We Are Commanded To Honor Our Parents.

Ephesians 6:2 “Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)”

This subject was discussed at my mother’s house over the holidays with some of my family. I was asked what it truly means “to honor our parents” and when I answered the question I may have walked into a hornets nest, but the truth is the truth. God never made an exception to when not to honor our parents. We must quickly understand that the bible is law and therefore it must be treated as such. If God says to do something and gives no exceptions then there are no exceptions. Let’s liken it to the law of the road; if the speed limit on the interstate is 70mph maximum then is there any exception to drive 80mph; no there is not, just as there are no exceptions not to honor our parents. I know some parents are awful, godless people and do not deserve any honor in our opinions but we must keep in mind that honor is a commandment; in fact it is in the Ten Commandments. In Exodus 20:12 “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” In fact Jesus Christ took it much farther when he said; “For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.” Matthew 15:4. I would say this is pretty final and a commandment we should all obey. Now please believe me when I say “I understand that there are many parents that do not deserve any honor” but we must all understand that God never said “if they deserve it”. My own father was a drunk, wife abuser, child abuser (not sexually), and sometimes a horrible person but I always honored him as my father and still do even though he has been dead many years. Beloved it is not what I say that counts but it is what God says that counts and He must be obeyed. Please let us remember on thing; we are not to render evil for evil God said; “Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.” 1 Peter 3:9 Do your part and God will bless you for your honor to them and for you’re obeying him. Now to them; if they are bad people and you find it hard to honor them then look to Jesus Christ who also said; "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. (20.) Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. (21.) Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:19 – 21. Beloved obey God and give them the honor that He commanded and God will take care of the “not deserving part”. Honoring our parents is not a choice but rather a command and if we treat it as a choice and not do it then it becomes sin on our part.

In conclusion I think it is proper to let everyone understand what God means by the word “honor”. The Greek word honor means – to prize or to revere – Now as a child we have this command: “for they are not only to be loved, and to be feared, and reverenced, their corrections to be submitted to, offences against them to be acknowledged, their tempers to be bore with, and their infirmities covered; but they are to be honoured in thought, word, and gesture; they are to be highly thought of and esteemed; they are to be spoken to, and of, very honourably, and with great veneration and to be behaved to in a very respectful manner; and they are to be relieved, assisted, and maintained in comfortable way when aged.” As John Gill so wisely points out. God told all children to “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.” Ephesians 6:1 however as we mature in age we are no longer commanded to “obey” them but rather just to honor them for who they are and that is our parents. Matthew 19:5 - 6 "And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? (6.) Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." The word honor and obey are not the same word and while we love and honor our parents we must live our own lives and make our own decisions.

People chasing wealth looses with God.

Psalms 49:6 - 9 "They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; (7.) None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: (8.) (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:) (9.) That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption."

We can go on and on about wealth and God but there is one single point I want to make in this article and that is chasing wealth will make you a looser with God. Money; as some mythically people conclude “money makes the world go around” but this is as big of lie as believing in Santa Claus. God makes the world go around and money has nothing at all to do with it. In fact this is the truth God will give you more than you will ever get with money. Money tends to turn hearts away from God. God gives riches to those “Christians” who can handle it. We that do not have often wonder what good we could do if we were rich, but the question is would we do it. God said “the love of money is the root of all evil” 1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” God goes on to say “they have erred from the faith” because they have coveted after the money. Before you take a new fancy job that requires you to work on Sunday maybe you need to ask God about it, don’t just assume that it is a blessing from God it could be a temptation from Satan. Before we let money enter into our Christian decisions, we need to first ask God what is His will. It very well could be He wants you to give up the money for Him. Christians sometimes get confused about what God wants for them; and therefore make foolish decisions in life. Let us never forget God always gets His ordained will accomplished and if He must remove something personal to you that stand in the way then He will. I must admit I also love money and would also love to have more of it, but not if it separates me from God. I love God more than money but there are some Christians I wonder about. Beloved the rainbow we are to chase is the rainbow of God and not that of this world. The rewards of God are trillions times more valuable than the riches of this world. God said in our text scripture “They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;” they depend solely in their money and believe they can accomplish anything through their money; in other words they replace God supplying their needs to their money supplying them. And while there is so much they can do with worldly riches they cannot redeem a lost soul; “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:” Money also cannot change their appointment to death; “That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption." Nor can their money buy them from eternal hell. God controls both and He cannot be bought. The Christian chasing the money rainbow is sad, it is sad when a singer in church turns professional, it is sad when a Pastor retires the ministry for a professional job. Now I have my own opinion of all these people and their call to work for God but these are real examples. Beloved if God has elected you to do something to His glory then do it; let nothing stand in your way, not even money. A good Christian never lets money come between them and God. Ezekiel 22:12 "In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD." Sometimes taking the money is forgetting God. Don’t make excuses to justify your love for money over God; God knows the truth and me or your Pastor is not the one you will have to explain things too. God always comes before money or material things. His rewards will be trillions times greater than the earthly rewards. But if you do not believe me then you will find out in glory when you are judged by Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:13 “Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.”

Christmas; Is It A Christian Holiday Or Not?

“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

I believe to find out if “Christmas” is a Christian holiday or not we must explore from where is originated. I found this from wikipedia.org which are normally pretty correct on things, “The word Christmas originated as a compound meaning "Christ's Mass". It is derived from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes mæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038. "Cristes" is from Greek Χριστός Christos and "mæsse" is from Latin missa (the holy mass).” The two words “Christ’s” “Mass” will certainly put it into Catholicism and some say it dates all the way back to 354A.D. Most Christian’s call Christmas a “Pagan” holiday which means it is a secular holiday and not an actual Christian holiday. So now that we understand a little about Christians let us now try to answer the question; is it a holiday that Christians and churches ought to be celebrating. The correct answer is “no” because that the Paganism is involved. Christmas is a worldly holiday and not a Christian holiday therefore for churches to involve themselves would be to link themselves to what the holidays represent. Now if there were any Christian holidays they would not include myths and lies and Christmas is full of myths and lies. The lies start’s with the date of the Lord Jesus birthday; is December 25th the Lord’s actual birthday no one could know this date. The myths start with Santa Clause and proceed on through the fairytale holiday. As for Christians and churches being involved it would involve churches being liars and celebrating mythical people such as Santa Clause. Nothing as sinful as Christmas should involve churches or even her membership. Both Christmas and Easter are pagan holidays involving myths and lies. These are not Christian holidays even if the Catholics created both of them. There is absolutely nothing in the scriptures about celebrating holy days of any sort. There is no example in the scriptures about any church or group of Christians celebrating holy days.

Now I will conclude with this thought. Christmas affects us all in one way or another and like it or not we take part in it one way or another. Our church will not alter our services nor will we recognize the Christmas day this year or any other year. There will be no “Christmas message” it will be a normal day of worship to God, just as we do every other Sunday. As I said the holy day while it is not a Christian day but is a secular day or “secular holy day” and celebrated world wide. As for me this is how it affects me, we are going to have a Christmas lunch at work and I will attend because the food is good and we will receive a Christmas bonus, not too many folks will turn down a good meal and money. We will also have some paid days off of work for Christmas. I will be using the time off to visit my family and mostly my mother during the holiday on Saturday the 24th. Now some will call me a hypocrite because I disagree with the holiday and take benefits from it; but they could not be more wrong. Christmas unlike any other day of the year affects the entire world. I did not say not to celebrate the holiday I said it was not a Christian day and churches should not observe it. It is a worldly holiday and however a person or a Christian chooses to observe it, then so be it. Some will say to have any part in the celebration is anti God while they accept their Christmas bonus and enjoy a paid day off for it. We must accept it for what it is and that is a secular holiday and not a Christian holiday. God cannot be connected with any holiday full of lies and myths as both Christmas and Easter are.

Marriage is no game.

“Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.” Luke 16:18

Marriage is not a game in life and people should not ever take it that way. We live in a nation with more than a fifty percent divorce rate and the reason we do is because people treat marriage like a game. Some of my brethren and I are disagree on this subject but I learned many years ago that I will never agree one hundred percent of the time with any other person, therefore I must simply understand that I am not infallible and neither is any other human. With this being said divorce is (1.) biblical and (2.) not good. God gave certain laws in the scripture for divorce but God never meant for marriage to be treated as some sort of game. God said that if a man puts away his wife for unscriptural reasons and takes another wife it is adultery and by that he also causes the woman whom he has taken as his new wife to live in adultery. Therefore today’s preachers simply overlooking this or man simply ignoring this is not a solution. I am one who believes that once a sin is done then undoing it is impossible. I am one who also believes that the blood of Jesus Christ covers every single sin man can sin and therefore something done out of ignorance or something done in error is also forgiven by the Lords blood. We are all sinners and therefore we must be forgiven daily for our sins and this includes every Christian. 1 John 1:8 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” However with this being said it is not an excuse to sin at will; we must understand our Christian standing in Jesus Christ. Sin is not permitted nor is it just excused, Jesus Christ gave His life and blood for our sins and therefore this pardon came with a high price. Therefore it is without reason that Christians sin at will. Marriage was created to be a life long commitment and should be treated as such and any church member that fails to do so is subject for expulsion from the church. While it is understood that divorce happens it is not just, too just put away a wife or a husband at will and for just any reason. It is God who said that one commits adultery when they re-marry and therefore that makes it law. Christians must be very carful as to what they do and never purposely disobey nor ignore Gods Holy Law.

God said in 1 John 1:6 “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:” If we say that we have fellowship with God and walk in darkness we are liars and do not know the truth. How can one know the truth and walk in darkness. If we knew the truth we would be to fearful to walk disorderly therefore the conclusion is that for one to walk in a disorderly way proves they do not fear God. This brings us back to our main point and that is Christians that treat marriage like a game walk fearless of God and do not understand His laws. Because one that fears God understands that God is not going to simply overlook our sins in life. In John 3:20 – 21 God said; “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. (21.) But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” Sin pulls us from the light and righteousness pulls us to the light therefore sin pulls us from fellowship with God. How can one fellowship with God and simply ignore Gods laws. Beloved what is done is done and sin cannot be reversed therefore we must live with the consequences of our sins but faithful Christians neither ignores Gods laws or sins for convenience. God gave us many laws on marriage and we must respect those laws and to violate them for any reason is sinning against God.

Christians Do Not Hide Their Light.

Matthew 5:15 - 16 “Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. (16.) Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

The Lord reminded us last week that if we are saved; if we are Christians; if we are believers in Jesus Christ as our Saviour, then we are the light of the world and if we are then we are like a city that sits on a hill all lite up where all can see. One thing that is easy to decipher is a Christian from a lost person if the Christian is letting their light shine. The problem we face today is so many Christians are dimming their light so much that it is almost, if not altogether impossible to see their light. If you were to look on the hilltop you would never see the city because the light was too low. This is a great mistake on these Christians part because the blessings missed will be theirs. The Lord reminds us in verse 15 not to hide our light by “putting it under a bushel” but instead lift it on a “candlestick” so that the light can be clearly seen by all and yes even your friends. The Lord even goes a little further here and tells us “…and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.” That your light by itself is giving light to the entire house by itself. Now imagine this; why if every church member allowed their light to so shine that it would light the entire house then how bright would 15 lights or 20 lights or etc. be? How is your light? Is it bright? Well now is the time to test it because once you die or once Jesus Christ returns then it is too late to brighten the light. God never meant for a lit candle to be hid; Luke 8:16 “No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light.” No man and especially God, He saves every sinner for a reason or purpose, what is His purpose in saving you? Do you know?

God said in verse 16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works” your good works is your light shining. That is, that seeing your good works, they may be moved to love and serve God likewise. Why would they want to repent and move to an entire different direction in life if you works are no different than theirs? You light should be an example to them that life on the other side of salvation is different. Christ saves people to do His earthly work. Titus 2:14 “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” How is your “zeal” for the works of Christ?

“…and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Ah this is the entire purpose of all our lights shinning, of all our good works, not for our glory but for the glory of God. Only a selfish person would want the glory for something God does and all our good works are by the power of God and for His glory. Any preacher that is any good at all would never want the glory for their sermons and neither would even the greatest of all preachers. God is always to get the glory because it is God work in us. Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

You Beloved Are the Light Of The World.

Matthew 5:14 “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.”

This is a most wonderful thought, we as Christians are the light of the world or we are the brightness of it. Last Wednesday night we started a new two or three week study taken from Daniel Chapter 6 with verse 16 being out text scripture. “Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.” As the King was by his own decree forced to have Daniel cast into the lions den because Daniel had broken the decree. However the King told Daniel “…Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.” The King actually believed that Daniels God would deliver him and He did. In Daniel 6:22 we read “My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.” Now the question must be asked how did the King know, well the answer is found in verse 16 of Daniel 6 “…Thy God whom thou servest continually…” Daniel was faithful to his God and the King knew this because Daniel faithfully serving his God and the King saw his light shine. Beloved it is our responsibility to make sure our light of salvation shines and shines bright. It is the light in the lighthouse on the sea side that the ships see to guide them home. There is no other light; no more than there is a second gospel. There is only one of each and your light could be the guide that guides a lost ship home. We do not always see the results of the lost ship docking at home in the foggy waters but be assured that they do, just as we may not always see our light as the one that guided a lost sinner to Jesus Christ. Beloved God can use any or all tools at His disposal to deliver a lost sinner and what a glorious thing indeed if one sinner came to Christ as a result of your light shinning. I know that God does not need our light but He also does not need the gospel being preached to save a lost sinner, but that is the system God has chosen to use to saving sinners. 1 Corinthians 1:21 “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”

God reminds us in James 2:18 “… I will shew thee my faith by my works.” This is your light so shinning and if it is not then men may never see it. It is every Christian’s responsibility to make sure their light so shines. Daniel served God continually and the King noticed it; do people notice yours? God also reminds us in Proverbs 4:18 “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” The light of a Christian shines more and more until we are with the Lord. If the light grows too little light then we need to work to brighten it back up.

Verse 14 continues with this thought “…A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” Do not worry about men seeing the light shining because beloved it cannot be hid. It will be as bright as a whole city lit up setting on a hilltop. A light that never grows dark. 1 Thessalonians 5:5 “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” Beloved let your light so shine that all the world can see it. Let your light so shine that other will be convinced that your God will deliver you when you are cast into the lions den.

The Salt Of The Earth.

Matthew 5:13 “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”

The word “savour” means - to become insipid (in•sip•id) – the word “insipid” means – to become dull or flavorless – the word “savour” comes from the Greek word (Moros) which means – dull or stupid – now with all of this defined to its fullest it gives us a more point blank definition which means if the salt has lost it savour it becomes flavorless or dull or stupid. For the salt to loose its savour is like a Christian losing their standing in the Lord as a good Christian or a useable Christian. This Christian becomes dull or flavorless which means they have become stupid. Only a stupid Christian would loose their value to the Lord in putting themselves in an unusable position. God saved people to use them, He calls preachers, missionaries, and other workers to use them, but if a Christian allows Satan and the world to draw them away and back into sin then they become useless to the Lord, the ministry, or the church, they are likened to salt without flavor. It is a Ministers job to be an example and to lead others by word and deed but if a minister cannot lead then he will loose all of his gifts that God has given to him and become useless to God and the ministry. This can also be done by not having doctrine that is very sound and good; if our doctrine is not sound and good then it will be rendered as unsavoury and vain. A Christian can do this by living worthless and sinful lives. How useful is a Christian that lives the same as the ones you witness too?

God said in 2 Peter 2:20 - 21 "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. (21.) For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them." This is the reason the definition “dull or stupid” makes so much sense to me; because a minister or a Christians that has lost their savour is “stupid”. Now I have been told for years from a young minister into my Pastor years not to use the word “stupid” because it is bad grammar but here it is in one of our definitions so here I am allowed to use this bad grammar word in a good way. God said in 2 Peter 2:21 “For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness…” because God is going to deal with them in a very harsh way. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 26:24 "The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born." Isn’t it a betraying God to leave His doctrinal truth and His church? Wouldn’t it be a betrayal for the salt to loose their savour? Indeed it would be. Beloved a Christian must watch their walk in every step and not allow the rudiments of this evil world cause them to loose their savour. Ministers and Pastors must also walk cautiously and not loose our savour. Beloved we all walk by the grace of God and therefore it is to Him we must continually pray that we be kept from falling into the evil hands of Satan. If you are a Christian or Minister that has lost its savour it is time to repent and come back home. The doors are open and we are waiting because God never shuts the door to His own Children.

Rejoice!!

Matthew 5:12 “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”

As we have just looked at persecution and the hatred against the Christian, we now turn another corner. The Lord tells us to rejoice and be exceeding glad because your sufferings on earth will carry a greater reward in heaven. Please let us understand something here; not all Christians have rewards waiting on them in heaven, only those who have earned them. Some believe (out of ignorance of Gods word) that all believers will be the same in heaven therefore “churches” and “Pastors” have tried to equalize everything involving Christians but it is not theirs to equalize; it is Gods. Jesus Christ will judge every Christian, it is He who will try our works by fire, and it is He who will give the rewards. Christians that have little works and believe little truth will receive little rewards if any at all. Everything a Christian believes and does in their life will account against or for there rewards in heaven. 1 Corinthians 3:15 “If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” Those who do not worry about accomplishing works for God will find little once they are there. But on the other side of this thought are those who have worked for rewards, theirs will be great in heaven. Those that have suffered on earth will buy gain in heaven, and the greater the sacrifice the greater the reward and those that gave their life to the enemy for Gods sake will indeed gain the greatest rewards. God said “be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven” The words “be exceeding glad” actually means - properly to jump for joy – because your loss here on earth buys ten fold in heaven. You have rewards that are preserved in heaven for your eternal joy and no one can hurt them, steal them, nor will they corrode before you get to heaven, no they are reserved for you for your day of judgment. Remember what God said about Peter and John after their arrest “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.” Acts 5:41 They were “exceeding glad” to be able to suffer for the Lord Jesus Christ even though their lives were threatened. Many over the years died; as many as fifty million just in the dark ages alone; but beloved think of what it must have been like when they opened their eye after death, oh how blessed they were to see Jesus Christ the very One they had just died for. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:17 - 18 “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; (18.) While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

“…for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” Beloved let us all remember no matter what sufferings we have on this earth not will ever suffer as Jesus Christ did, nor will we ever suffer as much as so many before us, therefore before we cry so much about how hard it is to be a Christian of truth let us reflect on the suffering of so many other believers before us who actually died for the Lords church and the biblical truths. 1 Thessalonians 2:14 – 16 “For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: (15.) Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: (16.) Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.”

Blessed are you when mankind hates you! Part 2

Matthew 5:11 “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.”

There are several things mentioned here; first – “when men shall revile you”; second - “persecute you”; third – “say all manner of evil against you falsely”; “and for my sake.” Let’s look at these independently of each other.

“when men shall revile you” The word “revile” means – to defame or to taunt – therefore those that try to mark us as hate mongers for believing the truth are actually blessing us; because God said this make us blessed. Let us not forget what they called our Lord Jesus Christ in John 10:20 “And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?” but we need to remember what God said in Philippians 1:29 “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;” We are blessed because we are actually suffering in the place of Jesus Christ as He did for us at Calvary. They hate us because of Him and His word or truths. Beloved count it joy when men revile you.

“when men shall persecute you” This is different of sort from verse 10 “which are persecuted for righteousness' sake” because verse 10 deals with doing an act of righteousness and verse 11 deals with just any Christian that suffer persecution for any reason. This also includes verbal persecution.

“when men shall say all manner of evil against you falsely” The word falsely here means - to utter an untruth or attempt to deceive by falsehood – As sovereign grace Baptist we are always spoken of in an untruthful matter and described as evil people because of what we believe in the scriptures. There are not many today who believe any of God’s doctrinal truths anymore; they all fall under the category of those who call the truth a lie and a lie the truth. Beloved we are greatly hated and not just by non-Christians but by actual Christians who follow untrue teachings because we are landmark sovereign grace. The words “all manner” means any hurtful or evil thing uttered. Peter reminds us in 1 Peter 4:14 “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.”

“for my sake.” This is the bottom-line purpose for their persecution and evils against us; it is because of Jesus Christ. It is not that they hate us personally because in the flesh we are all the same but when we believe in Christ, when we believe in
His truths, then they turn against us as they did Him. Our Lord reminds us in Matthew 10:22 “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” And the Psalmist reminds us in Psalms 44:22 “Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.” – beloved don’t count it bad when you are persecuted in the name of the Lord but rather a blessing and a joy!!

Blessed are you when mankind hates you!

Matthew 5:11 “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.”

The next Beatitude covers several areas but one in general and that is mans hate for the Christian. The Lord uses such words as revile, persecute, evil, and falsely; these are things that mankind loves to do to the Christian, simply because they hate them. Christian such as Baptist and a few others were grossly persecuted by others that called themselves Christians but were not acting as though they were Christians. I am about to get myself in trouble with someone I love very much as I did a couple of weeks ago; but what I am about to say is very provable in history so therefore I can say it with confidence. In what is known as the “dark ages” (that is a period between 500ad – 1700ad) some fifty million Baptist and other Christians were killed by the Roman government, Catholicism, and other that were the product of the reformation period. It was natural for those such as Martin Luther, and many other who left Catholicism who are known as Protestants to hate, revile, and even hurt and kill Christians not associated with them or Catholicism. History will prove out that the early settlers here in America were fleeing from the “Church of England” and other haters of the Baptist and other Christians. Now let me please reiterate this is all very provable if one would simply do an internet search on this subject. I would also recommend one read a book entitled “The Trail of Blood” by J.M. Carroll which is also found on the internet. I understand that Catholicism of today does not seek to kill Baptist and other Christians not associated with them but it is in their past and not denied by the Catholic Hierarchy nor by anyone else that knows Catholic history. I have several Catholic friends and some of my family is Catholic and I love them all but the facts are the facts and history is history.

So today we want to take some time and will most likely we will extend this to another week because it covers such a wide area we simply cannot cover this in just one article. Last week we look at another beatitude “persecuted for righteousness' sake” blessed are them that suffer for doing acts of righteousness but here we see and addition to that which covers a very wide area. This verse basically speaks against those that hate Christians and them that the Lord calls blessed. We sometimes find it hard to understand how we can be blessed when men hate us, but we are because they hated Jesus Christ first and because of that they will hate all other Christians. The world is against us and even in our own Nation today we are most hated by many other Americans. There are many Americans today that would love for the Christians to walk two by two into the sea and disappear. If you are a member of either political party there are those inside of that party that hate and revile you, and would rather you were not a part of their party. Our own government hates us because we disagree with their political laws such as abortion and homosexuality. We are known as “hate mongers” if we disagree with them. But we that are Christians need to “pull up our boot straps” and keep marching forward no matter what is said or done. When we see religions of the world allowed doing things, when it is forbidden for the Christians; please never forgetting it is not you they hate; it is He whom you believe in as your Saviour. You are the only one that they can exercise their frustration on; yes you because to them Jesus Christ is dead. Beloved every time you hear of another Christian being persecuted please remember it is Christ Jesus they truly hate and blessed are you and all other Christians around the world that suffer for the cause of Jesus Christ.
We will continue this verse next week.

Blessed Are Those Blessed Saint Who Are Persecuted.

Matthew 5:10 "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Blessed are they who are persecuted; not for any reason but for “righteousness' sake”. Sometimes Christians are persecuted for unrighteous sake; just because a Christian suffers persecution does not mean that it is righteous persecution. God warned us Christians that the world sets traps for us, “The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.” Psalms 37:12 I do not believe this is littoral but rather a metaphor to show an expression of their malice and hatred toward the Christian. But we cannot over look the expression to be something taken from hell itself. Matthew 13:42 “And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” This expression shows a couple of thing (a.) the intensity that the lost will persecute the Christian and (b.) how close the lost are to hell and Satan. Let us not for get God shows this closeness in John 8:44 “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” With this being said we as Christians must make ourselves aware that the world has a great desire to harm us and with the intensity that they will use to harm us. But the Christian must also make themselves aware that God promised that we will suffer persecution in this life. 2 Timothy 3:12 “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Now a deeper look at this verse shows us that persecution is immanent for any Christian that does the righteousness of God. Any Christian walking with the Lord in TRUTH will be persecuted; maybe not with death but at the very least you will be hated and despised for the truth you believe and the walk that you walk. However God did warn us through the Apostle Paul “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;” Philippians 1:29 and here in Matthew God tells us that because of this persecution we are blessed and not only blessed but also made us this promise; “…for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

When God says “…for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." He does not mean that this suffering persecution will get us into heaven but the reward of our persecution will be in heaven. Christians do not suffer persecution just to suffer as a Christian but that God had or has a purpose for the suffering; just as He did with His faithful servant Job, Job did not suffer because he had done something ill toward God but rather because he was such a glorious servant to God that God knew that if he were persecuted he would never curse God. But the glorious thing for Job is (while he may not have understood what God was doing) that he was well rewarded for his suffering both here on earth and in the world to come, and so shall we be also. God never forget His faithful servants and the sacrifices they make on His behalf. While He has promised them He has also promised to reward us for them “…for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." With this all being said I will conclude with this passage of scripture; 2 Thessalonians 1:4 - 7 "So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: (5.) Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: (6.) Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; (7.) And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,"

Blessed are them who makes peace.

Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”

We now come to our next beatitude and that is the peacemaker, a peacemaker is one who makes peace with others. There never been any doubt that God is a peacemaker; not with all mankind but with all who will be saved. A peacemaker is one who makes peace with Gods creation; God never commanded that Christians live any other way than peaceful. Romans 12:18 “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” People tend to attempt to make Christianity as an un-peaceable religion but it is not; neither un-peaceable or a religion. Christians and mostly Baptist have always tried to live peaceably in this world. Now remember God commanded in Romans 12:18 “If it be possible…” meaning there will be times when it will not be possible. However even with that being said God did command “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Matthew 5:39 meaning we are to be a longsuffering people also. When we look at all of this from top to bottom and side to side we see that the finality of t all is that we are to be like God a likeness we lost in the fall. When God said He created man in His own image He meant that man was created in His likeness in attributes, not all attributes but many and these are regained by mankind in salvation or in Christ.

We must understand this does not mean that we can make peace with God because man does not have the ability to make peace with God. God makes peace with man only through Christ Jesus. Romans 5:1 “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” man lives under the misunderstanding that we can make peace with God. We have nothing with God except through Christ Jesus which is our all and in all with God.

Now being peace does not make us children of God but means we will be called the children of God because we are saved in Jesus Christ not because we are peacemakers. As we look at the worlds religions we see evilness in all of them to a point and some more radical than others as in the Muslim faith. Now some attempt to make the lying point that the Christian faith is just as evil as the religionist but they do not understand what a Christian is; for example I do not consider Catholicism as a Christian faith but rather as a religionist faith. I also do not consider those out of reformation a Christian faith. How can one be considered a Christian faith if they do not have faith in Christ Jesus. But those that do have faith in Christ also are peacemakers and are also called the children of God because none others in this world can be called either; peacemakers or Gods children. Ephesians 5:1 - 2 “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; (2.) And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.”

Blessed Are The Pure In Heart.

Matthew 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."

Our sixth blessing of salvation or our sixth Beatitude is “pure in heart”. A pure heart would be a clean heart which means a heart that has been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. This is the test of Christianity that most miss; and that is God deals with the heart or as Paul called it the “inward man” in 2 Corinthians 4:16 “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” The “inward man” is renewed day by day because it is the spirit of man; that is the same spirit that was killed by the sin of Adam and made alive by the second Adam, Jesus Christ. The heart of a Christian is pure because it cannot ever be dirty again by sin because the blood of Jesus Christ continually cleanses it or as Paul said “renewed day by day” with this being said we can see that all the children of God are the pure in heart and all will see God.

People today as a lot of people of old have a gross misunderstanding of what it takes to satisfy God; they seem to think that we satisfy God with the outward man and outward acts of kindness but this is their biggest mistake, we worship God in spirit and in truth and whatever is in the spirit should be our outward show of work. John 4:24 "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." This is the reason we can worship God and one day will see God because our spirits are renewed day by day. Now on the other side of things; those that are still lost will never see God except for their judgment day because their sprits are still dead and unclean. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” There is no communication between God and the lost man; He does not see them, He does not hear them, He does not help them, and when it is all done and over with they will not see Him in His glory. The Christian is so blessed that it will only be when we are all with Jesus Christ in our new glorified state that we will fully be able to understand what this means.

I think Paul may have summed it up best in Titus 1:15 "Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled." Unto all that are saved all things are pure therefore there are no un-pure thing with the Christian and on the flip side to the un-pure or the lost nothing is pure but rather all is un-pure. Let us not forget from whom our cleansing came from and we can understand why it can never be called unclean again. Acts 10:15 “And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.”

This is why when one shows their righteousness outwardly and not from the heart then you can be assured that they are not saved. Beloved it is not what you do outwardly but what comes from the renewed heart that counts and what is done from the renewed heart will show on the outside but in a very much different way. Matthew 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

Blessed are the merciful.

Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”

Oh, how so many Christians and church members miss this blessing! The word “merciful” mean – compassionate – and refers to words and deeds. Now let us not misunderstand the second part of this verse; receiving mercy from God is not conditional but is a gracious act on His part. However with this being said I do believe that extra blessings from God can be earned just as crowns of righteousness can be earned and I believe that if a Christian is more and more gracious to others then God will be extra gracious to that Christian. With that all being said the beatitude is that we are to be merciful and it fears me that a lot of Christians fail in this area. We truly live in an unmerciful ere and for the Christians this needs to change. We must be reminded of the mercy that God has had on all whom are saved and called Christians, we were not saved by merit but by grace and mercy and God continues to have mercy and grace on the Christian continually. However the question must be asked; why aren’t we merciful like our Lord, we are told to be, “Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?” Matthew 18:33 I would to God that we all had this very kind of mercy on each and every Christian, I would to God we all put the other Christian before self, and did everything in our power to help our fellow believer. God said in Ephesians 5:1 - 2 "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; (2.) And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour." God said to be followers of Him and have the same love that He had that He sent His only beloved Son in the form of Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins, so beloved I must ask what have you done to help your fellow Christian or church member? We are also reminded in Galatians 6:2 “Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Are you bearing the burdens of other Christians? Are you doing anything to help your fellow Christian, church, or Pastor? If not then you are not walking as the Lord has commanded and are not worthy of more mercy. This is why the Lord reminded us in Romans 15:1 “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” We who are stronger in anything, we that are stronger in doctrine are to help the weaker, we that are stronger in money are to help the weaker, and we who are stronger knowledge are to help the weaker, oh how I believe we fail so much in this area as believers. This is simply having mercy on others as God has had much mercy on us, but why if God was like we are, why if He was to withhold His mercy, oh, we would cry to the highest mountain begging for His mercy, but beloved we don’t have to because He knows and supplies our every need before we ever ask. I wonder what the feeling would be if we were to help another Christian before they ever asked for the help; but rather countless times I have heard Christians refuse to help other that they could, what mercy are they owed of God? Proverbs 11:17 “The merciful man doeth good to his own soul..." Proverbs 19:17 "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again." James 3:17 "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy."

Beloved please remember the merciful has more mercy bestowed on them.

Blessed are the hungry and thirsty!

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

Oh the promises of God to those who seek Him and His righteousness: what a blessing it is to seek the Lord God. God is just full of promise to His children that seek to do His blessed will. He not only promised us the kingdom of heaven is ours; or that we will be comforted in all our troubles and needs; or that the earth will be ours; but here God extends His promise that if we seek His righteousness we will be filled with it, truly what a blessing this is. But the question must be asked; what do you seek? When you get up in the morning and start your day is it the righteousness of God that you seek; or is it other things, like worldly things? When you get up on Sunday morning and decide whether to attend church or do something else does pleasing God play a part in your decision? As a Christian does your soul seek the Lord; does it hunger and thirst for His righteousness? The Psalmist wrote: "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; (2.) To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Psalms 63:1 – 2 This is the very power your thirst and hunger should be for the righteousness of God; as though the pantry is empty and the river is dry and therefore you will never have enough, what a blessed thought. People somehow think that their one hour in church a week or even three hours a week in church is enough; but dear one if it is then your soul is easily filled and lacks sufficient nourishment. People that diet eat less and the less they eat the less they desire food and as a result they loose weight; now let’s compare this to Gods righteousness, if one seeks less then they will want less and over time will loose not weight but righteousness and blessings of God. Beloved if you want to eat less and loose weight then so be it; but never diet from Gods righteousness. Go ahead and pig out eat and drink all you want; want it ever second of every day, pig out so much that your spiritual man blows up into a big old righteous glutton. God just promised that if you seek He will supply so go ahead and enjoy the time and keep yourself full. Go ahead it is free; that is right no charge, eat and drink all you want and never pay a dime for the spiritual food. "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. (2.) Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. (3.) Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." Isaiah 55:1 – 3

Folks God is so wonderful to us; He sent His only Son to this world in the man Christ Jesus to die a humiliating death on the cross so that we could enjoy being Christians. Why is it that Christians do not seek the righteousness of God more and more; why is it that some are satisfied with one or three hours a week and the rest of their life is spent fulfilling the lust of the flesh. Why is it that we will spend hours upon hours on overtime at work to buy worldly treasures but think the hour or so a week at church is wasted or is of little value? God has promised if we seek He will supply; but we will not find it at work but rather only in Jesus Christ. “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. (38.) He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” John 7:37 - 38

Blessed are they that mourn!

Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.”

When I look at the Beatitudes I see them as being written to the saved and not the lost; just as when I see the entire word of God, I also see it being written to the saved and not the lost. However there are others who see both as being written to the lost and saved, however the issue I have with their theory is; God has one message to the lost and that is to repent and believe on Jesus Christ or else go the eternal hell. Here God has no message to the lost; it is a message to the first church and only to her membership and future Christians. This is what makes the Beatitudes so special to every Christian that reads them. Here the Lord says “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” The word mourned means - The feeling or the act of grieving – therefore it requires us to believe it is speaking about an act; with that act of grieving being over sin. This is the way I see it; if a person has been saved then sin is the last thing they want to do; however it is something we all do. With this thought in mind we must gather from this verse that the Christian, while grieving over the sin in their life must understand that comfort will come and that comfort is that the blood of Jesus Christ will forgive all our sins and not just the past or present. And beloved this delivers to us all a great comfort. However our greatest mourning of all is living a life from a daily presence of being with our Saviour Jesus Christ. Mourning for the Christian could come in many areas, it could come in death, it could come falling away from the church, or falling into apostasy, but this is the very bottom-line fact; there is comfort in our time of mourning and that comfort is only found in Jesus Christ. Isaiah 30:18 - 19 "And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. (19.) For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee." Indeed those who trust in Jesus Christ there should be no mourning; but in this flesh dwelleth no good thing Romans 7:18 Therefore we do mourn just as we worry, and as we do so many things in life that shows the weakness of our flesh; however we also know even if we do, comfort is right here with us in Jesus Christ. We learn in Job 14:22 "But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn." As long as we are in these bodies pain and misery is assured however on day when we shall shed these bodies sin will no longer mourn us. Job knew a thing or two about pain and mourning in this flesh but he also knew about the comfort of the Lord and beloved we too should have that same comfort. We truly see a great example of this in Micah chapter 7 where the prophet speaks about the great effect of sin "The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net." Micah 7:2 and then the comforting of the Lord “He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:19. Beloved our comfort will be the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, when we shall sin no more, when no more tears will dim the eyes, yes beloved there is comfort in our time of mourning but we must look in the right place and He resides in your heart if you are saved.

Blessed are the poor.

Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

My apologies to all because I promised a couple of weeks back to write about the Beatitudes but I had gotten sidetracked on couple of other issues. The Beatitudes was the first sermon preached in a church after Jesus Christ had called her out and assembled her together for the first church meeting. Here He begins to preach a sermon that is universally accepted as “The Beatitudes”. The first one is “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” not blessed are the poor but rather poor in spirit which is everyone who has just been saved; since their recent conversion they have not learned much and that makes them poor in spirit or weak in spirit. Some folks want to believe that being monetarily poor that God has a special blessing for them and they will live eternally wealthy because they suffered enough on this earth, but that could not be farther from the truth. God hath concluded that He has no respect of persons Romans 2:11 which means; God does not love you nor hate you because you are a particular race, creed, nationality, or group of people. In John 3:16 we see that “God so loved the world” not that God loves everyone in the world but that He loves people from all different nationalities of the world. God is never going to bless people here on this earth just because that are poor; if God wanted you to be rich, He would have made you rich! Paul said “I am what I am by the grace of God” 1st Corinthians 15:10. Those that are “poor in spirit” are those who have believe that Jesus Christ is their Saviour; those whom are weak in faith. We must understand that the lost are not weak in spirit they are spiritually dead, therefore it is simple to understand that the Lord is speaking to those Christians who had just been “called out” and saved. However weak in faith they may be they are certainly blessed of all other people on this earth because God has saved their souls from eternal hell fire. Luke mentions these poor in spirit in Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,” This is actually a quote from Isaiah 61:1 where the word “poor” is rendered “meek” or the poor in spirit. Now looking at the scripture in Luke we see that God had sent him to preach the gospel to the poor in spirit, God had also “anointed” him or elected him to preach the gospel to the meek or poor in spirit, God had also “sent” him, and God had also given him the message to be delivered, and now beloved we understand why we are blessed. This is no “Mickey Mouse” preaching you hear in your average churches pulpit today; this is truly a man who knows our Sovereign God and how He works. If you are saved today it is because God has in totality saved your soul; from the particular soul, to the sermon to be preached, to the one who was to preach it, to the working of your faith in Christ, nothing left for you to do or anything to doubt; this is why the poor in spirit are indeed blessed beyond our imagination. This is why Paul wrote; "And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. (20.) Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, (21.) Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." Ephesians 3:19 - 21

God has made no such promises to America!

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

We as Gentile Christians are certainly blessed beyond our imagination of God. However blessed we are we need never forget Gods first love is Israel. God made many promises to His first love and He will certainly deliver on every single promise. We Gentiles are blessed because of Israel’s downfall and for a time God has elected to set His first love aside and use the Gentiles. While we do find many promises in the scriptures to the Gentiles we find nothing like God made to Israel. It is my belief that God created and blessed the United States of America as a blessing to Israel. But America will not be allowed the same downfalls that Israel was; the Lord will simply allow us to fall. Let us never forget whom we are dealing with; He is the most judgmental being in all of creation. He will not sit by while America continues to act as a nation of heathen for much longer; we have made our bed and now we must answer to God for our sins. I am not claiming to have some great revelation from God; but am warning God will not continue to bless our sinful ways. “For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.” Isaiah 60:12 I must ask have we not seen America made into a waste land in the last 20 or so years? If I remember right the greatest down fall began in the sixties and have continued thru today and has only gotten worse and worse. The dope smoking hippies of that era are now running our nation and have turned it into a waste land. Abortion is still murder to God; He has not changed! Homosexuality is still an abomination to God; He has not changed! It is still wrong not to pray in the name of Jesus Christ; it is wrong to have worship services in the fashion that most are conducted and call it a worship of God! It is still wrong to be ashamed of God or Jesus Christ in public. And it is wrong to forget the One who blessed you from the start; and to say He had nothing to do with it. Yes; yes indeed it is all still wrong! God has not changed and He never will and this is why America is in her final years. God has made promises to His beloved Israel; not because she is any better but because this is the way He has elected it to be. God made Israel many promises that we Gentiles often use as our own but they do not belong to us; therefore we will not see them extended to us. We will fall more and more until one day we are a nothing. We just saw our nations credit rating fall to AA+ and our government and nation treat it as though it was a political move; but not everything is political something’s are punishment from God. I see no mention of America in the scriptures and no promises from God that even though we turn into a - greedy, selfish, God hating, and allowing anything nation - that He will continue to bless us. For more than 200 years we have been blessed as the greatest nation on earth out side of Israel; and we have ignorantly lost that status. Israel has not wakened from their blinded state but they will because God has promised to redeem them and use them once again, but not America. Greed has taken our hearts from God; we no longer need God today because we are smart and strong; but in reality we are ignorant and weak. People vote for politicians out of ignorance and those politicians to keep their jobs have voted to allow the mess we have today. America has been destroyed by greedy and selfish people and she will not return. People today do not care about the good of America they only care about what government can do for them. When a nation is in 14 trillion dollars in debt and on her way to 16 trillion and even beyond; but no one cares as long as the government doesn’t remove their government handout; then we are without a doubt a doomed nation. 1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” - Proverbs 1:19 “So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.”

What Wonderful Words To Hear!

“And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” Luke 7:50

The most wonderful words a lost soul can hear are “Thy faith hath saved thee”. Most wonderful because it cancels any thoughts of works for salvation. Now please understand I am not against works; I am against works for salvation! Now one may ask “why are you against works for salvation?” Well I am glad you asked that question; we cannot live good enough or have sufficient works to enter the kingdom of God. If we fell short before salvation then we will most certainly fall short after salvation. If the blood of Jesus only cleanses our sins before faith has come then what about after faith has come. If one single sin will condemn us to eternal hell before faith then won’t one single sin condemn us to eternal hell after salvation? God said through James; “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10 It is not just big sins that condemns us but any single sin; just the smallest of though can condemn us because our thought are also sin. “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” Matthew 5:28. So if sin includes the thoughts of our hearts then sin is inescapable. To believe that works is a part of salvation means we will all surly go to eternal hell. Salvation that includes works also means we cannot live a life of peace after faith has come; Jesus told this woman of many sins “…go in peace.” How could she go in peace if she had to live a sinless life? Having to examine every thought before she even thought it; or is that even possible? I could find no peace in that!

The Lord Jesus Christ; the Saviour of mankind told this woman that her faith had saved her even though she had many sins. “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” Luke 7:47 and she had many sins after faith had come. I have had many sins after faith came to me. But she and I were both glad to hear that the blood of Jesus was sufficient to cleanse all our sins and not just our past sins. “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;” Ephesians 1:7. Now I can live in peace on this earth knowing that even though I may sin many times over, my sins have all been forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus also told this very sinful woman “And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.” Luke 7:48 He did not specify her past sins He said “Thy sins are forgiven.” As in all her sins; then she was told to live in peace because knowing that all her sins were forgiven she could, what a wonderful, blessed way to live in a sinful world. If you want your sins forgiven come to Jesus; bathe in His blood and you too can live sin free the rest of your days. You can live a life of peace in this evil world. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” Romans 5:1

We will continue the Beatitudes next week. This passage truly made a great impression on my heart this week.

The Beatitudes; Introduction

"And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: (2.) And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying," Matthew 5:1 – 2

As we take the next few weeks to look at the Beatitudes let us remember who it was that delivered this sermon, it was Jesus Christ. As people look at the Beatitudes it sort of looking at the Ten Commandments “I will pick and choose which ones I will obey and which ones I will turn my head the other way on” but beloved it simply should not be that way; just as the Ten Commandments are God’s Holy Law so is the Beatitudes of Jesus Christ. This was the very first sermon ever delivered in the very first church. If you will read the entire twelfth chapter of 1st Corinthians you will find the order of the first church and all churches that followed. We find in 1 Corinthians 12:28 it states "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers…” Now to find this church read Matthew chapters 3 – 4 first you will find John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness and baptizing those whom had been saved. Now one may ask who was John baptizing if the church had not began yet but I say it had; John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus Christ preparing the way for Christ Jesus in preparing the assembling of the first church in Jerusalem. The first church was organized by God in calling John the Baptist to preach and baptize, however the first church was assembled on the mountain top. Next we see John the Baptist baptize Jesus Christ, then we see Jesus tempted of Satan, then we see Jesus began to build the church as He walks through the towns and villages calling out people to follow Him. First, the Apostles, secondly teachers, and then followers. God setting those in the church as it had pleased Him. As all those who had been gathered by Jesus and baptized by John went to the mountain and then to the top of the mountain sit by as the first church service began with Jesus Christ delivering the first sermon and His sermon topic was “The Beatitudes” as we know them (not that this was actually His message title). This would have to be known as the greatest sermon ever delivered because it was the sermon of the Son of God. Now Jesus preached many sermons while He was on earth but this one had special meaning because by this time the church had officially been assembled and the first sermon delivered and what a sermon it was “Blessed are”. Blessed are you whom God has elected to be saved, blessed are you that are church members, blessed are you who are knowledgeable, blessed are you who are followers of Gods holy word and etc, etc, etc. The word “blessed” means – fortunate but it also means happy – we sometimes make the meaning happy and bypassing the fortunate part but while we are happy in spirit if we follow the beatitudes we are also fortunate that we have the ability to follow them. Fortunate that we are saved and are Gods children.

As we take a closer look at the “Beatitudes” for the next several weeks let us remember they are for us and our benefit. These are Gods law just as the Ten Commandments are and are to be followed the same. Please heed them and place them as part of your life and you will be happy and blessed in your life. The Ten Commandments shows us our sins but the Beatitudes shows us how to be happy in Jesus Christ. "Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven...” Matthew 5:12

Rejoicing In Heaven

“I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.” Luke 15:7

What love God hath for His elect. He loved them so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die for their sins. He loved them so much that He allowed the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to be sufficient payment for their sins. Oh what a most wonderful God we indeed do have! And our Saviour, let us not forget just how wonderful, loving, and caring He is also, that He allowed Himself to be crucified for our justification. Without this most gracious act we would still be lost in sin. Oh we still sin but all of our sins are paid in full by the glorious blood of our Saviour. We are still in the flesh and as long as we are we must continually ask God for forgiveness, but how wonderful it is that God is just and He will on a continual basis forgive our transgressions.

Please let us notice that Jesus does the searching, and Jesus does the rescuing, and it is also Jesus who does the delivering, beloved it has nothing to do with man or the person being rescued it is all the work of Jesus Christ. He is the Sheppard of the flock and He is the single person who cares for the flock. This is why there is rejoicing in heaven, because salvation is the work of God. Any time God does anything it is a miracle, and causing a sinner to go against their very own nature and to turn from serving Satan and sin it is a miracle. Therefore heaven breaks out into rejoicing.

I thank God that many years ago Jesus Christ came looking for me and that He found me and saved my soul from eternal destruction. He brought me back to the fold that His Father had elected before the foundation of the world and now I am back to where I belong. This is also something you that are part of that ninety-nine need to continually rejoice over, that you to have been found. Jesus will continually search for that lost sheep until He returns and He will continually find them, put them on His loving shoulders, and tote them back to the fold until the one hundred have been returned, and then He will return to rapture them out of this world, what a wonderful future we have.

See you over yonder!

2 Corinthians 5:6 - 8 "Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (7.) (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) (8.) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."

As we have seen two wonderful Christians pass this week and we take much comfort in knowing that they are now with the Lord. Sister Janet Pugh was a most wonderful Christian that walked in her Lord footstep and followed her husband into the mission field first in Canada and then to Romania and her reward will be great in Gods kingdom. Sometimes we forget that beside a faithful Missionary or Pastor or Minister is his faithful wife, living the same life and helping in the same glorious work.

Brother Vigil Hoskins was a very faithful servant to the Lord that dedicated his life to the service of the Lord and the Lords church. When one member of the Lords local body goes home he is missed and we will miss both of these wonderful Christians.

The Lord says to be home in these bodies that we are absent from the Lord and that is so true. Then the Lord goes on to say that since we walk by faith and not by sight we should rather be absent from these houses called bodies and present with the Lord. While we all miss those that have gone on before us let us never forget they had the same goal that we all have and that is to be at home with the Lord. We sometimes sorrow greatly for those that have gone home but we should not, because if we are all walking by faith then as their desire came to fulfillment ours will also. They have what we all pray soon to have that is the faith we have that someday, soon, we too will see and walk with Jesus Christ our Saviour; who died to give us life. Beloved it is all by faith because what we cannot see in these bodies one day we will actually see it and it is all going to be a glorious sight for our spiritual eye to behold. The Psalmist wrote "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness." Psalms 17:15 Yes indeed we will be satisfied with what we see when we awake from death from these earthly houses and awake to see Jesus sitting on the right hand of God. The Psalmist said “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness…” I also will behold His face in righteousness and so will so many that have gone on before us and so also shall our two beloved departed. This is the question; will you? Will you “… behold thy face in righteousness…”, because there are only two ways to see Jesus Christ in righteousness or at the Great White Throne; where will your viewing be.

As for these two beloved saints of God; they have already viewed His loving face in righteousness. They no longer walk by faith but by sight and beloved someday we will also no longer walk by faith. We will be as they and see His blessed face and we like them will also be happy with what we see. So while we this week say goodbye to these two beloved saints let us not forget that someday soon; real soon we will join them once again except this time with our beloved Saviour and this time for eternity; always happy with what we see.

With this being said; we say for now goodbye and soon we will see you over yonder! But for now we will be just as Paul was; hung between here in these houses or being in our spiritual houses. "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:" Philippians 1:23

Where God; There Is Freedom.

“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” 2 Corinthians 3:17

It was July 4th 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed which gave those who had given their blood a glorious victory. It is because of their victory and the signing of this glorious document that allows us to have the freedom in America that we enjoy today. We sometime get so tied up in this world that we forget those who died so we could share in the freedom that we so much enjoy today. Thousands upon thousands went toe to toe with the British troop in order to deliver to us Americans our freedom from the King of England and the great persecution suffer at the hand of the Catholics and the Church of England. It is this time of year that we all should celebrate our freedom as Americans. It must have been such a wonderful feeling and glorious victory as those 56 men signed this great document. However it was the blood of the thousands upon thousands that gave their blood before this was made possible. We sometimes forget that freedom comes from the blood of those fighting the good fight to give others freedom. Today we have thousands who have given their lives to free others around the world, so if you see a soldier of our military just say thank you!

We celebrate the freedom to attend church services because of blood given by so many millions through history. It is believed that as many as fifty million Baptist and other Christians died at the hands of Catholicism and those of Reformation to continue the faith we share today. One day God will pay them back for their transgression and Catholicism shall fall for her sins. Revelation 18:20 - 21 "Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. (21.) And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all." One day there will be a great celebration in Heaven and it will be for the fall of the New Testament Babylon; Catholicism.

We as Christians have much to celebrate today because our Declaration of Independence was signed before the creation of the world between the Father and the Son when God The Father gave His elect to the Son with the promise that the Son would shed His blood as the Son of man for our sins and He did some two thousand years ago. Again we see blood being shed for freedom but this blood frees us from the bondage to sin and gives us liberty in Christ. Our text says “…where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” Well if you are saved then He dwells in your heart and where He is there is freedom. So while we enjoy the freedom to live in the greatest Nation on this earth, let us enjoy everyday the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. It is because of His blood that we can enjoy freedom to sup with the Father. Matthew 26:28 “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Today celebrate salvation and the freedom you have in Christ Jesus, the one single man Who died to give millions life eternal. Acts 17:28 "For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. (29.) Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device."

Pastors Are Teachers Not Builders!

1 Timothy 5:17 "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine."

I spoke you a young man today who told me they had a new young Pastor and “he was happy because; while the older one preached well he could not add to the church and he had hope the new one could; he has more energy he told me”. I responded to this young man “I guess we disagree on what a Pastors job is” because a Pastor is a teacher not a social organizer. He was not happy with the older Pastor because he taught too much, hum, but apparently this young man did not listen? Folks a Pastors job is not to build churches, nor is it to be a social organizer, his job is not to pat you on the head and make you happy, his job is not to be a fundraiser, folks, his job is to be an overseer of the Lords church and to teach the membership Gods word. I believe the reason people have the wrong idea what a Pastor is, is because most of the graduates for these seminaries are not pastors but social organizers and therefore people have concluded that all pastors should be likewise. This is what God defines as a good pastor; "Let the elders that rule well…” That is a pastor that oversees the church well, ruling well is not being a good fundraiser, nor is it being good at socializing, ruling well is working to under-sheppard the Lords church, which is keeping it running according to the scriptures and according to Gods command and will. It is possible that a pastor that does his job well may not be the most popular man in the church or even the community but he will be to the Sheppard of the church which is Jesus Christ. Folks don’t get angry at the pastor if the church is not growing, or if the money is not growing, for this anger maybe you should look at yourself and the person sitting next to you at church. If a church is functioning properly then God will grow the church, God himself will deliver the funds not the pastor. Your pastor’s job is to preach the word of God and to care and oversee the church not to be a social planner or a fundraiser. Did not God tell the church at Jerusalem to appoint seven good men to help the pastors with this work, this work is the social part of the church, however some deacons believe they are appointed to control the church and even the pastor, but it would do them well to re-read Acts chapter 6. The text scripture goes on to say “…be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine." Why “labour in the word and doctrine” because that is their real job not all this other stuff. If the church is responding to the scriptures properly and the membership it tithing then the church has no need for fundraising. If the membership is doing their job then the church will grow because they will be energetic in inviting people to church. The Lord reminds us "Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; (38.) Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." Matthew 9:37 – 38. Maybe a pastor should ask God to send some laborers that is to light a fire under the membership to work the field. A pastor’s time is well spent in study of Gods word so he can teach it to the church. Preaching is not an easy task in fact it is very difficult and one that does it well is one that studies much.

I looked at the newspaper today and it had the social events of the church here in Texarkana and almost every church listed had some sort of fundraiser for their churches, or some sort of singles connection group, and I must ask is this part of the churches work? The Lord will supply the needed funds if a church is functioning well and take away from a church that is not, and sometimes the Lord will leave a church lacking to test their faith, it is Gods work to supply the needs of the church not the pastors, it is Gods job to grow the church not the pastors, for both these works He has assembled a congregation, that is to tithe and to invite and if both of these are accomplished by the church membership then the pastor has time to do his work and teach and lead the congregation. This is the question; are you doing your part?

Fathers; Please Take Your Place!

“For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.” Ephesians 5:23

Today is “Fathers Day” and whether you celebrate the day or not I would like to take a few minutes of your time to remind all fathers everywhere of our great responsibility as fathers. We have a major problem in today’s society with our children and it all starts at home with the parents and mostly with the father of the family because he is responsible for the family. A father has many responsibilities at the home, he is to make the money, he is to love his wife as Christ loves the churches, he is to tend to his children, and etc, etc, and etc. The problem we have today is fathers have fled their God give responsibilities to their families. They let their wives make the money, they let their wives tend to the children, or they let society tend to them, but whatever is happening outside of what God commanded is wrong and ungodly. Most children today either live with a divorced mother, or are an award to another person or the State. Men we must remember we are all going to answer to God for our downfalls in life and as husbands and fathers we are more responsible. To you fathers that are divorced let me say this; it is not another mans responsibility to raise and support your children, it is yours. How can a man be a father if they never support or visit their children? How can a man be a father if they fail to control their children? How can a man be a father if they are not responding to what God commanded? God said “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." 1 Timothy 5:8 “HE HATH DENIED THE FAITH”. Today on Fathers Day is a time of repentance; and a time to do what God hath commanded, are you a father and do you deserve to be praised by you wife and children on Fathers Day?

God said “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” 1 Corinthians 11:3 Is Jesus Christ your head fathers? If not then it is time to remedy that and make Him your head. Children are a glorious gift from God and it is up to us fathers and mothers both to make their lives consistent with Gods way of understanding. As children look to their fathers for help let us fathers look to Jesus Christ for help, God never said being a father would be easy, He just said do it and do it right. Maybe if more fathers would have been fathers instead of “their children’s best friend”, or totally absent from their children’s lives then maybe we would not have the mess we have today with children.

Happy Fathers Day!!

The Truth Of The LORD Endureth Forever

Psalms 117:1 - 2 “O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. (2.) For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.”

Truth means - stability; trustworthiness, faithful, right, and sure – and all of these are God, yes I said they are God that is His very nature, just as He is holy, Omnipresent, Omniscience, and etc. He is truth. Jesus described Himself as truth in John 14:6 "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." He did not say He told the truth He said He is Truth meaning just as much as He is the Messiah He is Truth. Where there is Truth there is no lie "...that no lie is of the truth." 1 John 2:21 With God there is no such thing as “a little white lie” or “stretching the truth” there is only Truth because God cannot be something that He is not.

Our text goes on to say “…the truth of the LORD endureth for ever.” Since God is truth and cannot lie then He will always, for all eternity be truth. This includes His declarations; His promises; and His assurances of mercy and love. They will never change, ever. James said "...from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:17 which means God cannot change, ever. God said in Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” Two truths here we want to look at; God will never lie nor will He ever change His mind, ever. “God is not a man…” this very fact is most important because man simply cannot be trusted not to lie, as much as we mostly hate to lie it is our nature to do so "...let God be true, but every man a liar..." Romans 3:4. If one puts too much faith in man you will see him fall but God is different He is Truth and there is no lie in Him. Lying comes from Satan, it started in the garden with Eve and continued with Adams lie to God and has continued with mankind ever since. “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” John 8:44 The phrase “…there is no truth in him...” means God who is Truth is not in him at all.

It is because that God is Truth He is to be greatly praised, applauded, and lifted up, because He can be trusted in every letter of every word which He has promised. All of the promises He ever promised the Israelites have been fulfilled, and just because they have failed to see these fulfillments is there own faults. Whatever God has said will come to fulfillment and we need never doubt, because God cannot lie. God’s next promise is that Jesus will return for the rapture, the Lord’s warning is to be ready, however many today are not ready because deep in their minds they do not believe it is going to happen but it is and when most Christians least expect it He will come. This is why He warned us to be like the five wise virgins and to have our lamps trimmed with oil and ready. Beloved trust God in what He says and never, ever doubt because doubting God is sin. We show our praise to God by trusting Him, not by doubting and every Christian that is not ready for the Lords return doubts God.

"I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." Psalms 138:2

Thank you Jesus!

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. (2.) Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” Psalms 32:1 – 2

Blessed is the man of whom God has had great mercy and grace on and hath delivered his unworthy soul from eternal damnation. Blessed is the man whom God hath elected and gave to the Son in eternity past. Blessed is the man because the Father elected to make an eternal covenant with the Son before the foundation of the world; that if He would give His life as the Son of man and spill His blood on that wicked cross then He (God) would count it as just payment for all the sins of all His elect. This is the reason the Son shouted just before His death “It is finished” because payment had been paid in full. Blessed indeed are we oh redeemed sinner stand and shout with happiness because Christ Jesus did for us; something we could never do for ourselves. Thank you Jesus!

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven” – Blessed because our sins have been “forgiven”, this word means – to lift up and to carry away, but it also means to pardon – with this being said we must understand that our sins have been lifted from us and carried away, but where did they go you may ask, they went to the account of Jesus Christ and it cost Him his life on the cross. Since Jesus carried our sins to the cross then we are blessed, the Lord reminds us in Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” because we no longer have them, “white as snow” is as white as white gets and pure is as pure can get. Thank you Jesus! Romans 6:22 "But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." Since we are white as white can be and pure as pure can be we can now serve the Lord God.

“Blessed is he whose sin is covered” – the word covered means - concealed or hidden; or, in other words, so covered that they will never be seen again by God. – When God sees His saved child He no longer sees their sins, never again because they are no longer ever visible to Him. Our sins are covered by the glorious blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ. To God we are no longer sinners we are His children and as holy as holy can be. This is the reason we are blessed, because even though sin is still in our lives God does not see it nor charge us with it. Thank you Jesus! Psalms 85:2 "Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah."

“Blessed is he whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity” – The word “impute” means – to recon or charge – The Lord will not recon or charge us for our sins because that punishment was reckoned or charged to Jesus Christ on the cross. This is why we as saved sinners will never have to face God for our sins, God considered the death and shedding of blood of Jesus Christ as just payment for our sins. Since our sins went with Him to the cross and this is the very reason He gave His life, then the sins of all of Gods elect have already been punished and justice has been served. 2 Corinthians 5:19 - 21 "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (20.) Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. (21.) For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” And one more time, thank you Jesus!

The Conduct of Women in Church.

1 Timothy 2:11 “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.”

In today society what I am about to say will make me a hatemonger in the eyes of most, but the scriptures are the scriptures and man nor time can change them. Paul is speaking about a woman’s place in a church and it is very clear when it comes to church worship; women are not permitted to speak while the church service is ongoing. I understand that here in 2011 we have women doing everything in churches and even serving as Pastors, but the question must be asked are they right in doing so, and the answer is absolutely not! God never called a woman to preach because that would go totally against what the scriptures teaches. How can a woman preach if she is not allowed to speak? Now some people believe this is just talking about preaching or teaching but how does that allow them to “learn in silence”? The word “silence” means – stillness or quietness – and it comes from the Greek word “hēsuchios” which means - keeping one’s seat, or undisturbing, or peaceable, or quiet. – Any way you look at it a woman is not allowed to speak in the Lord’s Churches. Now most will find this degrading but is it really degrading or is it simply the way that God chose to have things done. It is not to say that women are more ignorant than men no more than it is to say men are greater than women. Some just simply choose to fight God in everything and anything. It is like angels, anytime you have seen an angel image it is most certainly a female figure but how many women angels have we seen in the scriptures, none, besides angel figures are unscriptural and wrong to even have. Deuteronomy 5:8 "Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above..." images become a form of worship and to worship any thing or any one but God is wrong.

Now back to women in the church, they are not allowed to speak which covers every area of a church service except to sing because it is not considered speaking. They are not allowed to teach 1 Timothy 2:12 “But I suffer not a woman to teach…” which by definition means to preach because Sunday School was added to the church much later after the scriptures were complete. However even though while some churches allow women to teach Sunday School they cannot teach a class with men in it “…nor to usurp authority over the man…” 1 Timothy 2:12 nor are they allowed to pray with men present "I will therefore that men pray every where..." 1Timothy 2:8. Even though we are in an era of women ruling in many areas some will fail to see that church services are not secular offices. A woman could be President of The United States and would not be allowed to speak in a church service. Just because the world does something does not open the churches to do the same things.

With all of this being said we all need to understand the scriptures and the conduct of the churches membership. God never assembled the church by giving all her membership equal rights. Members are different and serve the church in diverse ways. Ladies please serve the Lord in honorable ways by obeying Gods word; if you make excuses in order to break Gods words then you are showing little respect for the scriptures. I have found in a church the most beautiful women is those that honor the scriptures. God formed a system for His churches and that system is the only one that works.

So while some of you will “Amen” this and some others will condemn me for my words lets all remember God said "Let all things be done decently and in order." 1 Corinthians 14:40 The Lords churches is not a place to disobey God.