Obedience

Question: Are you obedient or disobedient most of the time?  Disobedience seems to be the norm these days with so many people.  Disobedience and rebelliousness seem to go hand in hand in today’s culture with many acting out in defiance in many areas of life.  I know that these attributes stem from the fall of man from the beginning of time.  God’s word says that the heart is deceitfully wicked and who can know it.  I think everyone knows that the prisons, jails and reformatories are full of rebellious, defiant and disobedient people.

If I were to ask, I believe many people would say we were born this way so we can’t help being this way.  It is true, we were born that way because this relates to all of us being born with a sin nature.  God’s word says, “All have sinned and fell short of God’s glory, there is none righteous no not one.”  

Please read Romans 3:9-12, “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.’”

But I have some good news.  We all have choices to make and a free will to choose how we end up in life.  

There are many people struggling with believing that God exists.  Sometimes I feel so far away from God it seems like He isn’t there and He doesn’t exist, but I know beyond a shadow of doubt that He does exist and that He is real.  I know that without even using God’s word to back me up and have known it for many years.  There was a time when I felt like a total freak in the lifestyle I chose for myself.  I was nothing but an alcoholic and a drug addict and a rotten person with a rotten attitude.  I figured I had a warped mind and no commonsense.  I was also addicted to porn and an all-around jerk who hated most things unless it had to do with partying.  Alcohol and drugs poisoned my life for many years, along with other things I was destroying my life with.  After close to thirty years of this I came to the end of myself and repented and recommitted my life to the Lord and was born-again and almost immediately I was delivered and set free of the drugs and alcohol and porn.

Then I started changing in other areas also.  God’s word says this, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, the old things have passed away and all things are become new.”  That was the beginning of a whole new life for me, praise the Lord!!  It has been around forty years now and there is no way anyone can thank or praise the good Lord enough for the experience that I had.  I haven’t had a drink of alcohol or popped any pills or smoked any reefers since this born-again experience took place. As time went on, I noticed I wasn’t cursing or getting angry near as much and instead of hating things and people I started caring about things and people and I was so excited about what was happening in my life, for which I give the Lord all the glory.  I was still far from perfect, but the changes were so dramatic that others noticed the change too.  Praise the Lord I was finally free but still had a lot of growing to do.  

Then I realized I would never be perfect this side of heaven, but I could strive for perfection, which I tried to do.  So, knowing what happened to me through the Lord after being a rebellious, angry person, I know there is good news for the non-believer.  God loves you and wants to have a relationship with you so much that He sent His only begotten Son into the world that you might have eternal life and be set free just as I was, praise the Lord!!  Jesus wasn’t sent into the world to condemn the world but to set free the captive, plus other things.

Please read John 3:17-19, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

I said before that we all have a free will to choose.  We can choose to rebel and disobey, or we can choose to repent and obey.  I will give you some verses that will take place by the choices each person makes.  Read Romans 2:1-16, “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who ‘will render to each one according to his deeds’: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God. For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.”

I think these verses are self-explanatory, now read John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

God loves all people and He wants a relationship with all of us, but some choose to be disobedient, but others choose to repent from the heart.  The humble and contrite heart is what God is seeking for, so humble yourself before the Lord and He will lift you up.

And for those who would like a personal relationship with the Lord please read 2 Corinthians 7:10, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”  

Godly sorrow is being sorry that you sinned against a righteous God; repentance, is a heartfelt desire to forsake your sins to turn away from your sins and to turn to God and to confess that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness.  Then ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior.  I believe if your heart is right before the Lord you will be born-again!!  Then you will rejoice also like many, many before you have!!  

Enough said, my prayer is that this was an encouragement and a blessing to all who read it.  May the good Lord bless each of you with His perfect peace, love and joy and health and happiness and may you all have a super day!!  May all of you thank and praise the Lord today for He is worthy!!

Being Different

I was listening to Ron Hutchcraft this morning and I liked what I heard so I thought I would bring somewhat of a pretty similar message.  I think some believers have a problem with feeling like the odd person in the group.  We are all different; some of us are more liberal and some are more conservative, plus some may fall right in the middle but all of us may be believers.  Ron related this to baseball cards; the rare ones that are worth money and the common ones that are not worth near that much.  

These are my thoughts, think about this; there are multitudes of baseball cards out there but there are far less that truly stand out and are sought after.  You might say they are the odd ones, some being hard to come by.  The way I feel is this; some believers have different convictions than others and that may make them seem different than others.  Some seem to think we should all be like cookie cutter believers, talking, acting, dressing and responding somewhat the same.  The problem with that is if that were to happen, we would be like a bunch of robots or penguins or puppets.  Then there are those that study and read much more than others, who question things and then there are those that go with the flow, agreeing with most anything they hear.  There are some because of their convictions will not be able to agree with others and they may seem like the odd ones, but they may not be odd at all and they can all be believers.

No matter where you fit in this scenario, if you are born-again you are a child of God and He loves you very much.  Now this is where we need to be careful and we need discernment and wisdom so that we don’t get deceived following after false doctrines.  It would be good if we were all like the Bereans who listened carefully and then studied to see if what they heard was the truth.  All of us should do the same so that we don’t fall into the trap of the evil one, so we are not deceived at any time but especially now that we are in the end times.  

We have a warning in the word of God about this that we all should pay very close attention to.  The Bible says that in the end times some people will not put up with sound doctrine but will only listen to what their itching ears want to hear.  Many will only listen to the feel-good gospel, whatever that may be, but that is not the true gospel at all.

Read 2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”  

Some will even listen to doctrines of demons, Paul’s letter to Timothy says in 1 Timothy 4:1-11, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. These things command and teach.”

This teaches us that we need to be studied up in the scriptures.  This is Paul speaking to Timothy, also in 2 Timothy 2:14-19, “Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and, ‘Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.’”

Be careful who and what you listen to so that you are not deceived.  There are those that even know the word of God that can and will try to lead you astray, so be careful!!  I pray that this will be an encouragement and help and a blessing to whoever reads it.  Enough said, may the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super day!!  

The Gift Of The Holy Spirit

Think of this; from the beginning the Israelites were picked by God to be His chosen people and were called the apple of His eye.  Their nation was the least likely to be chosen but it was the one that God choose.  For many years they were protected by the Lord and provided for and forgiven of so many trespasses and sins and the Lord’s mercy and grace was extended so many times to them.  They were the chosen, the special ones that the Lord led through the wilderness with a cloud by day and by fire at night.  The Israelites saw and heard so many miracles that the Lord performed on their behalf.  Their nation has been extremely blessed and watched over for many years.  There is no other nation that can claim what they can claim.  And even when the Holy Spirit was poured out, they were the ones who received Him and were baptized by Him with the evidence of speaking with tongues, plus so many other things that I could mention.  I think it would be very easy for them to get puffed up with pride and be arrogant and even jealous.

Now think of this; at one time the Gentiles were spoken of as dogs whom the Jews would have nothing to do with.  Then think of this; when Jesus came to earth, He came to the Jews who were God’s chosen people and no one else. When Jesus picked His disciples, He picked only Jewish men that He spent most of his time on earth with.  How special do you think you would feel if you were a Jewish person?

This is something else you can think about; not long after the Holy Spirit was poured out something happened that was very unexpected to Peter and all the Jews who were with Peter who saw what had happened.  They were shocked to say the least, they were astonished because of what had happened, read it for yourself in Acts 10:44-46, “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.”

When it says those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, it means the Jewish people, I guess they never thought that the Gentiles would be chosen to receive the same gift that they had received, because they had no reason to believe it.  But they also received the gift of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.  Many times, we don’t know what God is doing or what He is thinking.  

Read Isaiah 55:5-8 says, speaking of the Jews, “Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you. Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord.”

His word also says this in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

Like I alluded to earlier, we don’t always know what the Lord is thinking or what He may have in mind for us but there is one thing we can be sure of, and that is this, we know that He works all things out for the good of those who love Him and those who have been called according to His purpose.  Sometimes we may be astonished at what the Lord does in our lives or someone else’s life that we know or hear about, just like Peter and the Jews that were with Him were.

If you experience something that is hard to believe, don’t take it for granted that it could not be from God, did you ever hear of a donkey talking?  Please read Numbers 22:26-28, “Then the Angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam’s anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff. Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?’”

It is an interesting story, if you would like to look it up and read the whole story.   Like I said you may be shocked at what the Lord may do in and through your life.  The Lord has done some things in my life that were unbelievable, so expect the unbelievable to happen in your life and get ready to be astonished.  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may all of you have a super day!!