LEARNING.

 

"Such things were written in the

Scriptures long ago to teach us.

And the Scriptures give us hope

and encouragement as we wait

patiently for God's promised to

be fulfilled."

(Romans 15:4 NLT)

Reading in the Old Testament books of

Chronicles can be, well, real boring.

However for my self the book of 

2 Chronicles is exciting.  It has plenty

of boring stuff in it as it gives all the

genealogies. 

But,  there is something that stands out,

over and over and over again that is 

instructive to me.

Every time a King trusted God,

God performed outstanding miracles

for them. Also he prospered them.

For example;

"Hezekiah sought his God 

wholeheartedly.  As a result,

he was very successful."

(2 Chronicles 31:21 NLT)

Another word of warning though.

At least three of these kings that God

helped in such outstanding ways

messed up bad.  They either began to

trust them selves thinking they could

handle it;  and they begin trusting in 

outside help rather than God.  Or,

they became proud because of the 

blessings God had given them.

Then they ended up in a "royal mess".

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart;

do not depend on your own understanding.

Seek his will in all you do, and he will 

show you which path to take."

(Proverbs 3:5,6 NLT)

TODAY'S QUOTE

"We have no desire to build a single church

building anywhere!  This allows the gospel

to be spread rapidly, is harder for the authorities

to detect, and allows us to channel all our

resources directly into gospel ministry."

-Brother Run in 

The Heavenly Man.

 

HELP

I am confronted with a problem that is

to big for me.  There are things involved

that I have no control over.

I of course have been praying about it.

This morning in my devotional time just

as a matter of course the Lord brought 

these two kings to my attention.

King Abijah

A war broke out between King Abijah

with 400,000 soldiers and King Jeroboam

with 800,000 soldiers.  When King Abijah

and the soldiers of Judah realized that 

they were trapped;

"When Judah realized that they

were being attacked from the front

and rear, they cried out to the LORD

for help."

(2 Chronicles 13:14 NLT)

I don't even need to tell you, GOD

helped Abijah and Judah win.

Then there is King Asa when Judah

was confronted with a Ethiopian 

million man army .

"Then Asa cried out to the LORD

his God, 'O lord, no one but you 

can help the powerless against the

mighty!  Help us, O LORD our God,

for we trust in you alone.  It is in 

your name that we have com against

this vast horde." 

(2 Chronicles 14:11 NLT)

Yes, you guessed it again,

God helped King Asa and Judah win.

SAD, but somewhere along the line King

Asa began to look to mankind for help

instead of God.

Asa relied on King Benhadad by buying

his help rather than relying on God when

he had another war situation.

THAT WAS A MISTAKE.

Later;

"In the thirty-ninth year of his reign,

Asa developed a serious foot disease. 

Yet even with the severity of his disease,

he did not seek the LORD'S help but

turned only to his physicians."

(2 Chronicles 16:12 NLT)

Asa had a glorious reign when he relied

on God for help.

But,

we could almost say he died a fool's death

by turning to man for help.

"My help comes from the LORD,

who made heaven and earth!"

(Psalms 121:2 NLT)

 

TODAY'S PROMISE

 

"Then he said to the crowd, ' If

any of you wants to be my follower,

you must give up your own way,

take up your cross daily and follow

me.  If you try to hang on to your

life, you will lose it.  But if you give

up your life for my sake, you will

save it."   

(Luke 9:23,24 NLT)

WHAT IS YOUR TITLE.

Yes, I could legitimately hang a title on

my name.  The certificates or proof of 

it are in my office buried in an old

scrap book -WHERE THEY BELONG.

When you have lived as long as I have,

you get tired of seeing the pride of man-

kind in or out of the church.  See if a 

fancy title matches the thinking of Jesus.

"Everything they do is for show.

On their arms they wear extra wide

prayer boxes with Scripture verses

inside, and they wear robes with ex-

tra long tassels.  And they love to 

sit at the head table at banquets and

in the seats of honor in the syna-

rogues.  They love to receive re-

spectul greetings as they walk in

the marketplaces, and to be called

'Rabbi.'

"Don't let anyone call you 'Rab-

bi,' for you have only one teacher,

and all of you are equal as brothers

and sisters.  And don't address

anyone here on earth as 'Father,' for

only God in heaven is your Father.

And don't let anyone call you

'Teacher,' for you have only one

teacher, the Messiah.  The greatest

among you must be a servant.  But

those who exalt themselves will be

humbled, and those who humble

themselves will be exalted."

(Matthew 23:5 - 12 NLT)

That makes me want to avoid even the 

title of "Mr.".  I am happy just being 

called "Brother".  I confess, I am learning

to like the title "grandpa".  Forgive me

Lord.

 

TODAY'S QUOTE

"We have no desire to build a single

church building anywhere!  This

allows the gospel to spread rapidly,

is harder for the authorities to detect,

and allows us to channel all our resources

directly into gospel ministry."

-Brother Yun in

The Heavenly Man._

 

THEORETICAL CHRISTIANS

                                                               It was A.W. Tozer who said;

"We have today theological saints who can (and

must) be proved to be saints by an appeal to

the Greek original.  We need saints whose lives

proclaim their sainthood,  and who need not run

to the concordance for authentication."

Our Churches today are full of theoretical, theological

or fake Christians.  They may look good, but they are

not the real thing.

I KNOW!

Who made me the judge.

I am not the judge.  Jesus is.

All we have to do is look at the fruit.

"You can identify them by their fruit,

that is, by the way they act.  Can

you pick grapes from thorn bushes,

or figs from thistles?"

(Matthew 7:16 NLT)

"Yes, just as you can identify a 

tree by its fruit, so you can 

identify people by their actions."

(Matthew 7:20 NLT)

Those of us who have raised sheep and goats

know the difference of the "baa" of a sheep as

vs. the bleating of a goat just as you know the 

difference between the meow of a cat as vs.

the bark of a dog.

Christians, that is the true children or family

of God, have characteristics that differ from 

the characteristics of the world.  We are given

them when we are born into the family of God.

How do we get into the family of God?

Just like a family here on earth.  You are

born into it, or married into it, or adopted

into it.  All good Biblical expressions used

in the Scriptures for Children of God - i.e.

Christians.

Joining a church will not do it.  The beliefs

or doctrines you hold will not do it.  Your

opinions will not do it. etc. etc. etc.

There must be a definite transaction with

God almighty.

There must be a repenting, i.e. as change of

mind and turning to God, an asking for his 

forgiveness for failure and sin and then a 

submitting to Jesus Christ to become LORD

and the Savior over your life.

WE HAVE TO BE IN A RELATIONSHIP 

WITH JESUS CHRIST.

or else.

"Not everyone who calls out to me,

'Lord! Lord! will enter the Kingdom

of Heaven.  Only those who actually 

do the will of my Father in heaven

will enter.  On judgment day many

will say to me, 'Lord! Lord!  We

prophesied in your name and cast

out demons in your name and per-

formed many miracles in your 

name.'  But I will reply, 'I never

knew you.  Get away from me, you

who break God's laws.'".

(Matthew 7:21 - 23 NLT)

Do you only profess Jesus Christ,

or possess Christ?