Saturday, August 22, 2009

What is up with the quoting of the scriptures in Washington?

“The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.” 2 Samuel 23:2

I must ask, what is up with the politicians in Washington all of a sudden quoting the scriptures. Have changed their way of thinking? Has the Lord our God converted them? Do they truly care what God has to say about current events? Well they will have to answer those questions for themselves, but by in my humbled opinion the answer is no. James told us in God’s word (James 2:18) that “faith without works is dead”, so we can’t we also believe that works without faith is also dead? People seem to have a great desire to quote the word of God only when it can benefit them or their cause and so is the case in Washington these days. However I do have a question for President Obama and the Democrats in Washington, now that you all are quoting the word of God does this mean that prayer is once again allowed in our schools? Does this mean that the schools may now have religious programs? Since you all are quoting God’s word does this mean that our teachers may now quote them? Well this is also another question they will have to answer, but once again I believe the answer is no. It is only when they use a passage in an attempt to benefit themselves or a program that it is allowed, but remember it is only for them to do this and not out teachers.

Beloved Jesus was not a socialist in any fashion of the word. I have a fellow co-worker a few weeks back to tell me Jesus was a socialist because He cared or people, He loved people, He believed in sharing with others, and He believed in a government tax to help others. Well while some of this is true it comes a way short of calling Jesus a socialist. Jesus did care for people but only for those that were saved or for those who were going to be saved. Jesus did love people because He gave His own life that some may be saved from eternal damnation, and it is true that Jesus said we should pay our taxes to the government however He never gave the government the right to just take whatever they please from out paychecks. There were those He saved and those He did not, there were those He healed and those He did not, so as one can clearly see Jesus was not a socialist. Jesus did tell us to help those in need and it our Christian duty to do so, however let’s not forget the word of God also says “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. Should we as Christians support an infidel?

Was Jesus a socialist in that He supported the murder of the unborn child, did He support homosexuality, did He support robbing the rich to give to the poor who are too lazy to work and earn their own way? These very same people who want to quote Jesus deep in their hearts cannot stand His beloved name being mentioned. The folk in Washington are having trouble passing their health care bill so they have now allowed themselves to select a very few scriptures (out of context) in order to plead to the Christians to help them pass this bill. We as Christians are passionate in that we believe in helping those who cannot provide for themselves, however this excludes those who are simply to lazy to work, and those who are to cheep to provide healthcare for their families. Please do not use the glorious words of Jesus to feed your passion for controlling the American people. Here are some scriptures for you to quote and if you quote them then maybe myself and many other Christians will not mind if you quote our blessed Saviour. Romans 1:25 - 27 “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. (26.) For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: (27.) And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet".

Saturday, August 15, 2009

What is this unpardonable sin?

Matthew 12:31 “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.”

There have been some questions and much debate on this subject for many years. What does this verse really mean? I think one most important question must be answered before I attempt to explain this verse and that is; “can one that is saved ever commit a sin that could never be forgiven?” The answer is without a doubt NO! Anyone who is saved cannot commit any sin that is unforgivable, period. How could God ever tell us that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from ALL sin if there was any sin that was unforgivable? “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John1:7 The word “all” means – all forms of sin or all matter of sin or sin in whole. Therefore it would be blasphemy against God and an insult to Jesus Christ to declare that there were any sin that was unforgivable for any one who believes in Jesus Christ as their Saviour. John did say in 1 John 5:16 “If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.” The death spoken of here must be referring to the death of the body because according to Romans 8:35 – 39 nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, therefore if there were an “unforgivable sin” or a sin unto spiritual death it would contradict God’s word and therefore we could have no faith in it. Please let us not forget two important facts when reading God’s word, the entire bible is in context and there is no contradiction. However, I must add right here this fact, there is one single sin unto spiritual death and that is the sin of unbelief, the sin of not believing that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of mankind and every single person that is not saved has committed this sin and will spend eternity in hell. John 3:18 “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” As for our text scripture this is my understanding. The context here is the questioning of whose power that the Lord Jesus Christ was using to perform miracles. We clearly see in verse 24 they told Jesus He cast out these devils by the power of “Beelzebub the prince of the devils.” The name Beelzebub is Chaldee in origin and it means – a dung god or a name of Satan, therefore these folks were telling Jesus He was casting out devils in the name of Satan and not by the power of the Holy Spirit, therefore denying the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore it was a direct insult to the Holy Spirit. How can one be saved if they refuse to believe in the power of the Holy Spirit? It is also a direct insult against the Holy Spirit to claim that He is not involved in salvation. Beloved we as Christians are saved, we move, and have our being by the power of the Holy Spirit, therefore everything a Christian does that is good and right is done by His power and what a disgrace it is not to give Him His due.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

I shall Not Be Moved

Psalms 30:6 “And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.”

When I was a child and just saved from eternal damnation my most favorite hymn of all was a song titled “I Shall Not Be Moved”. I did not at the time totally understand why it was but over the years since I have come to understand why. Here is some of the lyrics to the song “Jesus is my Savior, I shall not be moved; In His love and favor, I shall not be moved, In my Christ abiding, I shall not be moved; In His love I'm hiding, I shall not be moved, If I trust Him ever, I shall not be moved; He will fail me never, I shall not be moved, On His word I'm feeding, I shall not be moved; He's the One that's leading, I shall not be moved, Just like a tree that's planted by the waters, Lord, I shall not be moved.” This verse of scripture brought that song back to mind and praise God I shall never be moved. Oh, how sad it must be for those who believe that works are a part of salvation. They have no blessed hope, but beloved I do, I am standing in the faith of Jesus Christ and nothing can take that away from me for all eternity. I shall not be moved from being a child of the Holy God by adoption, what a blessing it is.
The Psalmist said in what he would not be moved from “…in my prosperity…” The word “prosperity” means – security – but comes from the Greek word shalah shalav which means - secure or successful: - be happy, prosper, be in safety. From this I shall never be moved. I shall not be moved from happiness because in Christ Jesus how could one ever be sad, eternal salvation is the greatest gift of all time. I shall not be moved because I am in Christ I can study, learn, and grow firm in God’s word and from what I gain from it I have firm ground to stand on my two feet. And third, I shall not be moved from safety, in safety there is hope and in hope there is security and in Christ that’s what I am secure. Though this world may hate me and all other Christians we will always beloved by Jesus Christ. His love is eternal and cannot be moved no matter what. So beloved I stand firm this day in great happiness because in Christ Jesus I am secure and cannot be moved.
Beloved only in Christ Jesus can we be secure, there is none other. Job told us “At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. Job 5:22” I know we live in troublesome time and this world is going deeper and deeper in sin against the Lord and His beloved but remember one simple but most secure fact, we cannot be moved from the love of God we have in Christ Jesus. Thank God for His grace of security.
Jeremiah 5:11-14 “For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD. (12.) They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine: (13.) And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them. (14.) Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

The Measure of Grace

Ephesians 4:7 “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.”

Paul said - Christ gave each one of us a measure of grace – the word “measure” means limited portion, so each child of God has a limited portion of grace. First, we must remember the grace God gave to each one who is saved, because without grace Jesus Christ does not make Himself lower than His creation and give His life on the cross and shed the blood that it took to cleanse our sins. Second, everyday of our life is by God’s grace, and we as Christians should cherish each day given. We know that Christ builds the church and by grace allowed you to be a member of His church, so this would be another measure of grace. If you have the talent to serve in the Lord’s church that would be another measure of grace, and if you can sing we find another measure of grace. When we look deep enough in our everyday life we find an abundant measure of grace. When the Lord said in Philippians 4:11 “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” He wanted us to learn to be grateful for whatever measure of grace He has give to us. The Lord also told us not to covet, Exodus 20:17 “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.” The word “covet” means to desire or lust after, because if we do then we are not satisfied with the measure of grace God has given to us. God has given to us all the measure of grace He has elected for us to have and to our neighbor the measure of grace he has and etc, etc. We often find Christians not being satisfied with what measure of grace God has given them and therefore laboring in vain to expand what God has desired for them and causing a divide between them self and God. For example one may not be happy with the finances God has given to them so they will seek a job to make more money which causes them to miss church and beloved that is a divide between that person and God. Another example would be one who God gave a talent to sing and make a beautiful noise unto the Lord and that person may want to advance out and become an entertainer for money which could cause them to leave the church to go on the road singing, again causing a divide between them and God. We could go on and on with examples but I think the picture is sufficient. We find so many Christians seeking to have something more, therefore we no longer find so many enjoying the measure of grace that God has elected to give them.

Beloved we need to learn to be content with the measure of Grace God has chosen for us and not to covet what other have. Judges 19:8 “…Comfort thine heart, I pray thee...” God knows everything we need and He will supply all of our needs as He sees fit. I think our biggest enemy is our own sense of competition by nature and this is the reason for so much coveting among the Christians today which has caused such a divide between us and God. This is the reason so many mock and make fun of the one’s with less than they have and think themselves to be better than others. Children are most horrible at this but let’s not forget children learn from their parents. The Lord commands us to help those less fortunate than us and to love them, so mocking them is mocking the measure of grace God has given to them, and bragging on the measure of grace God has given to you, is this God’s way? We need to understand, little things and even things out of ignorance can cause a divide between us and God so we need to correct those little things and be content with the measure of grace God has given us no matter what other think of it.