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of His Holy Word.  We should also pray that He would turn our heart away from our selfish sinful desires and towards Him and His righteousness.