“And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid (flat scared), and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. 11. And they said to Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt thus with us to carry us forth out of Egypt? 12. Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.”
My journey through the Bible led me once again to the “Red Sea Experience” of the Israelites. Because of the death of the firstborn of Egypt, they were allowed to leave Egypt after 430 years of bondage. They should be happy, right? They were happy to leave, but when Pharaoh pursued them, they thought differently. Assuming that you know something about the Israelites flight from Egypt, let me share with you my thoughts as I read about it this morning. Each time I read about this, I have to rethink my own opinion. I think, “What is wrong with these people, after all of the miracles that got them out of Egypt, surely they knew that God would deliver them.” But when I put myself in their place, I realize that it’s not that simple. I know the whole story, but they are living it one moment at the time. When I look at it this way, I am not so hard on the Israelites. I would have to be there in order to know how I would react. Sadly, I might join the majority and fuss at Moses and Aaron. (Oh, come on, lighten up. You would probably do the same put in their situation.) The lesson for us is that we live one moment at the time and we have to trust that the next moments will see the hand of God at work. What the Israelites did not realize was that God already knew what He was going to do. Now, there is a revelation that we need to grasp. In His sovereignty, Almighty God already knew that He would divide the Red Sea for them and that they would go through on “dry ground” to the other side, and that Pharaoh’s army was doomed. While we live one moment at the time, God knows the whole story of our lives. He knows what He is going to do. We need to trust that what God will do will be in our best interests and will mean victory for us in one way or the other. We often come to our own “Red Seas” and wonder what will happen. That’s because, like the Israelites, we are human beings with human minds and human frailties. God has no frailties, there is nothing that He does not know and nothing that He cannot do, and we just have to trust that. God knows that there is life beyond the “Red Seas,” and we just need to trust that – or Him. We might wonder what would have happened if God had not divided the Red Sea for the Israelites? I need to grasp this truth for my life as do you. If God had not divided the Red Sea, He would have had another plan that would have worked out to their victory. I realize that God has not always “divided my Red Seas,” and I imagine that you do too. Sometimes I have had to go through the devastations of life. I have just had to meet “Pharaoh’s Army” head on and know that, even in my discomfort, God was at work, that God already knew the outcome. I am trying to grasp the real wonder of this even as I write about it for you. We just need to realize that whatever life brings, God is sovereign, and that He does not worry and fret over our situation. God knows what we need in our lives and we need to accept that and praise Him for His sovereignty – and in His sovereignty. The whole “Red Sea story” is about what God knows and what God does. We need to incorporate this truth into our lives and trust that His almighty hand is at work in our lives. Let’s return once again to the promise of Deuteronomy 33:27a: “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms…” Bro. Joe
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“The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, it is the Sabbath day: it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”
I thought of the word “absurd” when I read John 5:10. What had happened was that Jesus healed a man who had been a cripple for thirty eight years. He was lying there waiting for the waters of the pool to be moved by an angel so that he could get in the water and be healed. He was unable to get to the water, so Jesus just simply told him to “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” This is not what is absurd. What is absurd is that the Pharisees’ main concern was that the man picked up his bed on the Sabbath. Forget that he had been healed of an infirmity that for thirty eight years had kept him from the enjoyments of life. That is absurd. This was something that Jesus had to contend with more than once. Perhaps you remember the time when Jesus healed a demon possessed man who lived among the tombs, and ran around among the tombs naked and raving like a maniac. Well, Jesus removed those demons from the man and the townsfolk saw him he was “clothed and in his right mind.” Good news, right? Wrong. Jesus had cast the demons, by their request, into a herd of pigs that were nearby. The demon-possessed pigs ran into the water and were drowned. As it turned out, the people were more concerned that the pigs had drowned than they were that a local menace had been healed and able to function as a normal human being again. They cared more about pigs than they did about people. That is absurd. This kind of thinking is called “legalism.” Jesus pointed out the absurdity of legalism in Mark 3:1-4: “And (Jesus) entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there with a withered hand. 2. And they watched Him, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath day; that they might accuse Him. 3. And He said unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. 4. And He said unto them, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? To save life or to kill?” The legalists couldn’t answer that, and Jesus proceeded to heal the man. God never intended for His laws to make us callous in the face of human suffering. Jesus’ question, “Is it lawful to good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil?” seems to say that it would have been evil not to heal the man rather than legalistically ignore him. I guess the main point that I want to make here is that being a Christian should not make us callous about human suffering around us. If we really want to be like Jesus, we will not turn a blind eye to the needs all around us. We will listen for the “still small voice” of the Holy Spirit and obey Him in all of these matters. The problem with legalism is that we are often legalistic about things that human beings have said about God’s laws, ignoring God’s intentions in what it really means to obey His laws. Jesus Himself did not come to be religious. He said of Himself that He came to serve, and that He expects the same of us. When asked what the most important commandment was, Jesus said that it was to love God and to “love our neighbor as ourselves.” Let us pray that our commitment to obey Jesus will not make us callous to loving our “neighbor as ourselves.” Let’s not be absurd in our dealings with people, and let’s rejoice when God uses us to be a blessing to a fellow human being. Bro. Joe “Devote yourself to prayer, being watchful and thankful…”
In the text written above, the apostle Paul was telling the church at Colossae to be a praying church. We would do well to heed this advice in our own churches. There is a desperate need today for praying churches. Years ago, W.W. Dyer wrote: “The quickest way to get a church on its feet is to get it on its knees.” How true! Colossians 4:2 reveals to us what makes a church a “praying church.” I found a study of the Greek words used in this text to be helpful in interpreting it. (My source for the study of Greek words was the Analytical Greek Lexicon.) Paul advised them to “Devote yourselves to prayer.” The King James Version’s translation of this is, “continue in prayer.” The root Greek word can be translated as “to persist in adherence to a thing.” The Colossians, and we, are admonished to adhere to prayer. We are not to let anything keep us from praying. No one can really stop churches from praying but churches themselves. The same is true of individual Christians. If you want your church to be a praying church, promote prayer in every aspect of its life. Encourage individual church members to have daily devotions. Encourage families to pray together, and encourage prayer when the church is gathered together. Set aside times in worship services for prayer, and pray for missions, the ministry of the church in the community, a deep impression of the moving of the Holy Spirit and pray for the infirm. Most church prayer lists only list those who are on the “sick list.” I do not mean to diminish the importance of that, but we should pray for much more. Take Paul’s advice and “Devote yourselves to prayer” as individuals and the corporate body of your church. Paul advised them to be “watchful” in their praying. The lexicon gave two translations of the Greek word for “watchful.” The first is “to be awake.” Steadfast prayer will keep a church alive, awake and alert. Alert to what? Alert to many things, but one good example is to try being alert to ego matches in churches that make its witness null and void in the community. The second is to be “vigilant.” Constant prayer will keep a church “on its toes.” It will keep a church from letting its guard down on moral matters, in visitation and witness or in a dull sameness that kills the spirit of the worship of the church. The implication of Colossians 4:2 is that if a church is steadfast in prayer, it will be a watchful church. As physical exercise keeps our physical bodies alert, so prayer keeps churches alert. Paul advised them to be thankful. A little bit of thankfulness goes a long way in keeping our prayer lives alive and aware. A translation of the Greek word for thankful is to be “mindful of benefits.” A praying church will not forget that Jesus is the source of all of its benefits and blessings, such as, salvation, fellowship, or corporate witness. A church cannot be defined as a praying church if at the same time it forgets the source of all of its benefits – namely Jesus. Churches cannot be defined as praying churches if they focus only on themselves instead of on witness and ministry to the community. The church that is focused on Jesus, and people, is a thankful church. A thankful church is a praying church. What makes a church a “praying church”? The obvious answer is that the members of a praying church are praying people. They pray when away from the corporate body of the church, and when they are gathered together. Prayer is not an afterthought in a praying church, but is an integral part of the life of the church. If you want your church to be a praying church, be a praying person. Bro. Joe “Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.”
I don’t know how many times I have read this verse, but I know that I have read it at least once a year for many years as I have read the Bible through, and probably more than that while just rummaging through the Bible. When I read it this morning it just jumped out at me. If you have never had that experience, you will not understand. If you have had the experience, you know what I mean. I saw meaning there that has escaped me before, and that is what I am sharing with you today. The psalmist, in this case Asaph, gave thanks to the Lord. He not only wrote of his thankfulness once, but he repeated it. He is speaking for the congregation of Israel, and as they sang the psalm together, they were giving thanks to God. They had a lot to be thankful for. A cursive view of Israel’s history will reveal this truth. They had been delivered from Egyptian bondage by the mighty hand of God. They had been fed and clothed in the desert during their forty year sojourn from Egypt to Canaan. Time and time again, God led them and rescued them. Asaph was looking back on all of this, remembering that they had rebelled against the goodness of God, yet God maintained His relationship with them. Like Asaph, and the Ancient Jews, we have a lot to be thankful for. God sent Jesus to be the remedy for the sin problem that has plagued humanity since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. We can be saved from our sins through the blood of Jesus. Like Israel, we do not deserve what God has done and is doing for us, but in His grace, God continues to love and sustain us. We need to be thankful for God as well for all that He has done in our lives. Let’s thank God and praise Him for all that He is, and for all that He does in our lives. Count your blessings today and give thanks. The main thing that Asaph thanked God for was His nearness: “Unto thee do we give thanks: for thy name is near…” “Thy name is near,” is Asaph's way of saying that God Himself is near. One thing that we need never fear is that God will disappear or go away. There is an old spiritual that says, “My God is near me, all the time.” The nearness of God is an undeniable biblical truth that we need to hold close to our hearts. God will not forsake us. If God/Jesus feels far away from us, it is not His fault. God has never moved. I cannot explain it, nor do I desire to, but we need to know that God is everywhere all at the same time. He is near us each day, and He is near those who live far away from us. God is present throughout all of His universe. Asaph wrote, “For that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.” I see two aspects of this promise. One is that the nearness of God declares His wonderful works. Because of God’s nearness we get an up close view of His wondrous works. Another translation of this is, “Men tell of your wonderful deeds.” The nearness of God demands that we tell of His wonderful deeds. This means that out of the thankfulness of our hearts, we should tell others about what the Lord has done for us. Today, we call this witnessing. We should not keep secret what God has done in our lives. We should give testimony of our personal experience of salvation through Him, and of the many ways that He has manifested Himself in our lives. People need to know what God can, and will, do in their lives. Join Asaph in your thankfulness for His nearness and for His “wondrous works.” Bro. Joe “Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy is everlasting.” (NKJV)
Thanksgiving should not be seasonal for the Christian; rather it should be an integral of his or her lifestyle. The psalmist showed us why we should praise and give thanks to the Lord: “for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” Thanksgiving should arise in our hearts because of God’s goodness to us. He shows His goodness to us by everything that happens in our lives. We might think that His goodness is not shown during the bad times of our lives, but those might be among the best times of our lives. I can look back over my life and see how good has always come out of the bad things that happened in my life. It is during those times that God has taught me and deepened my faith in Him. I have many testimonies from other Christians who are in agreement with me. That’s why Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:20: “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul was an expert in giving thanks for “everything.” Take 2 Corinthians 6:4-5 as an example: “But as God’s ministers we commend ourselves in everything: by great endurance, by afflictions, by hardship, by difficulties, 5. by beatings, by imprisonments, by riots, by labors, by sleepless nights, by times of hunger…” There is more, but these should suffice to show that Paul knew what he was writing about when he wrote that we give thanks “always for all things.” No difficult time seems good at the time, but when we look back we see that God was doing a great work in our lives for our good. We should nott, however, forget the good things that He does for us that are not difficult. Think about your own life for a moment. Do you have a family? Thank God. Do you have good friends? Thank God. Do you have a job? Thank God. Can you breathe? Thank God. You get the idea. There are many ways that God has been good to us, but nothing compares to His giving His Son to die on the cross for our sins, and saving us when we put our faith in Him. If you will put your mind to it, you will be able to think of many, many things in your life that you can thank God for. If you can’t, you really need to get your priorities straight and focus on Him. Psalm 106:1 also reminds us that: “His mercy is everlasting.” This means that God will never run out of mercy. That is good news, because if He did we would really be in trouble. Think of living in a world where we only had God’s wrath to look forward to. It wouldn’t be pretty. Isn’t it great that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”? That is mercy. God treats us better than we treat each other, and for that we should be grateful. In His mercy, God wants the best for us. He doesn’t want us to wallow in sin. He doesn’t want us to live in misery. He doesn’t want us to go through life feeling guilty. He has arranged things so that we do not have go through these, and other, things. It amazes me that people do go through all of these things, even Christians, but the fact is that we do not have to. We should be thankful that His mercy helps us live better lives. I have counseled with people over the years, who were miserable and there didn’t seem to be anything that could take them out of their misery. There was/is a “Bible filled with answers to all of their dilemmas, but often they would not pay attention to that. It must break God’s heart when He offers great mercy and people choose not to take Him up on it. His mercy is available to all who will call on Him, and it is everlasting mercy. We should be thankful that God is the God mercy. Meditate on God and His part in your life, and see that He is good to you and that His mercy applies to you. Bro. Joe Romans 12:21: “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”
John 16:33: “These things have I 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.” “You are of God little children, and you have overcome them (false teachers): because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” The most pervasive problem that we have in this world is overcoming evil. This is difficult because Satan so disguises evil that we do not see it as evil. Oh, we can easily see the evil in other people, but our own evil is another matter. We do not just need to overcome evil in the world, but we need to overcome evil within ourselves. Our three texts give us a clue as to how to overcome evil in the world and in ourselves. Romans 12:21 tells us: “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” The admonition is that we not be overcome by the pervasive evil of this world. All you have to do to realize the pervasiveness of evil is read the news and see how people are acting. You can even go in some churches and get a good clue – just saying. We are told to “overcome evil with good.” Simple. Right? Wrong! In theory all we need to do to overcome evil is to simply replace it with good. That is a good thing, but it is not a self-help project. In Romans 7, Paul dealt with his own problem with evil – or sin. He declared that it was impossible to overcome it within himself. Then he declared: “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord…” Which brings us to John 16:33b where Jesus told us: “In the world you will have tribulation/trouble; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Long before Paul was converted on the Damascus Road, Jesus declared to his disciples that they could overcome the world because He had overcome the world. How did Jesus do that? Well, the Bible tells us that Jesus was tempted, yet He did not sin. He overcame sin, Satan and self at every turn in His life. No one else who has ever lived on this earth can say that. Jesus said that we could cheer up, because He has overcome for us. If we are to overcome evil with good, it has to start with faith in Jesus, who has overcome for us. That is what Jesus was doing on the cross. With His shed blood, Jesus made it possible for us to be overcomers. The problem with a lot of people is that they do not realize a need to overcome evil. They enjoy evil too much. Some just enjoy living an outright sinful life, doing “what comes naturally.” Others do not enjoy evil as much as they deny its existence in them. They do not live a “partying” lifestyle. They just succumb to pride and conceit and act like Pharisees. Whatever the case, we all need to overcome evil, and Jesus has made it possible through His life, death, resurrection, ascension and intercession for us. We can overcome evil by putting our faith in Jesus. Where we want to arrive is 1 John 4:4: “But you have overcome them…” How? Because “greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” We can overcome by putting our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, who is greater than Satan and greater than all of the temptations in the world. John gives us the greatest answer in 1 John 5:4-5: “For whatsoever/whosoever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. 5. Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” In order to overcome the world – sin, Satan and self – we need to believe in and entrust our lives to the One who overcame evil on the cross. Jesus Christ is the hope of the world. Indeed, He is our only hope in overcoming sin. Entrust your life to Him and let Him help you overcome. Now, we can see what it means to “overcome evil with good.” We do not overcome by our own good, but by the good of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are overcomers through Him. Bro. Joe “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.”
Romans 11:33 makes the old hymn, “We will understand it better by and by” more meaningful. There are many things that happen in our lives that we can understand, but there are always those mysteries that we can never solve, and we will just have to wait for eternity to discover their full meaning. I want to illustrate this by something that I have been reading about in the Bible this week. In Exodus, God came to Moses in a “burning bush” and told him to go get His people out of Egypt. Moses joined his brother Aaron and they told the people that God was going to take them out of Egyptian bondage. The people rejoiced! Problem solved! Right? Wrong. Pharaoh was upset that the Israelites wanted to go into the wilderness to worship, and made their bondage more difficult. If we could put ourselves in the place of the Israelites, we would wonder why, after being told of our pending deliverance, everything only got more difficult. They reacted as we probably react today. As the story unfolds, we discover that God’s plans for Israel were for their deliverance, but that did not mean that things would always go easy for them. If you know the full story, you know that there were many complications, but that God’s will was done. Suffice it to say that Paul was on target in Romans 11:33. We will not be happy in our service for the Lord if we think that we will always fully understand why God lets things happen in our lives that do not always seem to be for our benefit. God explained why we would not always understand His ways in Isaiah 55:8-9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways says the Lord. 9. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” What we have to conclude is that we are not God; therefore we cannot always understand His thoughts and ways. We also need to conclude that when God’s ways seem to contradict our ways, His way is the right way – period. We just have to accept by faith that God has our higher interests at heart, and that we will be better off ultimately with His ways. That’s what faith is all about. We are saved and sustained always by faith and not by sight. The answers to our prayers are not always obvious to us until we see what God has finally worked out. What we have a difficult time grasping is that suffering is not always bad, and that God works through suffering to strengthen our faith. Why God does what He does is often a mystery to us. For example, why would God, when He wanted someone to witness to the Gentiles, call the meanest Jew He could find, convert him, change him completely and send him out to those whom he previously hated. That’s what He did with Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul, the great Christian apostle. Not only that, but the same man wrote a third of the New Testament, and the Book of Acts is predominantly about his ministry to the Gentiles after Acts 10. Go figure! On second thought – don’t try to figure. Just accept by faith that God’s ways are the best, and that ultimately, things will be better because His ways prevail. We just have to trust God’s will for our lives. What seem like twists and turns to us, are not twists and turns to the Lord. Trust this: It will all work out! The way might seem steep and rough sometimes, but it, whatever “it” is, will all work out. If it doesn’t all work out here, it will all be solved in heaven. We have a promise in Romans 8:28 that we need to hold to our hearts: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.” His purpose is being worked out in our lives, and we will understand all of it by and by. Hey, just enjoy the journey! Bro. Joe “You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.” ESV
After Moses led the children of Israel were out of Egypt and after they set up camp in the wilderness, people would come to Moses with their problems and he would help them. Since there were 600,000 men, plus women and children, Moses had a heavy burden. His father in law, Jethro, came from Midian to bring Moses’ family to him and he saw what Moses doing. I don’t know how familiar you are with this story, but whether you are familiar with it or not, there is a lesson here for you about your need for other people. Jethro suggested to Moses that he divide the people up into thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens, and find men to be counselors to each group. That was a simple, workable plan. I imagine Moses said, “Why didn’t I think of that?” What’s the point? Moses needed to know that there were other people who were also capable of leadership. Jethro was encouraging Moses to use the people resources that he had and the work would be more efficient. I doubt that any of us will ever have the responsibility of at least three million people, but there is nevertheless a lesson for us here. When we are going through troubles, we have other people that we can reach out to for help and counsel. What are family, friends and neighbors for? God has given us each other, and what a gift it is. Jethro said, “You are not able to do it alone.” The key words here are: “You are not able.” Those are terrible words for some of us for we like to think that we are able to meet every need and shoulder every responsibility by ourselves. It is as though other people will just get in the way. Understand this: God made us so that “we are not able to do it alone.” Why was Eve created? Because God saw that Adam needed a helpmate. It was not good for Adam to be alone. He needed help tending the garden, but it was much deeper than that. Adam needed someone who could help him fulfill all of the functions of life. Eve could help meet Adam’s spiritual and physical needs, and Adam could do the same for Eve. God made us so that we need other people. For this reason, we should show greater appreciation for the people in our lives – for family and friends. It is especially important that Christians know that we “are not able to do it alone.” Jesus did not call just one disciple; rather He called twelve of them. (One of them turned out to be useless, but there were still eleven left.) Think of it: Jesus knew that He was going to lay a heavy burden on these men, so He gave them each other. These men would bear the burden of starting the work of the church. They would need each other for that. Even the great Apostle Paul could not do it alone. When Paul went on his missionary trips, he carried other people along because he intrinsically know that he “was not able to do it alone.” That is why we have churches. “Church” has almost become an ugly word to a lot of people, but it belongs to Jesus and “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Read Matthew 16:13-18.) If you are in a church, you have other Christians to encourage you and help you in the work. This was a great discovery when as a young preacher, I learned the value of church fellowship. Jethro did not tell Moses that he had no capabilities, he just knew that counseling all of those Israelites was “above his pay grade.” (Pardon the cliché, but it fits well here.) The Lord did not give us each other to use but to help and to encourage. Just enjoy the fact that “you cannot do it alone,” and thank God for the other people in your life. Bro. Joe “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts. 24. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
What would make this prayer daunting to pray? Look at the first four words of the text: “Search me, O God…” David invited the God of the universe, the God who sees all, knows all and is all-powerful to "search him." I would call that pretty daring. God already knows us inside and out, but to invite Him into our innermost and, maybe secret places, is to ask Him to let us know what He knows and change us accordingly. If there is one word that we have problem with when it comes to our “own business” it is change. Let’s see what David was inviting God to search. He asked God to "search me and know my heart.” He is not referring to the pump that makes the blood flow through his body. David is referring to his innermost being, where all of his longings are, and where all of the things that he treasures are. When we say that something is in our hearts, we mean that it is indelibly stamped on our psyche and that we hold it very dear. Some of these things in our hearts may be noble and uplifting, and God could really use those things in our hearts. But some of these things could be trifling, forbidden and just downright sinful. These are the things that we are not likely to want to remove from our hearts unless God intervenes and shows us the error of our ways. Think of some of the things that you hold in your heart, the things are the very dearest to you and see if you would really want to let God in on them. This is what David was inviting God to do in his life. He asked God to “try me and know my thoughts.” Think of the boldness and daring of inviting God to try us based on our thoughts. Are all of your thoughts pure? (Are you laughing yet?) What thoughts have you had lately that you would not really want God to know to know? I’ve got news for you – He already knows your thoughts. (And your heart too, for that matter.) But it will be good for you to invite God into your thoughts in order for Him to purify them. (I’m speaking for myself as well.) Would you want other people to know your thoughts about them? If you wouldn’t, the chances are that your thoughts for them would be frowned upon by God. We need to memorize Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brothers, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there by any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” I think that all of us could use this advice. He asked God to “see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” That is daring, for surely David knew that God would find some wicked way in him. I don’t know whether this psalm was written before Bathsheba or after, but either way, God surely found lust in him. David, like us, wanted God to help him do better, but his self will overcame him in that matter. This is a lesson for us, that when we invite God into our hearts and thoughts, we need to listen to what He finds. However, I think that this kind of praying helped David to live as good a life as he did - his sins notwithstanding. God did not make David perfect, but I think that He kept David out of a lot of things that he would have done had he not prayed prayers like this prayer. How bold are you in inviting God into your heart and thoughts? How bold are you in asking God to search your heart, to know your thoughts and to ask Him to change you. It takes bold praying like this for us to grow and change the things that need changing in our lives. Think honestly about yourself and find any “wicked way” that might be in you and ask God to forgive it and "lead you in the way everlasting." That is good advice for all of us. Bro. Joe "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. 37. Then saith He unto His disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few, 38. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest.”
Jesus looked out at the multitude of people who were coming to Him for help, and He was filled with compassion for them because their needs were so great. They were like sheep who needed a shepherd. Actually, Jesus saw that they would need someone who would bring them to the Shepherd. He also compared them to a field ready to be harvested. He told His disciples that laborers were needed to gather that harvest. They would end up being those laborers, but others would be needed also. You and I need to read this and see ourselves as laborers in the harvest. First, I want to point out that these laborers do not need to necessarily be labeled as “missionaries.” Don’t misunderstand me, missionaries are needed on the fields of the world. But what we need to see is that we are laborers for Jesus right where we are. We just need to be “moved with compassion” as Jesus was, for there are many around us who are like “sheep without a shepherd.” Maybe life is so good for them right now that they do not see that need, but it is a need nevertheless. We need to consider that Jesus needs us right here where we are to be His laborers. Second, we might make the excuse that we are not qualified to be His laborers, to tell others about Jesus. But if Jesus is really your Savior, you are qualified to tell others about Him. You know how He saved you, you can simply share that with others. The only complication is our timidity and hesitation in telling others what Jesus has done for us. I understand that, because it is not always easy for me either. It’s just that when the Holy Spirit moves, we need to be sensitive to Him and to what He wants. You do not have to be a preacher to do that. Third, we need to know that the main thing that we need to do to be laborers in the harvest is to live the Christian life. That is absolutely the first requirement. It does not make any difference what we say if our lives do not back up our words. That does not mean that we are to live self-righteously. It does not mean that we are act judgmental around people. What it means is to just do what is right based on the Bible, and to treat other people like we want to be treated. Our greatest witness is our lives. People notice how we talk to them, and they notice how we treat other people. God forbid that they say about us, “if that is how Christians act, you can count me out.” Fourth, and it should probably be first, we should really care about the fact that people are lost without Jesus. We have to really believe what Jesus said about Himself in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father but by me.” These are not idle words. People need Jesus. All people need Jesus. Good, moral, law-abiding citizens need Jesus. The town drunk who never draws a sober breath needs Jesus. The prostitute who hangs out on the street corner needs Jesus. The executive who makes over a million dollars a year needs Jesus. The teenager who spends most of his or her days worrying about acne and “puppy love” needs Jesus. The person who has never attended church in his or her life, needs Jesus. I think that you get the idea. The world needs Jesus, because He is the way to eternal life. Peter said in Acts 4:12: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Please understand that you do not need to be an expert witness, for there are no “expert witnesses.” Just live the Christian life, and share what you know. It is really and truly that simple. Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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