People do not understand God.

Ecclesiastes 9:1 “For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.”

People by nature do not understand God, they simply do not understand anything about Him. It is only after a soul is saved by the power of the Holy Spirit and through the blood of Jesus, then trough the teaching of the Holy Spirit that we will ever understand anything about God. Nothing about God comes naturally, it is not simply studied and learned, and it is not handed down through time, it is the gift of God, and all gifts from God are called spiritual gifts. The Apostle Paul wrote it this way, “Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.” 1 Cor. 12:3, 4. As Christians, it would do us well to understand that we are in God’s grace, we live, we move and have our being only by His gracious hand. The Preacher (Solomon) wrote a very profound truth, “I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God:” The hardest truth for Christians to grasp and understanding is just how much our dependance is on God. The Psalmist David wrote these words, “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” Psalms 37:4, 5 Human nature teaches us that all things are within our reach if we earn them, fight for them, but God said He supplies all our needs in life. The Preacher wrote “no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.” The truth is, people by nature understand little, and even less than little about God. There is no love in the natural heart, but there is hatred, but people do not know that hatred is there because we are born in hatred. Hatred is all people know because we are controlled by sinfulness, everything about the natural man is sinful. Love is a gift from God, just like faith is a gift from God. As Christians we must consider these things in our hearts, we must read God’s word and pray that God will teach us and give us the strength to lean on Him, because through Him we can do all things if He so wills. The Apostle Paul wrote, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Php. 4:13 Albert Barnes wrote, “He could bear any trial, perform any duty, subdue any evil propensity of his nature, and meet all the temptations incident to any condition of prosperity or adversity.” Though Christ if it was the will of God. The Omniscient will of God is the key to our success in life, it could be that God’s plan for us is to have trials, suffer persecution, or to have success and succeed in life. Remember that the spiritual gifts of God are given in diverse ways as God chooses, therefore, one may succeed and another may fail, but it is all at God’s blessings. It is human nature to worry, but for a believer to worry shows a lack of faith in God’s Omniscient choosing for us, and His Omnipotent control over everything in our life. Either God controls everything in our life, or He controls nothing. We are neither on our own nor are we left alone, God is our strength and our buckler in life. Please listen closely to the Psalmist David in Psalms 18:2 - 3 “The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.” Then look to Job, he never failed to trust the Lord when he lost everything, while he may not have understood everything, he never blamed God not trusted God. We must remember that God has a reason and purpose in all things, even in our sacrifices. Listen to God, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Pro. 3:5 

“All things are of God.”

2 Corinthians 5:18 “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;”

What does God mean by “all things”? Here God is talking about us being “reconciled” therefore we must argue that that is the context here. But we must also agree that “all things are of God,” period. The word “reconciled” means - to change from enmity to friendship – (Vines). With this being said, we must conclude that everything involving our change or repentance from enmity to lovers of God must be of God, not a few, but all things. God said of our change, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (13) Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:12 – 13 The word “receive” is not one of decision or choice but of a gift received. This example is found in Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” the words “that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” is the very definition of what God is talking about in “all things are of God…in His reconciling us to Him”. God did this in Jesus Christ His Son called the Son of man, “who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ…” How did God accomplish such a task, “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.” 2 Corinthians 5:21. Jesus took our sins to the cross so God could accomplish the unthinkable task of changing us from enmity or hatred toward God to friends and lovers of God. People that believe in people changing themselves just do not understand that all things in salvation are of God, who gave it to us as a gift. As God put it, “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” If you add all things together and it does not equal “all things are of God” in salvation, then you need to study more. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (16) But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.” 2 Timothy 2:15 – 16 It is our failing to “rightly dividing the word of truth.” That hinders us from understanding the works of God in our life. However, it is the works of God in our life, which is our everyday life that is our true blessing from God. The more we see the works of God in our life, the more we see God’s grace and blessings. What an unfortunate thing it is when Christians do not work enough to see those blessings of God. Jesus was once asked this especially important question, “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” No one can do the works of salvation, only God can redeem a sinner. “Therefore we see this in Jesus’s answer to them, “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” John 6:28 - 29 A person’s salvation is the one thing in life that cannot be wrong, it must be correct of hell will be your eternal home. Works voids Jesus, it also voids God’s grace and Him accomplishing all things in your salvation.

The value of money.

“For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 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.” 1 Timothy 6:7 

Money is not evil, but God said that peoples love for it is evil. As Christians we must always remember that our life should be filled with pleasing God and not ourselves. And, we must have an understanding that our thirst for money is not pleasing to God. The most pleasing to God is to be content with what God gives us and not thriving to be rich and having much. No person brought anything into this world, we were all born naked. However, some were born into families that had much and never needed much. The life of a Christin is not what we have in life but thriving in the blessings that God has given to us. Life for a believer starts when God saves our soul and begins to bless us with so many blessing that we cannot count them. A Christians downfall is a misunderstanding of what God wants for us; He gives some riches and others He makes poor. Our faith and our way of life is not measured in dollars but in God’s blessings. If we allow ourselves to be concerned with money, then that desire will affect our relationship with God and become our evil in life. In a believer’s life money should have little value, because if we gain the entire world and lose our souls, then what have we gained? Mark 8:36. All we need in this life is what God blesses us with; therefore, contentment is necessary on our part. The Lord reminds us in Heb. 13:5 “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” God’s blessings may include money, or it may not, the Lord may enrich one and not another, that is God’s choice and not our need to chase riches. God’s blessings are not gauged by riches in money but in God’s blessing that He has chosen for you. When money is a person’s blessing in life then it brings sorrow, pain, and misery. When people measure their life in dollars they are sinning against God, because some of the most blessed people on earth are poor. The Lord said, “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil.” This is because their love for money separates them from God, it is a lust and what did God say about lust, “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” James 1:15. Human lust for money will cause a Christian to lose their faith in God because is causes people to do sinful things. God also said in James 4:2 “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.” If we need, we ask God, we do not forsake God and His commandments to gain money and then call that forsaking God a blessing from God. God will never have His children to disobey Him as a blessing to Him. Remember what God said, “ye have not, because ye ask not.” Did you ask God for a blessing, and the thing you think is a blessing is it sinful, because if it is, then it is not a blessing from God but of lust. Money is needed in life, but only as a blessing from God. We must learn to add all things and decide did God bless me with this or is it that for which I lust? The Lord said, “which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” Erring from the faith will only bring sorrow and cause you to be weakened in faith. God reminds us, “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” Psalms 32:10 – 11. If Christians want to be upright in the heart and to shout for joy it is not found in money or worldly things, it is only found in trusting God, standing faithful, and being content with God’s blessings. Our walk in this world as believers is not to please ourselves and falsely call it blessings from God, but to ask of God and be content with His gifts, because His gifts will only make us wiser and richer in Him.

Satan can show up as a friend, beware!

“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Genesis 3:1

When you think of Satan how do you see him in your mind? A lot of people see Satan as an ugly cartoon type being, something evil looking like a dragon of sort and with a pitchfork. However, that is wrong, Satan is a spirit, a fallen angel, one that is pure evil. And He is a deceiver, God calls him an evil spirit. But Satan can very well befriend us, he can appear to us as a helper, one who cares, and one who wants to help, but he is nothing less that a deceiver. God said of Satan, “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 He is not our friend; he is our archenemy who seeks to cause us to sin and fall out of fellowship with God. His greatest desire is to cause churches to fall away from being the Pillar and ground of Truth, to cause a church to fall just enough that Jesus removes our candlestick. Satan appeared to Eve because he was after Adam, however since Eve was a weaker vessel he betrayed her believing or even knowing that it would cause Adam to fall from fellowship with God. Paul wrote about this account in 2 Corinthians 11:3 “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” Satan and all his angels are liars, nothing but pure liars attempting to deceive everyone even Christians and churches. Paul said, “through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted” meaning by deception and trickery. Satan is a anti-God and everything godly and Christian, he hates us all and seeks only to destroy all that God will allow. God said of Satan,  “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” 2 Cor. 11:14 However, our watchful eyes must go farther than that because, “Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” 2 Cor. 11:15. These people will come in as friend and betray you into following their thinking. These satanic deceivers are everywhere appearing as loving, kind, and helpful, in their attempt to deceive. The Lord warned us all that these people, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.”  2 Cor. 11:13. They can appear as Christians, Ministers of the gospel of Christ, Pastors of churches, and even entire churches. This why God warned us, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” 1 John 4:1. Jesus warned us in Matt. 24:4 - 25 “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” Therefore, we must understand that the burden falls on us to be watchful, to be sober minded, and to try the spirits that are around us. This is because they are not far from any of us, in fact wherever you live there are deceivers called churches full of lost people that call themselves Christians. How do we know, we try their spirit, and we find them preaching and believing lies about the bible. Paul said they preach another gospel, but there is not another gospel, “Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:7 - 9  They to are subtle, they have their PhD’s, they smile a lot, their very kind, they seem to be loving, they preach to make your ears itchy, they test your fleshly mind to deceive your spiritual heart. They teach works for salvation, also baptism for salvation, as many other things for salvation, they even speak of the true gospel but only weakly and just enough to deceive you. But the Lord warned us, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” 1Pet. 5:8 We need to heed the warning of Jesus, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matt. 26:41 We must remember how weak and frail we are because if we think to much of ourselves we could fall prey to Satan just as Eve did.   

Let us never forget our duty and judgment.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

As a Pastor I am afraid that many Christians have lost their fear of God and His coming judgment. While many Christians work hard in their Reverence of God and in their need to be good servants of God, others lack both. As Solomon said, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter” he is saying, of all I have written, this is what is most important for you all. As a Minister teaches, there is normally some conclusion to the end of our sermons. Something most important about the sermon or study that you need to carry with you in your mind. This is Solomons conclusion is, “Fear God, and keep his commandments” because “this is the whole duty of man..” Not only Christians but the entire population of the earth. Now the lost will not fear God because God said on them, Rom. 3:18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Lost people do not serve God, and neither are they required to because they are condemned already. Therefore, David wrote in Psa. 36:1 “…The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.” Therefore, their judgment will be at the Great White Throne at the end of the world, and their judgment will be condemnation “because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:18b However, all Christians will stand before Jesus for our judgment, and our judgment will not be with grace as our salvation was, it will be bold. God said through Solomon, “…for this is the whole duty of man.” because we have been delivered by the grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus and cleaned through His blood. God has done everything for us in our salvation, nothing was required on our part. However, after salvation there is an important and responsible requirement, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Gal. 5:25 If you are a Christian, imagine a day when you are required to stand before Jesus and answer why you failed to fear God so much that you failed to walk in His grace. That you rejected His word so much that you did not Reverence Him enough in your life to walk in the Spirit. So, why is this judgment without grace, because after we were redeemed by God’s grace we had many spiritual gifts, spiritual ears and eyes to see and hear God’s commandments, the Holy Spirit to teach us His commandments, and yet we did not have enough reverence and love for God to obey the His word. God has already given us so much grace in making us His children, that our only responsibility as the recipients is to Reverence God, Love God, and to obey His commandments. This is why God said, “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” I do not believe as many commentators have written that this is speaking to all people, The reason is because lost people are already condemned, and they have no good works to be judged for. Therefore, it is us, the Christian that God is speaking too. It is many of the receivers of God’s mercy and grace and the very souls that God loved so much that He sent His own Son to die at the hand of wicked souls for our salvation. There are many that are saved that have shut their eyes and ears to God’s word, and yes even some churches who no longer fear and love God enough to search the scriptures and walk as the Holy Spirit teaches us. Beloved, we are responsible to fear God and to walk in His word, as written and not as we think it is written. We are to remember the grace that brought us to salvation, and to look at this lost and dying world and remember that before grace and salvation, this is what we were delivered from. Therefore, here is my conclusion, “this is the whole duty of man” that we not only to fear God, but love God so much that we “Fear God, and keep his commandments” because if we fail, all our good works could be lost in the fire of judgment. And if so, we shall suffer loss, “If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” 1Cor. 3:15 What is your judgment day going to be like? Will you have any crowns and rewards from the Lord? Will you be a member of the Bride of Christ? Now is the time to answer those questions.

“Rightly dividing the word of truth.”

2 Timothy 2:14 – 15 “Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. (15) Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

This passage of scripture is mostly to Ministers and Pastors; however, it is also extended to all Christians. Paul is writing to Preacher Timothy his second letter, and here he is telling this preacher to be strong in the Lord and to be a good soldier for the Lord. “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 2:1 The best soldier of the Lord is one that “rightly divides the word of God” The only Truth in the world is God’s word, we can believe and trust it from cover to cover to be nothing less that truth. Today preachers use a lot of commentaries to gather information and to conclude the truth of a passage of scripture. However, only God’s word is truth, therefore, we must take all commentaries with a grain of salt and depend only on the bible as a reliable source of truth. God said concerning our biblical teaching that it is He whom teaches us, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:26 There is only one who knows the deep things of God and that is God whether Father, Son, or Holy Spirit. The Prophet Danial wrote in Daniel 2:22 “He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.” While great men worked diligently over their life to learn and rightly divide the truth of the bible, none, no not even the greatest of them are infallible. The only infallible Truth is the bible, and the only infallible teacher is the Holy Spirit. God told us to “study” and that word means -to use speed, that is, to make effort, be prompt or earnest: - do (give) diligence, labor. – If we are lazy and depend on commentaries to get our learning of the bible, then we failed God in His command to study so that we are not seen to be ashamed. But enlightened in our study of the infallible bible rightly dividing God’s word of Truth as the Holy Spirit teaches us. This is the responsibility of every Teacher, Minister, and Pastor, but it does not stop there, it also includes every Christian. Do not allow any man to be the controller of your spiritual understanding. Acts 17:11 “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” It is the responsibility of every Christian to hear, study, and be able to rightly divide the word of truth. Every student of the "Word of God" is here spoken of as a workman, “a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.” So, what is a workman, he is one that has a pattern and a plan as though you are building something. And we are all building an understanding of the Word of Truth. The building project is not complete until every detail is finalized as beautiful and perfect as we can make it. While our building of God’s Truth will never be complete as long as we breath air on this earth, we are to never get lazy or stop the building of knowledge and understanding of God’s Truth. The bible is full of multitudes of information and of multitudes of different subjects. It is deep, deeper than anything you will ever read or study. It speaks of the past times; it is the only complete detail about creation. It tells of different customs through the timeline of the world, and ever tells us of future events that have yet to be fulfilled. It tells us of God, creation, the Trinity, the works of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but one God. It tells us of God’s salvation and how it is if grace and through Jesus Christ. It tells us of the church and how it started, how it grows, and how it survives. It tells us of our live as Christians and how God expects us to live and grow in grace and knowledge. Pastors and teachers study hard, they live their lives trying to gather enough understanding to feed the sheep and make the bible understood, but our work is not enough. Every believer also need’s the be a workman, needs to make a plan and build their own database of knowledge and understanding, “rightly dividing the word of truth.” Showing ourselves “approved unto God,” People cannot be a good servant to God if we fail to be good workers in our study of His word every day.        

An Attempt to Restore Sinning Believers.

Numbers 32:23 “But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.”

God wants us to all understand His will for us in this life on earth. Our life is one purpose, to serve the Lord our God with everything we have been blessed with. We know that our sins were all paid for by the blood of Jesus, however, it is because of this glorious gift of forgiveness we owe God everything. We could never possibly return to God what He has given to us who are saved, He gave His own Son to the wicked hands of hater for our sins. God hath cleansed us, bought our redemption, and gave us sonship, and ordered us to go into the world and do His work for His glory. God has given us the blessing or working with Him in redeeming lost sinners, allowing our work of planting, and watering the field for Him to give the increase in everything. The Lord’s churches have the greatest work of getting the gospel message to the world, which is to every living soul. Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” In the Old Testament times God had many chores for His people, from building a ship by hand, to being the father of many nations, to sacrificing their life, family, and churches as martyrs, so please do not allow the work in our time be a burden to any of us. However, throughout time people blessed of God have failed God, and many never returned to the service of God. God speaks of scourging us, rebuking us, and even chastening us, all in the name of love. Heb. 12:7 “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” Christians sometimes believe blessings are only in the good things in life, but they are wrong, God’s blessing to His children are also in our rebuke, and chastening of God. God’s chastening is God’s love for His children, God’s correction to His children whom He loves so dearly. As one writer put it, “badges of our sonship.” therefore, it is an honor for God to correct us. Always remember “God corrects none but his own” therefore, when we are corrected, we need to remember God is just tweaking us to be more righteous in our earthly walk. God also need to remember that God uses the church as a corrective tool, and that tool is expulsion. While many churches baulk at expulsion it is a scriptural tool to correct undisciplined members. God said of expulsion, “And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.” Matthew 18:17. Albert Barnes said, “The meaning of this is, cease to have religious contact with him, or to acknowledge him as a Christian brother.” The purpose of discipline is not about hate, but love. All church members love one another and pray for one another, and help one another, but the goal of a church is to be in unity and our service to the Lord. Paul wrote in Philippians 2:1, 2 “If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.” Then there is an entire church, Jesus will chasten an entire church if we as a unit fail in His word and service. Jesus warned disobedient churches, “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” Revelation 2:5. But notice Jesus said, “except thou repent.” Discipline whether it is from God, or the church is an act of love and not of hate. It is to bring a disorderly member or back in line with the Lord or the church in their earthly walk. Beloved, we all need correcting, we all walk disorderly at times, the question is how much correction does it take to return to righteousness. Beloved, please remember that God knows everything and nothing is ever hidden from Him. Our live and our hearts are an open book to God, and if the church does not know to discipline a disobedient member the Lord does. None of this discipline is designed to hurt a believer, we are all God’s elected family, but what kind of Father would our God be if He just let us walk in disobedience, or what kind of a church would we be if we also just let our members live in open sin? Christians that let their pride get in the way of discipline do not care about the Lord. They rebuke corrections and allow themselves to lose most if not all crowns and rewards in glory because of pride. The question is, are you prepared to stand before Jesus in judgment and to be in heaven for eternity as an excluded member of the Lord’s church? If not then it is time to fix it, if the Lord has disciplined you, it is time to fix it, after you leave this earth, that time has expired. It is time to be restored by the Lord and the churches.