“Therefore to him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin.”
We often hear testimonies of what people have given up since they were saved. It is important to give up sinful habits and sinful ways when we are saved, but that is not the end of the story. There is sin that is called the “sin of omission.” James put it as succinctly as it could be put in the text: “If you know to do good and do not do it, it is sin.” (my paraphrase) It’s not just a question about what we have given up for Jesus that is important. The question is what we are now doing that we did not do before Jesus changed our lives? Let’s begin with what I call “sins of the tongue.” It might be that we gave up gossip when Jesus changed our lives. Knowing of the destruction of this sin, I would think that it would be a good thing to give up. It would be good if all people would stop gossiping. The important question here though is what good things are we saying about people instead of negative things. If it is a sin to say bad things about people, whether they are true or not, it is a sin to fail to say good things to and about people. I really don’t like to think of all the times that I have thought about something good that I should have said to someone and didn’t say it. I don’t think we realize how important it is for us to say good things to people. The Lord only knows that after all of the negative things that we hear, it is important that we hear good things as well. Think of all that would change in our churches if we decided that we would say good things about people whenever we felt the impulse to do so. There are times when negative things need to be said, but saying good things is equally important. I try to remember this when I am preaching. There are times when we preachers have to “step on toes,” but there are also times when we need to “touch their hearts.” I love it when people say good things to me. People have asked me if I get tired of people saying “enjoyed the sermon.” My answer is always, “Heavens no. Do I want them to tell me that they hated the sermon?" James wrote that it is a sin to know to do good and not do it. If we know that it is a good thing to do something for someone else, just for the sake of doing it, it is a sin if we don’t do it. For example, there might be a lonely person in our community who does not get along well with people. Our tendency is to leave these people to themselves, but that is not what Christians should do. It would be a good idea to visit this person and take him or her cake. This person might think you were crazy at first, and he or she might even refuse the cake, but you have done the right thing, and God would be pleased and look on that gesture with favor. I know that this seems like a silly thing, but doing the Christian thing seems to be silly to the world at times. One time when Jesus visited Jericho, he spoke to and went home with the most hated man in town – Zacchaeus. He was the local tax collector and had gotten rich at a lot of other people’s expense, but Jesus befriended him and changed his life for the better. We might not change a cantankerous person for the better like Jesus did, but it would be worth a try, and it would be the right thing to do. Let’s at least be aware that there is something called “sin of omission,” and stop omitting. Bro. Joe
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“Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word."
I know the danger of taking a verse out of context, but some verses are so profound and meaningful that they stand alone within the context of the text. (I hope that didn’t confuse you. :)) I want to share with you what it taught me. The psalmist wrote: “Thou art my hiding place.” If we are not careful, we will misinterpret this statement. It doesn’t mean that we are to hide from the world and all of its challenges. It means that as we face the joys, fears, trials, troubles, etc. of this life, we have one to whom we can flee and take refuge. There is another Psalm that speaks to this: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God in Him will I trust…” (Psalm 91:1-2) The sentiment is the same: We have One to whom we can flee in times of trouble and stress and take refuge in Him. When you seek refuge in God/Jesus, by faith, you will know that He is real, and that He will provide a “hiding place.” All of the great saints in the Old and New Testaments knew the value of this refuge. David knew the value of it when he was fleeing from both Saul and Absalom. Those were not good times in David’s life, but he weathered them because He found his refuge in God. One psalm that David wrote while fleeing from Saul stated this: “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.” This can be our prayer as well. Furthermore, the psalmist wrote: “Thou art my hiding place and my shield.” Ephesians 6:16 sheds some light on this statement for us: “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” God Himself is our shield, but it is our faith in Him that makes His protection real to us. Ancient soldiers used shields to protect them from the swords and arrows of their enemies. By faith, we throw up God’s shield when we are beset by Satan and his many temptations. Satan wants to destroy our lives, but we have the protection of God who “will not suffer (us) to be tempted above that (we) are able.” (I Corinthians 10:13) The fact that we have a shield tells us that we are in the midst of battle. Make no mistake about it, we are in a battle. In the midst of battle, we cannot take God lightly and not depend on His power and strength in our lives. We need to learn from Jesus as He faced Satan on the Mount of Temptation: He quoted scripture to Satan with each temptation. (You can read about it in Matthew 4.) With God Himself coming to our aid, with our faith in Him shielding us, we have the weapon of the word of God, which is our sword, to defend us in all of the times of our lives. That’s why the psalmist closed this verse with: “I hope in thy word… ” We have God’s word, the Bible, to tell us what we need to know about Jesus and His importance in our lives. We cannot hope in God’s word, if we do not read and study it. The Bible tells us that we have provision beyond what the world can give! Read it! Believe it! Claim it! Do it! Bro. Joe “Blessed is everyone that fears the Lord; that walks in His ways. 2. For you shall eat the labor of your hands, happy will you be, and it shall be well with you.”
If I live as long as Methuselah, I will never be able to garner all of the wisdom contained in the Psalms. This article, like most of them, is the result of my daily Bible reading. What I saw in this text was instructions on how to live a blessed life. First, I need to define what the word “blessed” means. Without boring you with a word study, I will share with you what I have seen that it means after years of Bible reading. It means to be happy and to be happy is to be fulfilled. Being fulfilled does not mean that we have everything that we want, or for that matter, everything that we need. It means that God/Jesus brings ultimate satisfaction to our lives, regardless of the circumstances. The two verses written above, describe how we can have that fulfillment. “Blessed is everyone that fears the Lord” means that the blessed person has reverence for God. A blessed life will always have to include a worshipful reverence for God. People who do not believe in Him, and who do not accept His reality. cannot live a blessed life in the biblical sense. When one knows God as the Bible describes Him, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present, in other words, sovereign, he or she has to fall at His feet in reverence for Him. In short, a fulfilled life begins and ends with a reverent relationship with God. “Blessed is everyone….that walks in His ways” means that the blessed person is living a holy life. Wow! That word “holy” looks awfully pretentious, and based on today’s standards, I guess it does seem that way, but it is a good Bible word. It does not mean that one is self-righteous. It means that one is living honestly before God and seeking God’s forgiveness when that is needed. A person who is “walking in God’s way” should be cherished and valued. A person who is truly living this life will be loving and trustworthy. The ultimate compliment that I give a person is that I would buy a used car from him or her. That would be true of this person. Does this in some measure describe your life? Do you love God? Do you love people? Do you seek to live the right kind of life based on the Bible? Are you trustworthy? These are good questions to ask ourselves, and we need to ask them honestly and react honestly when God convicts us. “And it shall be well with you” means that the blessed person is tangibly blessed by God. As written earlier, this does not mean that the blessed person has everything that he or she wants or needs. It means that the blessed person is walking in close fellowship with God, loving Jesus, following the leadership of the Holy Spirt, and is really attempting to live a good life. It means that one lives with a clear conscience and is in favor with God. The blessed person does not live in fear in this life, nor does he or she fear death. Like everyone else, the blessed person will occasionally be afraid, but he or she will not live in fear. The blessed person will certainly not be perfect, but he or she will be forgiven, because he or she will be convicted and ask for forgiveness. The bottom line is that each of us needs to pause and ask ourselves if we are truly blessed people based on Psalm 128:1-2. Bro. Joe “For it pleased the Lord that in (Christ) should all fullness dwell. 20. And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.”
There are those who think that we are coarse, or crazy, to praise and thank God for the “blood of His cross.” After all, it is an ugly picture. A man hangs bleeding and dying and we are thankful and we praise God. Understand that in the economy of God, a lot depended on the Son giving Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Jesus told His disciples, “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and give His life a ransom for many.” This meant that “His time had come” as John mentions so many times in His gospel. Yes, we celebrate, because of the cross of Jesus some great things can happen in our lives. Following are at least three of these things. Because of the cross of Jesus, we can truly know that God loves us. All we need to do is to go back to the promise of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”If you need proof that God loves you, look to the cross and the words of John 3:16 should echo through your soul and give you the assurance of God’s love for you. The love of God is beyond our imagination and our intellectual understanding, but that does not mean that it is not real. Because of the cross of Jesus, we can be saved. “Saved” seems a quaint word in our sophisticated age. Sometimes people make fun of our claim to be saved. It might seem simple-minded to many, but those who have looked to the cross and to the empty tomb of Jesus, being saved is no joke. It is through the “blood of His cross” that we can be reconciled to God – forever. We have been saved to serve the Lord and to live what we call “the saved life.” What does this saved life entail? It entails worship of God, not just in church, but in our daily lives, living daily in the light of His presence. It entails living in fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. It entails loving people whether they are lovable or not, because we know that Jesus also died for them. Goodness, I’m making us sound like super humans, but being saved does not make us super humans. We do not always show the “saved life” to the world. We are sinners saved by grace. We are not perfect, but thank God through our faith in Jesus and because of His grace we are saved. I might reiterate that we are saved because of the cross of Jesus. We didn’t earn it, but it was given to us by God’s unmerited favor – His amazing grace! Because of the cross of Jesus, we can go to heaven. There are other scriptures that I could refer to about this eternal abode with God, but I want to go back to a promise that Jesus gave His disciples in His words of comfort about His coming crucifixion in John 14:2b-3: “I go to prepare a place for you. 3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am there shall you be also.” Here Jesus gave a promise that those who believe in Him, surrender their lives to Him - shall be saved and we will be with Him eternally. Hey, that is good news and it comes to us via the cross of Jesus. I guess that I could have shared other great things because of the cross of Jesus, but these should give reason for rejoicing during this joyous season. Bro. Joe “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”
Think of this: Wouldn’t it be good if we Christians kept on keeping on in the good that we should do for Christ and never quit? Jude wrote to the recipients of his letter to “earnestly contend for the faith.” “Earnest” is a good word. What it means is to really care about something and be dedicated to doing it. We should certainly be earnest in our endeavors to serve Christ and win people to Him. I think that what we would say today instead be earnest, is “hang in there.” We need to just keep on keeping on in living for Jesus, serving Him and spreading the faith. We don’t know a lot about Jude, except that he was probably the brother of Jesus, but we can know that he was earnest about his faith and that he hung in there in the living and practice of the faith. The Bible is filled with good examples of people who hung in there in their service to the Lord. Moses comes to mind. Think of what he had to face every day in his leadership of the Hebrew people out of Egypt and across the desert. If anyone ever had reason to quit, Moses would have been the one. Of course, Paul comes to mind who wrote in 2 Timothy 4:7 as his martyrdom approached: “ I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” Notice the italicized words: “finished” and “kept.” These are the word of a person who has hung in there and served in all kinds of situations – good and bad. Throughout church history there have been people who hung in there and kept the work going through good times and bad. Let’s look at few reasons today why people quit and do not earnestly contend for the faith: First, I think of “feelings.” I have almost come to the conclusion that in the estimation of many church members, their feelings are the most important things in the world. If someone “hurts their feelings” they fell perfectly justified in quitting and going their own way. There are people that require us to walk gently around them, lest we hurt their feelings. It’s not worth the time that it takes to mollycoddle someone’s feelings. Second I think of power. Sometimes in church we are about as bad as Republicans and Democrats. We can’t get anything done for the kingdom because people had rather argue about how to go about it than to go about it. Actually, it is called a “party spirit.” Paul dealt with it in the church Corinth and told them to stop it. If what we are doing isn’t moving us forward, it’s probably moving us backward. The real power in any Christian work is Jesus Christ, Who is to have first place in all that we do. Third, I think of the attitude of “let the preacher do it.” (Or “let the music director, youth leader or a deacon do it.”) God has gifted every Christian with spiritual gifts to keep his work going on an even keel. He has gifted leaders and followers, but they all have a work to do in his service. Fourth, I think of the fact that some think that certain Christian work is beneath their dignity, or their great talents. If the cross was not beneath the dignity of Jesus, and if washing His disciple’s feet was not beneath His dignity, then there is no service beneath our dignity. Let’s make up our minds that we are going to “earnestly contend for the faith,” and hang in there in our service for the Lord. Bro. Joe “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law."
There are things in the Bible that can be difficult to understand for anyone, especially for new Christians. For what it's worth, my advice to new Christians has been to read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and get Jesus down real good, then read Hebrews to get the New Testament perspective on the Old Testament. I think, for example, that Leviticus would be very difficult for a new Christian to understand without having the New Testament perspective. However, we need to remember that the Lord provided a good resource to help all Christians understand the Bible - namely, the Holy Spirit. I have read it through numerous times, at least once a year for the last thirty or so years, and without the Spirit's guidance the Bible would still be more of a mystery to me. I believe that a person who does not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, cannot fathom the great truths of the Bible. Why? They do not have the Holy Spirit to lead them to an understand of scripture. Years ago, I read that one of Madelyn Murray Ohair's sons read the Bible through in one night and rejected it outright. In the first place, if he read it through in one night, he could not have understood the Bible. In the second place, if he started reading the Bible from the perspective of an atheist, he had already rejected the Bible before he read one word of it. That's why there are so many misunderstandings among the unbelieving populace about us. They do not understand why we put so much emphasis on the Bible, and take its word over popular opinions. If you didn't know Jesus, you would be puzzled too. As Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church: "The man (or woman) without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1Corinthians 2:14, NIV) We should not read this in a spirit of self-righteousness. It should be humbling for us to realize that because of our belief in Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we can understand God’s word. That answers the question about why the Bible is difficult to understand for an unbeliever. A believer, even a new one, has the Holy Spirit to help him or her understand the Bible. No one will ever intellectually understand the entire Bible, but everyone who believes can understand what they need to understand under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Frankly, there are things in the Bible that I put question marks by, not because I doubt what is recorded, but because I just simply cannot understand that particular text. I remember that when I was a young preacher I would answer people’s questions about the Bible whether I knew what the text meant or not. As I have matured in age, and in faith, I confess that there some things in the Bible that I just do not understand. The good thing is that I do not have to understand a particular verse of scripture for it to be true. As the old hymn, “When the Morning Comes,” tells us: “We will understand it better by and by…” Meanwhile, just keep reading God’s word and rejoice in the truth that it reveals. Bro. Joe “We love (God), because He first loved us."
One of the most difficult things in the Bible for me to fully grasp is that God loves me. Don’t misunderstand me, I believe and know that He loves me, because God is also the God of grace. I did not earn that love, and I do not deserve that love. I think, perhaps, that I have just spoken for you. If you read the Bible at all, you have to come in contact with the fact of God’s love. In this article, I want to deal with the fact that God loves you. God loves us in spite of the fact that we do not deserve it. That fact is made plain in the Bible’s story of God’s acts among us, beginning in Genesis and going through Revelation. We can read Bible history and secular history and know that we do not deserve the great love that God has for us. The Bible shows us that even its great heroes were flawed human beings – every one of them. Abraham, about whom the Old Testament is about after his call in Genesis12, was shown to be a flawed human being when he absconded to Egypt out of God’s will and lied about Sarah his wife and referred to as only his sister. (You can read about it in Genesis 12:10-16.) David, called “a man after God’s own heart,” sinned with Bathsheba, and trying to cover it up, lied and had her husband killed. But God loved Abraham and He loved David. No matter how flawed we are, He loves us. We can’t let the fact the fact that we have sinned keep us from accepting God’s love for us. God loves us because He is the God of love, mercy and grace. In 1 John 4:8, John tells us that “God is love.” The very essence of God is love. God is also the God who disciplines us, but that does not mean that He does not love us. (Read Hebrews 12:7-13 to get the biblical understanding of God’s discipline.) The Bible plainly shows the wrath of God, but it never tells us that “God is wrath,” but it does tell us that “God is love.” He is the God of mercy. Paul pointed out in Ephesians 4:2 that God is “rich in mercy.” Throughout the Bible, we see the mercy of God at work among His flawed human beings. God has not ceased being “rich in mercy.” He is the God of grace. Grace is defined as “unmerited favor.” Which means that in spite of our sins, God will forgive us and use us. If I did not believe this, I would stop preaching. I know that I do not deserve all of the blessings that God has put in my life, but, by grace, He has blessed me, and I accept the blessings of God, because I know that He is the God of grace. The greatest biblical proof we have that God loves us is Jesus Christ – period. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) In Ephesians 2:4-7, Paul passionately pointed this out to us: “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, 5. Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us (made us alive) with Christ. (By grace are you saved.) 6. And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. 7. That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” I have written all of this to show you that God loves you. Jesus died and rose for you. By faith, Jesus is either a part of your life, or He will be if you will put your faith and trust in Him. Believe it!!!!! Bro. Joe “God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Unbelievers have no idea why Paul would write such a thing. After all, the cross was the most inhumane method of capital punishment that man ever devised. They also wonder why we would glory in the cross. The point is that to glory in the cross, you have to believe biblical prophecy, and the gospels in the New Testament. There are some very good reasons why all Christians can glory in the cross. I will list three of them. It was on the cross that salvation was made possible. Jesus is referred to as the “lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 13:8) Isaiah prophesied about the suffering servant in Isaiah 53:6-7: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 7. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as sheep before her shearers is dumb, so openeth not His mouth.” Paul wrote about this in Ephesians 2:15-19: “Having abolished in His flesh the enmity even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of two one new man, so making peace. 16. And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17 and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were near. 18. For through Him we both (Jew and Gentile) have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 19. Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcititzens with the saints, and of the household of God.” It was on the cross that God’s great love for us was revealed in all of its glory. In John 3:16, Jesus told of the extent of the Father’s love: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Jesus knew that the cross was in His future, even as He said these loving words. In His earthly ministry, Jesus revealed the love of the Father by His love for people. The New Testament portrays Jesus as One who loved everyone, the rich and poor. He saved the wealthy Zacchaeus and bragged on the widow who gave all that she had at the temple. Matthew 9:36 reveals the great love and compassion of Jesus: “But when (Jesus) saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” Jesus revealed great love when He healed the sick, raised the dead, calmed the sea and fed two multitudes with just a few loaves and fishes. Then when Jesus died on the cross, He gave proof of the love portrayed in John 3:16. It was on the cross that Satan’s eternal fate was sealed. He did everything that he could to keep Jesus from the cross. In the temptations given in the gospels, the devil tried to get Jesus to short-circuit his destiny on the cross by proving Himself without it. Jesus would not succumb to this. I think that it was the devil who tempted the people to try to make Jesus a king. Jesus would not allow that to happen. 1 John 3:8 says: “He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested (revealed) that He might destroy the works of the devil.” That is why Paul could write that he gloried in the cross and that is why we do as well. Bro. Joe “And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! For then would I fly away, and be at rest.”
There is something about us that makes us want “to get away from it all.” Sometimes the realities of the moment just seem too much for us. David was going through such a time as this, and he wanted to just get away and “be at rest.” For example, look at verses 1-3 of Psalm 55: “Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not thyself from my supplication. 2. Attend unto me, and hear me. I mourn in my complaint and make a noise. 3. Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me.” If we were surrounded by enemies like David's, we would probably want to sprout wings and fly away.. Like David, we will not fly away. Where would we go to get away? Let’s say that you are having trouble at work. Maybe there is a person, or people, there who are just making life miserable for you. The first thing is that if you “fly away,” say to the beach, your problems and your anger will just go with you. Besides that, you will have to return to work and the problems will still be there. Getting away might have helped for the moment, but it did not solve the problem at work. It could be that you are just plain tired of politics in America right now. I know that I am. I have caught myself thinking like David, I wish that I could sprout wings, fly away, and get away from the animosity and hatred. “But,” I ask myself, “Where would you go?” There is no hiding place on earth that can shield us permanently from the realities of daily living. What in the world can we do? Is there no hope? You have probably already guessed what the first thing is that I will write here is that we can pray! This is what David did. Look at verses 16-18 and 22: “As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me. 17. Evening and morning and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and He shall answer me. 18. He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there are many with me. 22. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” David flew away, not from the circumstances, but into the arms of God. Another insight that David got through prayer is seen in verse 18: “He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there are many with me.” We sometimes want to “fly away” because we feel that we are in our circumstances alone. This is never true of God’s people. We have God with us at all times, and we have our fellow Christians. Do you remember when Elijah ran away in fear of Jezebel? One of his problems was that he thought he was fighting the battle alone, but God gave him reassurance in 1 Kings 19:18: “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” (I suggest that you turn to 1 Kings 19 and read this whole account.) Through prayer and trust in God, we will not need to fly away, but we will learn to cope with the realities of our lives. It doesn’t hurt to take time away from the problem, but that will not heal it. We need to learn to trust God, and in trusting Him to cope with our lives as they are. Let Paul reassure you here in what he wrote in Philippians 4:6-7: "Be careful (do not be anxious) for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God, 7. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Don't think about "flying away," but "hanging in there." Bro. Joe “Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you." I was thinking last night about the word of God. An acrostic formed in my mind that helped me to describe what I think is the thrust of the word of God. (By “word of God” I mean the Bible.) I realize that Jesus is also referred to as the Word of God. Jesus is the personal Word of God, while the Bible is the written word of God.) At any rate, here is the acrostic: W – Witness The Bible is the ultimate witness about Jesus Christ. Both the Old and New Testaments are ultimately about Him. Jesus coming to earth is seen in the Old Testament in prophecy and in the New Testament in prospect. The Bible clearly reveals that the world will be judged by Jesus, but it reveals something else that is important for us to realize about Him. This message is in John 3:17: “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” Because Jesus died on the cross for our sins, we can come to Him in faith and be saved. It is a word of hope for a lost and dying world. It is a word about the forgiveness of our sins. We are sinners, but, because of Jesus, we are not hopeless. Through Him we can be saved. That is the main witness of the Bible. O – Others The message of the Bible is that Jesus loved people and He expects us to love people as well – regardless! Jesus was always aware of other people. He was aware of the poor and the wealthy. He was aware of all people, even the “sinners and tax collectors.” We will have to come outside of ourselves and our little worlds, and love other people. As difficult as it is, we should love all people. (It ain’t easy.) This command is summed up in John 13:35: “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you have love for one another.” R – Reality The word of God reveals the reality of God. It begins in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God….” Period! The Bible does not present an argument about the existence of God; rather it just assumes the existence of God. The word of God reveals God to us as a real Person, One Who created the world and is involved in the history of the world. He is revealed to us as “Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” We call this the “Trinity.” If you do not believe in the reality of God, you do not believe in the Bible. There are certainly principles given in the word of God that people could follow as unbelievers, but if they want to believe in the Bible as God’s word, they must accept the reality of God and His involvement in the history of the world, and, for that matter, His involvement in the lives of individuals. D – Doctrine There are people who overlook, or ignore, the doctrines of the Bible, but that does not mean that doctrine is not there. 2 Timothy 3:16 is one example of the importance of doctrine: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” I do not have the space to develop all of the Bible doctrines, but suffice it to say that the Bible teaches some definite things about God and about His expectations of us, and that is what we believe and attempt to practice; therefore, we have biblical doctrines that we live by. For better or for worse, that is my acrostic. I hope that it has been informative for you. Bro. Joe |
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