“Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about your neck, write them on the table of your heart. 4. So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man.”
Those two verses arrested my attention and I want to share the meaning that I found in them. I checked on the Hebrew meanings of mercy and truth, which will show their importance in our lives. According to the proverb we need to hang onto these two qualities and never let them go from our lives. Here is what I found: Mercy – The Hebrew word for mercy is “besed” (Pronounce it like bessed.). The meaning of besed expands the meaning of mercy and shows why we need to hang onto it. First, besed means “unfailing love.” This is certainly what we know about God’s mercy in our lives, and we need to practice it in dealings with other people. Second besed means “loyal love.” This is also the quality of mercy that we receive from God. This “loyal love” is certainly revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Without that loyal love and mercy we would be lost forever. Third, besed means “kindness.” Here again we see the quality of the mercy that God shows to us and should be the mercy that share with others. We need to follow the advice of the proverb and not let “mercy forsake (us).” Truth – The Hebrew word for truth is met. It is pronounced just like our word “met.” First, met means faithfulness. We should not have any trouble putting truth and faithfulness together. God’s truth in our lives is based on His faithfulness in our lives. This means that we can depend on God’s word and God’s truth in our lives. Faithfulness should also define the truth that we practice in our lives. Second, met means “reliability.” We know that God’s truth is always reliable in our experience with Him. It should also define our truthfulness in our lives. People should be able to take our word as reliable. Third, met means “trustworthiness.” When we go to God in prayer, we know that He is trustworthy to answer our prayers. People should also see the same trustworthiness in our lives. We need to follow the advice of the proverb and not let “truth forsake us.” Mercy and truth should be on the “tables of our hearts.” We are not to just practice mercy and truth as defined by besed and met, they should be part and parcel with our lifestyles. Then verse 4 gives us the result of God’s mercy and truth as practiced in our lives: “So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man.” When we practice mercy and truth we find favor with God and man. “Good understanding” means that practicing mercy and truth in our lives will give us a good name among people. At least they will know that we belong to Jesus, because He certainly practiced mercy and truth for us. Perhaps we can never look at mercy and truth in the same way after seeing their depth as defined in the Hebrew. Rejoice in God’s mercy and truth in your life, and practice them in your daily life. Bro. Joe
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“But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
I was thinking this morning about what I could write that would lift you up. As a result, I went searching in the scriptures and came across, or was led by the Spirit, to the text printed above. In Christ you have “riches in glory.” I can’t tell you all of the riches in glory, for there are plenty that I do not know, but I think the “riches in glory” that I share here can lift your spirits. I think that we will discover all of the “riches in glory” in heaven, but I want to three “riches in glory” that you have, or can have, today. The most prominent of these riches is Jesus Himself, who is our Savior! Jesus came to give His life on the cross so that we could have eternal life. I was reading in John 10:27-29 this morning some verses that illustrate this truth: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me: 28. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29. My Father which gave them to me, is greater than all; and no man shall be able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” You have the security of knowing that you have a Savior, who loves you and gave His life to save you. Rejoice in the richness of eternal salvation in Christ. Another of these riches is the Holy Spirit. When we were saved, Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to live in our lives and to offer the spiritual guidance that we need to live victoriously. Let John 14:16-17 speak to your heart: “And I (Jesus) will pray the Father, and He shall give you another comforter, that He may abide with you forever; 17. Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him: but you know Him; for He dwells with you, and shall be in you.” God sends a touch of heaven into our lives through the Holy Spirit. If Jesus is your Savior, you have the Holy Spirit living in you to lead and guide you into God’s truth. Don’t you see the richness in this heavenly gift? Another of these riches is the purpose that the Holy Spirit puts into our lives. Jesus has a purpose, or purposes, for your life. I can only speak for myself here, but I know that my purpose has been to preach the gospel and to serve as the pastor to people.(For twenty three years, I was the pastor to preachers. Hey not an easy job, but a great purpose. lol) At this point in retirement, my main purpose is to write these articles to encourage you, and to preach where I am needed. I don’t know your purpose(s) but I know that you have them. It could be that Sunday School class that you teach, or to sing in the choir. But I know that all of our main purpose is to live a life that glorifies Jesus Christ by how we live our daily lives and by how we love people and share the love of Jesus with them wherever we are. I guess I have barely touched the “hem of the garment” of our “riches in glory,” but I think that you will agree that the three I have mentioned are true riches. Rejoice! Bro. Joe “And Jesus said, 'Who touched me'?”
In the context of the verse quoted above, Jesus was on His way to heal the daughter of Jairus, and to subsequently raise her from the dead, when a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years, came close to Him, touched the border of His garment and was healed. It is a miracle within a miracle. Notice that she did not touch his physical body; rather, she touched the “border of His garment.” (It might have been the tassels on the border of His garment.) Jesus felt the woman’s touch and asked, “Who touched me?” According to the text, Jesus felt virtue, or power, leave Him. When the woman revealed herself, Jesus told her that her faith had healed her. What I want to write about in this article is the fact that Jesus is aware of our touch as well. We need to spiritually reach out and touch Him every day. I want you to notice the following realities about touching Jesus. Jesus is sensitive to our touch. The remarkable thing about this incident is that with a big crowd of people around Him, no doubt, bumping into Him, Jesus was sensitive to the touch of one person. Peter, and others with him, were amazed. In the remainder of the text verse, Peter said: “Master, the multitude throng you and press you, and you say “Who touched me?” She was just one desolate, desperately ill person, and with all of the people pressing against Him, Jesus felt her particular touch. Just so, you are one person in the vast number of people in the world, millions of whom are reaching out to Jesus, but He feels your touch. Jesus felt the woman’s touch because it was a touch of faith. He told her that it was her faith that healed her. Jesus is always sensitive to the touch, or the plea, of faith. If you will reach out to Him in faith today, no matter where you are, or what you are going through, Jesus will be sensitive to your touch. Touch Him now!!!! Jesus wants us to touch Him. When Jesus asked the question, people seemed to think that Jesus was upset because someone had touched Him. All of them denied that they had touched Him. What they were unaware of and perhaps we are too, was that Jesus was glad that someone had touched Him and that power had gone from Him. Power going from Him did not diminish the power of Jesus. He has enough power to go around to everybody on earth if they will reach out and touch Him. Jesus was not angry with the woman but had good news for her: “Your faith has made you well.” The woman who came trembling to Jesus when she realized that she was discovered, left with her illness gone and her faith strengthened. Jesus wants you to touch Him. I’ve heard people say that they needed to work out their problems, then they would go to Jesus. That is backwards!!! Come to Jesus in faith first, and you will find His power is available to you. Well, reach out and touch Him now. How? Just ask Him in faith. You will not find Him reluctant. We need to touch Jesus. No matter whether things are going well for you or bad for you, you need to reach out to Jesus today. We always stand in the need of touching Jesus. We never know what is awaiting around the corner on a given day. We need to know that Jesus is aware of what is around the corner and is awaiting your touch, your prayer and your surrender. There is no time like the present!!!! Bro. Joe Verbs are action words. They are important in the Bible, for the Bible is a book of action. The Bible not only tells us about God, it tells us to be active for Him. There are certainly more than three verbs in the Bible, but three of its more important verbs are found the three text written below:
Matthew 11:28: “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The first important use of the verb “come” is that we come to Jesus for salvation. According to the Bible, Jesus is the only source of salvation, so people must come to Him to be saved. Matthew 11:28 tells us that we come to Jesus for rest. This does not mean that when we come to Jesus for rest that we will be able to sit and do nothing. Matthew 11:29 says, “Take my yoke upon you.” Yokes are used for work. This means that our work for Jesus will not be a burden. We can enjoy serving Jesus and be rested while we do it. In John 10:10, Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” What did Jesus mean by “abundance”? Among other things, it means that through Jesus, we have the abundance of God’s blessings in our lives. I know that I can attest to that, and I hope that you can too. Isaiah 40:13a: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength…” The promise of Isaiah 40:13a is that when we wait upon the Lord, He will renew our strength. We get tired and irritable when we impatiently try to do God’s work in our own time. The main point here is that God strengthens us while we wait. Psalm 27:14 also tells us about the importance of waiting upon God: “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say on the Lord.” While we wait on God He is giving us the inner strength that we will need to serve Him. When we wait upon the Lord, we learn to live by His timing. It is difficult for us to understand, but God’s timing is not our timing. We must learn to wait on the Lord and He will bring to pass what will be best for us in our lives and in our service for Him. A salient point to make here is that when we wait on the Lord, we are equipped to serve Him. Matthew 28:19a tells us to, “Go ye therefore into all the world…” As it is important to wait on God and His timing, it is equally important for us to go when He tells us to go. He told His disciples, and us, to go into all the world. Jesus has called all believers to be missionaries where they are and in all the world. We cannot personally be missionaries in all the world, but we can witness where we are and give in order for others to go “unto the uttermost part of the earth.” We are to also go where people are hurting. Isn’t this what Jesus did in His earthly ministry? If we really want to be like Jesus, we must get out of our comfort zones and go where the needs are. It is also important that we go to God in prayer. This is where we get the strength to go into all the world and to those who are hurting. We should constantly go to God in prayer in order to ready to go and do His bidding. We need to take these three verbs personally. Come to Jesus; wait for His timing and go when He calls. “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope , through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
In the midst of Paul’s explanation of the inclusion of the Gentiles, he wrote this verse that points out three essentials of all who believe – Jew or Gentile. He wanted Roman believers, and all believers through the ages, to be filled with “joy and peace in believing,” and to “abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” I do not think that I am taking this verse out of context to say that those who believe in Christ will receive joy and peace, and through the Holy Spirit are filled with a hope that only God can give. These three essentials of joy, peace and hope are available to you if you are a believer in Jesus Christ. The first essential is joy. Joy is essential, because of the promise that Jesus gave in John 15:11: “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” When Christ comes into our lives by faith, we are guaranteed of His joy. It is a lasting joy that gets us through all of the troubles of life. In spite of life’s trials we have His joy. Claim this joy today, because it is yours, or can be yours. The second essential is peace. All who receive Christ by faith, have the peace that Hepromised. Jesus promised this essential in John 16:33: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation (trouble): but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” In spite of the troubles of this world we can peace of heart and mind. This is a promise of Jesus that will enable us to withstand all of the trouble, disappointments and ailments that we may have to encounter in our lives. Jesus wants His people to be at peace. As we face all that life might bring, the promise of Jesus that He has overcome the world remains true. Rejoice! The third essential is hope. When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives when we are saved, He fills us with the hope that only He can give. In fact, the Holy Spirit helps us to “abound in hope.” To abound in something means that we have plenty of it; therefore we have plenty of hope in Christ. If you feel hopeless, you need to claim Christ’s hope, for He has given you a lot of it. Like with joy and peace, we have hope in Christ in spite of what we might be facing in our lives. In all things that we face in life, Christ is at work getting us out, or through, whatever it is we face. Put your trust in Christ, and He will bring you through. Give all of your burdens to Him. As the old hymn reminds us: “Jesus will carry you through." Joy, peace and hope are yours in Christ. He promised so you can have them – period.Claim them! Bro. Joe By (Jesus) therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. 16. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”
These verses are in the middle of a discussion about the difference between the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and the sacrifices offered in the temple in Jerusalem. The writer mentions some things that should result from our relationship with Jesus, that is, “sacrifice of praise,” doing good and “communicating,” or sharing with others, and sharing Jesus with others. I see these three things as qualities that should be in our lives because of our relationship with Jesus. Because Jesus is in our lives, we should “offer the sacrifice of praise.” Praise should be a natural reaction of people who are in a real relationship with Jesus. The Bible is full of stories and incidents about praising God. The feast days in the Old Testament were actually services of praise to God. The author of Hebrews refers to praise as “the fruit of our lips.” Jesus mentioned that our lives are to be bear fruit, and praise is one of the fruits that we are to bear. This means that we should not be ashamed to publically praise God. I don’t mean that we should go down the street shouting. People might think we are crazy, but we should not be ashamed of offering praise to God. Because Jesus is in our lives, we are “to do good.” Good works are a natural part of our relationship with Christ. We know from Paul that we are “saved by grace through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8) We are not saved by doing good, but James clarifies this by writing that “faith without works in dead, being alone.” (James 2:17) James’ emphasis on works does not nullify Paul’s emphasis on faith. We are, indeed, not saved by doing good works. For example, how many good works would it take to save us? When we put Paul and James together we get the idea that we are saved by a faith that works. Because Jesus is in our lives, we are to “communicate.” Another translation of this is to “share.” This has two meanings. One is that we share with other people, that is, that we should not be stingy. We should not be stingy with other people and we should not be stingy with God. One of the first things that the first church in Acts did was to share all that they had with each other. Being a person that shares with others and with God is certainly a quality that Jesus should bring into our lives. Along with continual praise and good works, we should share Jesus with other people. The first way we do this is by living a like that will make our witness real to others. Look over these three qualities and ask yourself if you are attempting to live them. Bro. Joe SUNDAY-TUESDAY DUE TO HURRICANE!!!!
“Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”(Matthew 28:20b) “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” (1John 1:9) “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace.” (Hebrews 4:16a) There is probably nothing in this article that you do not know, but it will be good to be reminded of them. These are three things that we always need to always remember about God. We need to know that God is always available to us. Jesus promised in Matthew 28:20b just before He ascended: “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Jesus talked to His disciples before His crucifixion about sending “the Comforter,” the Holy Spirit, to be with them and to guide them into all truth. In Psalm 121:3-4, we are given this promise: “He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, He that keepeth thee shall not slumber or sleep.” On and on we could go quoting scripture passages that promise God/Jesus will be with us in all of life. There is nowhere that you can go in life that He will not be there. We need to know that God is always ready to forgive us. If you do not seek His forgiveness, it will not be His fault. He promised that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” Jesus died on the cross in order to forgive us for our sins. He is not happy with us when we sin, but He is certainly happy when we come to Him in a spirit of repentance and ask for His forgiveness. Why would we go on day after day with the guilt of the past, when we have a Savior who is ever ready to forgive us. He had rather forgive us than condemn us. He had rather forgive us than watch us walk through burdened with needless guilt. We need to know that He is waiting to hear from us now. We are reminded that we can “come boldly to the throne of grace.” Why? “That we might may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”He has given us an open invitation to pray and we need to take advantage of that truth everyday of our lives and in every situation in our lives. God is not reluctant to hear us when we pray, why should we be reluctant to pray? There is nothing to keep you from the throne of grace. If you need to go there in order to become a Christian, He is waiting to hear from you. If you need to go there in order to forgive someone, or to be forgiven, He is waiting to hear from you. All three of these important things that you need to know about God are true for your life. Go to Him now, and you will find Him waiting for you. Bro. Joe “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”
This is one loaded verse. I’ve written on this before, but the text spoke so loudly to me, I had to write about it again. It makes some seemingly impossible demands. It is a direct command from Jesus, which, of course, makes it important. First, Jesus told us to love our enemies. Who is our enemy? It is anyone whose name makes us angry, and might even cause us to lose sleep. Think of those people, and visualize them and make it up in your mind and heart that you are going to love them. If we are to have the peace that Christ offers, we will just have to find it in our hearts to love our enemies. Frankly, some people are easier to love from a distance, but love them we should. We should remember that Jesus loves them and died for them. Seriously ask Jesus to help you to love them, or for Him to love them through you. I think the rest of the verse shows us how to love our enemies. Second, Jesus told us to bless them that curse us. If anyone calls us a foul name, do not return it in kind, but actually bless them. If someone curses us, we should bless them. Take this seriously now, because this is serious business to Jesus. Pray God’s blessings upon the one who curses you. To bless them we will have to forgive them, for unforgiveness and hatred cannot dwell in the same heart and mind, or at least, it cannot dwell peacefully in the same heart and mind. If someone curses us we should forgive and move on. Their hatred cannot have an effect in our lives if we don’t let it. Think about it!!! Third, Jesus told us to do good to those who hate us. What? Does Jesus mean that if someone hates us, we should go out of our way to do good to them? Yes. That is exactly what He means. Are you getting the point here? If you love an enemy, he, or she, is no longer an enemy. If we bless those who curse us, this means that their curses made no difference in our lives. If we do good things for people, if they still hate us, that will be on them, not on us. We are doing what Jesus told us to do. If it was impossible, Jesus would not tell us to do it. Fourth, Jesus told us to “pray for them which despitefully, use you and persecute you.” Prayer is the key to loving our enemies, blessing those who curse us,and doing good to those who hate us. That’s right! Take it to the Lord in prayer. We should put these people on the top of our prayer lists and pray for them every day. I know that this is what we need to do, because I have actually done it, and know that it works. It works because it is done in obedience to Jesus. Will you think about this, pray about it, and let it make a difference in the relationships in your life? All you have to lose is enemies and your own personal negativity. Bro. Joe “The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand.”
Have you ever been lonely? I truly doubt that any human being has escaped the feeling of loneliness. It is in the DNA of human beings to want to be around other people. I think that even those people that we call “loners” experience loneliness at some time or other. I remember a very lonely time in my life. It was my first Christmas in the Navy in 1956. I was in Hospital Corps School at the naval hospital in San Diego, California. They gave us a choice of liberty on Christmas day or New Year’s Day. I chose Christmas. This was a bad choice. My first Christmas away from home was spent on the streets of San Diego, where I knew no one and no one knew me. Since that Christmas, I define loneliness based on what I felt that day. Feeling alone is one of the worse feelings that we can have. Did you know that God does not want us to feel alone? Look the text for this article: “The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand.” This means that God is ever near to us. In fact, Jesus promised to never leave or forsake us. God also created us with a need for human companionship and fellowship. If you are lonely, reach out to a fellow Christian. This is part of what Christian fellowship is about. This is one of the reasons that we have church. It’s not the only reason, but it is one reason. If we are afraid to reach out to each other in loneliness, we have somehow misinterpreted the meaning of Christian fellowship. If you are lonely, it might be because you have isolated yourself. In this case, get up off of it and call a Christian friend. I have an even better suggestion: Why don’t you find some lonely person in your community and visit them? Now there is a novel idea. It might be a fellow Christian, or it might be a non-Christian. I want to make another suggestion: If you feel lonely today, before you reach out to other people, renew your fellowship with God. As the song tells us, “My Lord is near me all the time….” Spend some time alone with God; experience His reality and His love for awhile. Pray and seek a real, dynamic sense of His presence. The reality is that we are never really alone if we are trusting in Jesus. If you have a relationship with God, He is near you all of the time. An old hymn entitled “Never Alone” comes to my mind. “No, never alone, no never alone, He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.” Pay attention to Jesus when He tells you, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” If we really believe that, when we feel lonely we will reach out for fellowship with Jesus, and He will lead us to fellowship with others. You will feel alone at times, but you do not have to live in that condition. Believe it! Bro. Joe “Don’t let your heart envy sinners; instead always fear the Lord. 18. For then you will have a future, and your hope will never fade.” (CSB)
The tenth commandment admonishes us not to covet anything that anybody else has. In fact Coveting means that we want something that somebody else has. A word that is closely aligned with coveting is envy. Proverbs 23:17 tells us: “Don’t let your heart envy sinners.” We look at someone whose life in no way honors God, and we wonder why they are doing better than we are? We might say: “It looks to me like God would help me to have more than the person who is not living right.” In the first place, this is the wrong motive for serving God. If we are serving God for what we can get out of Him, we need to take another look at our service. The fact that someone else has more than we do is no measure of our standing with God or with the world. What another person has does not take anything away from you. The most important thing is not what we have, but what we are in our hearts. In fact, to go beyond this text, the Bible tells us not to envy anybody. What is wrong with Envy? If we envy someone, it is difficult for us to love them and have a good relationship with them. It bothers me that there seems to be a lot of envy of rich people in America today. It seems to me that to build an argument on envy is to build a poor foundation for life. If somebody worked for what they have, they deserve it. If someone inherited what they have, they also deserve it. It is not any of my business how they got their wealth. If they got what they have by breaking the law, I will leave that between them, God and the law. I just know that I do not want to waste one minute of my life, envying what someone else has, no matter how they got it. Envy does not promote love, and it does not promote good relationships between people. We cannot build our lives on envy and live close to God. Our text tells us that instead of envying sinners, or anyone else, we should “fear God.” That means that we are to have the utmost reverence and respect for God, and we cannot have that if we are wasting our time on envy. First, envy does not, and cannot, please God. If something cannot please God then it will certainly interfere with our relationship with Him. When we envy, we are focusing on “things” instead of on God/Jesus. When we envy, we are not concentrating on serving the Lord. When we envy, we harm our relationship with God. Envy is a sin and sin always decimates our relationship with God. We will not stop envying until we realize that it is a sin. When we realize that envy is a sin, we will know that it is not a good thing to have in our lives. We need to examine our hearts and minds and determine if there is anyone that we envy for any reason. If we discover that there is envy in our hearts, we need to confess, repent and turn from it like we would any other sin – and stop it! Why? Envy is the pits and will not bring anything good into our lives. Bro. Joe |
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