“Is anything too hard for the Lord?”
The background for this text is the promise of God to Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child. Abraham was one-hundred years old and Sarah was ninety years old. When the angel told them they would have a child after all of those years of Sarah’s barrenness, Sarah laughed, and Abraham was incredulous. That was when God said to Abraham, “Is anything too hard for the Lord.” As you probably know, Abraham and Sarah had a child in their old age – as incredible as it seems. They named the child “Isaac,” which in Hebrew means “laughter.” (Who says that God doesn’t have a sense of humor?) Given the results for Abraham and Sarah, the obvious answer to the question is no, there is nothing too hard for the Lord. It’s one thing to read this and agree with it and then apply it to our own lives. For just a moment, put yourself in Abraham and Sarah’s place. They had lived a long time with the frustration that Sarah was barren, but they had probably resigned themselves to that, and their lives were settled. What do you think that you would have thought and said in their circumstance? I think you know that the answer is that you would laugh and think it impossible. On one occasion, Jesus said that “with God all things are possible.” We can read this and believe it, but do we apply that wonderful truth to our own lives? When you are faced with health problems, do you believe that nothing is too hard for God. You might say, “But I prayed and I became ill anyway.” That did not mean that it was too hard for God to heal you. What it meant was that God chose not to heal you. You will probably never know the answer to the question of why God did not heal you, but He had His purpose(s) for your illness. If nothing else, He might have known that you needed a few days of rest and reflection, and He allowed you to be sick to accomplish it. I know that I have discovered this in my own illnesses. I might not have realized what God was doing at the time, but looking back I can see what God was doing. In these cases I am grateful that He loves me enough to do for me what I will not do for myself. When you are faced with problems in your life that seem unsolvable, do you think that God can’t remedy that situation? For example, there is someone at your workplace that is just difficult for you to get along with. That person rubs you the wrong way every day. You talk to God about it, and it seems that He does nothing about it. Is this person too hard for God to change? If you will just have faith in the God for whom nothing is impossible, you might find that it is not that person that needs changing, but you who needs changing. That person is not too impossible for God to deal with, but God wants to deal with you. I know that when I have had to deal with recalcitrant people in my own ministry, I have prayed for them and have seen God do a work in my life that changed me as much as it changed them. When you think that there is no solution to the world problems that we all have to live with daily, does it seem that these events are too hard for God to handle? We might think that God can take care of the little things that bug us, but that the world situation is too much for Him. What you need to do is to go back to the Bible and see that God allowed things to go on for hundreds of years that negatively affected His people, but in the final analysis it worked out according to His purpose. For example, the first church had Saul of Tarsus to deal with. This mean Pharisee was doing everything that he could to destroy the Lord’s work. I imagine that most Christians thought that the situation was impossible, but God changed the man on the Damascus Road. Don’t you think that people like Simon Peter prayed for Saul, or at least prayed for him to cease his activities? Well, their prayers were answered, and once again we see that nothing is too hard for God. This is true in your life as well. Think about it! Bro. Joe
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“A man has joy in the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it.”
I guess all of us have had our day made or ruined by words that have been said to us. This is why the Bible warns us about the usage of our words. We need to remember that what we say may be taken lightly by us, but not by those who hear what we say. Therefore, we need to be careful about using words flippantly, for they can hurt or heal. We need to use our words to heal instead of hurt. We need to weigh our words and consider whether they are helping or hindering other people. “A word spoken in due season,” refers to a word that is spoken wisely at just the right time. I want us to look at the different ways that we can use words to help people. A word of warning can be helpful. I begin with the word of warning because these words have helped me in my life. I can look back and wish that I had always heeded the words of warning that were given to me at home, school and church. I could have avoided a lot of complications if I had listened to a word of warning given at the right time. You can probably think of the same thing in your life. We should be careful to listen to words of warning as well as to give words of warning. One of the best favors that you might do for a friend is to give him or her a timely word of warning. A word of encouragement can be helpful. People have asked me if I ever got tired of people telling me that they enjoyed my sermon. While every sermon is not given to be enjoyed, I had rather hear that than to have someone tell me they hated my sermon. If you will think about it, you feel the same way. We like to think that the things we do in life, whatever our jobs may be, are appreciated by other people. Words of discouragement can sting or hurt, especially if they are given in a negative and mean spirited way. Words of encouragement can make a huge difference in whether we succeed or fail. It is important for parents to give their children words of encouragement as they grow up. Sometimes words of encouragement can also be words of warning. An encouraging word does not always have to be positive, especially if it is given in love and concern. But I do not want to diminish the importance of positive words of encouragement. We know that we like to hear positive words of encouragement; therefore, we should be careful to give them. We need to be reminded that once words are spoken they cannot be called back. If you are like me, there are times that you have said to yourself, “Why did I say that?” We know when our words are helping or hurting. We need to decide that we want our words to help rather than hurt. Words of love can certainly be helpful. We all know that the three most coveted words in the English language are “I love you.” This is true in romantic relationships, but this is also important in all of our relationships. We all like to know that we are loved. That is important to some people more than others, but is nevertheless important for all people. That is why it is important for us to hear God telling us that He loves us. If the love of our fellow human beings is important, it is certainly important to us that the God of the universe loves us. God has told us that He loves us in many ways. I think that the beauty of nature all around us tells us that, but Jesus is the greatest way that we can be assured that He loves us. If we want to be like God we will love people, and we will tell them that we love them. All of the above being true, we need to be careful about the words that we use. We need to stop and think whether or not our words are helping or hindering. Give this some thought and remember, “A word spoken in due season, how good is it.” Bro. Joe “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
This verse comes in the middle of the great “love chapter.” The idea presented in this verse is that love is part of the process of maturity. If we want to be “grown up,” we need to love other people and not always be at odds with them. When we act, we are not acting in love. Childishness is understandable, and excusable in a child, but when we mature, we should put away childish things. This is especially true of Christians. Jesus encouraged us to be childlike, but He never intended that we be childish. I want to share with you some of the childish traits that we will put away when we mature in Christ’s kind of love. Selfishness is one of the signs of childishness. When children are playing and a child picks up a toy that belongs to another child, the child will say “mine.” That is understandable in the mind of a child, but not in the mind of a mature adult. Yet, we might find ourselves saying “mine” from time to time. If Jesus taught us anything, it was that we should not be selfish. Here is what Jesus said about the matter in Luke 6:38: “Give and it shall be given you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give unto your bosom, for with the same measure you use withal it shall be measured to you again.” When we mature in love, we will want to give, to share, with other people. Unfortunately, this is not the way of the fallen world. In the love of Jesus, we should be willing to share ourselves and our “things” with others. This doesn’t mean that we give away everything, but that we can be depended upon to share with others out of what God has given us. As we grow in the love of Christ, we should become more selfless than selfish. We probably all need to give this more thought and ask Jesus to help us be more like Him in this area of our lives. Another sign of childishness is pettiness. One of the definitions of pettiness is “small minded.” It is understandable that children might be small minded, because their horizons have not been extended beyond themselves, but when we become mature Christians, we should give up pettiness. We all know people that we have to be careful what we say around them because we might offend them with the slightest thing that we might say. Let’s just be honest and say that we do not really enjoy being around people who are petty. Pettiness is especially disastrous in a church. If there are a lot of petty people in a church, that church will always have problems, and instead of serving the Lord in the community, and welcoming people into their fellowship, they will diminish in attendance until the doors are closed. As you can see, pettiness is not a joke and can destroy lives, families, businesses and churches. We need to be aware of pettiness in our own lives. The devil loves to make us small minded and petty, and we can be that way if we are not careful. As we grow in the love of Christ, we will be more aware of pettiness in our own lives. Another sign of childishness is pouting. This is closely related to pettiness but is different in some significant ways. One of the main avenues of the expression of love in our lives is communication. When we pout, we cut off communication. It is very frustrating to try to solve a relationship problem when someone cuts of communication by pouting. They usually say, “I will never speak to him or her again.” Nothing will progress beyond that. This is true whether it be in family relationships, relationships in the workplace, or relationships in the church. Pouting is never an act of love, and nothing is solved in our lives or our relationships until we stop pouting. Think of these signs of childishness in your life and grow in the love of Christ. Bro. Joe “Three Important Christian Qualities” Hebrews 13:15-16
“By Him (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 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. We have worship services in our churches in order to praise God. Almost all of the hymns that we sing, if not all of them, are offerings of praise to God. That is why we need to pay attention to what we are singing and let the words of praise make a difference in our lives. The author wrote that we “offer the sacrifice of praise continually.” This means that praising God should be part of our daily lives. In the process we should give “thanks to His name.” Thanksgiving is a natural outflow of praise. 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. Our faith in Jesus should make a difference in our lives, and part of that difference should be that we strive to “do good.” Surely our faith in Jesus will make us better people and bring with it a desire to “do good” to and for other people, as Jesus did. Part of being what we call “Christlike” is doing good works as Jesus did when He was here. 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. Another meaning of the word “communicate” or “share,” is that we should communicate our faith in Jesus. We call it evangelism or missions. At the conclusion of each of the four gospels, Jesus commanded that His followers go out and spread His word to the entire world. Along with continual praise and good works, we should share Jesus with other people. The first way we do this is by living a life 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 “If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? 12. If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ.”
The issue that these two verses address is whether or not Paul and his party had a right to be paid while they were serving in Corinth. When other Christian workers came to Corinth, they were able to serve while not having to work in order to live. Besides being an expert in the Law of Moses, Paul’s avocation was tent making. When he had to, Paul could practice this craft and teach and preach the gospel in the evening. Paul felt that he, and those with him, should be able to share the gospel of Christ freely without having to work. Paul did not demand his right to be paid, but continued to work and preach. These verses tell us a lot about Paul that we would do well to consider for ourselves. Paul knew that the gospel of Christ should take priority over his rights. He wrote that he would do what he had to do in order to preach lest he “hinder the gospel of Christ.” He thought that it would be a waste of valuable time to argue about his right to remuneration. There could have been any number of issues that would hinder Christ’s gospel. Think of all of the silly issues in churches that hinder the gospel of Christ. While we are fussing and demanding our rights, whatever those rights may be, the world is looking on and are turned off by our preoccupation with ourselves. While we are arguing about what color to paint the sanctuary, or any number of other useless issues, the gospel of Christ is being hindered. The same is true of our daily lives. We waste a lot of time looking out for self, while the gospel of Christ takes second place. Like Paul, we should put the gospel of Christ ahead of our own rights and our own feelings. Paul’s view of the gospel of Christ was that it was “the power of God unto salvation for all who believe.” (Romans 1:17) It was more important to Paul that people hear the gospel and be saved than for him to get his own way on the issue. We can hinder the gospel of Christ without thinking about it if we are not careful. Looking out for ourselves and our rights is a natural instinct, especially for citizens of the USA. We have a bill of rights that tells us that we have certain “inalienable rights.” These are good and I would certainly not be in favor of removing this bill of rights from our constitution, but as a Christian, I have to know that the gospel of Christ even takes precedence over those rights. We should not want to put ourselves between the gospel of Christ and the lost world. I know that this is not always easy to do, but it is worthy of our consideration if we are to be serious about winning the world to Jesus – as Paul was. There was another issue in the churches of Paul’s day that addressed the same thing. The issue was whether or not Christians should eat meat from the market that had been sacrificed to idols. In 1 Corinthians 8, beginning with verse 1, Paul discussed the issue. His conclusion was that meat is meat no matter where it is bought, and that it would not be intrinsically wrong to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols. However, there was something else to consider. Yes, they had the right to eat any meat they wanted to, but not if eating it would be a stumbling block to someone else. Here is specifically what Paul wrote about the issue in 1 Corinthians 8:8-9: “But meat commends us not to God; for neither, if we eat, are we better; neither if we don’t eat, are we the worse. 9. But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak.” As Christians we are not just responsible for ourselves but for others as well. The idea is that, to quote what has become a cliché, “it is not all about us.” We need to be spiritually wise enough to know where to draw the line in demanding our rights, and where we might be stumbling blocks to others if we do demand them. At least give it some thought – I know I will. Bro. Joe eaeat e “Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. 5. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long."
It is always important to go the right way. I can remember several family trips where we got off on the wrong road and had to go out of our way to get to the right place. We do this in life when we do not know the right way, and we end up going the wrong way. In my years of prison ministry I met and taught a lot of guys who did not go the right way and paid a dear price for it. Going the right way is very important. These two verses in Psalm 25 tell us how to go the right way in life. First, David wrote, “O Lord, teach me your paths.” There are a lot of paths that we can take in life, and many of them are paths to destruction. We read of people who took the “drug path” and ended up on the streets, broken and unloved. We read of people who took the path to self - aggrandizement and ended up with a lot of things, but were unhappy people. There are all kinds of wrong paths out there. If we want to go the right way, we will take the paths that the Lord has laid out for us. David wrote in Psalm 23:3b, “He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Only the Lord can lead us in paths of righteousness. He needs to be in on all of the decisions that we make in our lives. I know that when I have gone my own way, it has always ended badly. The road of life is littered with people who have chosen their own paths, and wished they had taken the path of righteousness. God will not speak audibly to you, but He will speak to your heart and mind and help you take the right path. You just need to stay close to Him and stay in communication with Him through prayer and Bible reading. Second, David asked the Lord to, “lead me in your truth and teach me.” David wanted his life to be lived in truth. A lot of people live their lives based on lies. They buy the devil’s lie that making a lot of money will make them happy, not realizing that the “love of money is the root of all evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10) Many people have bought the devil’s lie that life is one big party. Sadly these people discover that the party ends and they are left with nothing but a big hangover. Billions of dollars are spent each year on pornography, because people buy the devil’s lie that sex is the be-all and end-all of life. Real life is found in God’s truth and that truth comes in the person of Jesus Christ. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” We can take this literally. It is in a saving relationship with Him that we are led by the Holy Spirit in the right way and to abundant life. David himself proved that when we do not let God lead us into His truth and let Him teach us we find disaster. He found this out when he committed adultery with Bathsheba, had her husband killed and tried to lie his way out of it. David repented and got his life back on the right path, but he paid a price for it. David would be the first to tell us that we need to let God lead us in His truth and let Him teach us. Third, David wrote, “for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.” This will be true in our lives as well. We need to go to Jesus in faith and receive His salvation. Then it will be important for us to “wait (on the Lord) all the day long.” It is important to wait on the Lord if we want to go the right way. David wrote about this in Psalm 40:1-2: “I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry. 2. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.” When David waited on the Lord to take the right path and to be led in God’s truth, he knew that he would go the right way. The same will be true for you. Bro. Joe “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.”
There are some themes that I continue to write about in these Couch Potato articles, and forgiveness is one of them. I guess this is because, like most people, I have to struggle with it myself. I was reading this morning in David Jeremiah’s devotional book, Destination, about a man whose home was invaded. He was severely beaten and his wife and daughter were killed, and, in time, he forgave the man who did it. David Jeremiah’s closing sentence in the article really made me stop and think: “If a man like that can find the grace of Christ to forgive his attacker, shouldn’t we all learn to forgive the lesser slights most of us encounter at one time or another?” I thought of three reasons why we should forgive others. We should forgive because we have been forgiven. The text verse for this article tells us that this is true: “even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.” Jesus’ first words from the cross were “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” There are other scriptures that remind us to forgive others. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus told us that when we pray, we should forgive as we have been forgiven. We might think that what we have been forgiven is not as bad as what we should forgive. That is a phony excuse. All of us have sinned, and sin of any kind is a big deal to God. If we can be forgiven for our sins, then we should be willing to forgive anyone who has “trespassed against us.” I think that you will agree with me that Jesus did not make living for Him easy, and having a forgiving heart is a reminder of that. It would be a good idea for you to pause here and forgive anyone that has slighted you in any way, anyone who has hurt you in any way, or anyone who has slandered you – to name just a few things that you might need to forgive. Go ahead. It’s not impossible. We should forgive because not forgiving can become bitterness. Hebrews 12:14-15 reminds us of this: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. 15. Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” If there is just one thing that we hold in our hearts in bitterness, it will affect all of our thinking. Bitterness is like a cancer. Cancer does not just stay in one place in an affected body. It has a tendency to spread all over the body. Like cancer, there is no part of your heart and mind that is not affected by bitterness. It will affect all of your other relationships. If you have a “root of bitterness” in your life, it will not be held to just that one reason for bitterness, but it will be multiplied each day as we find things to be bitter about. The saddest people on earth are those who harbor bitterness in their hearts. I have known people like that and they are difficult to relate to. Bitter people ruin all of their relationships, whether at home, at work or at church. We should forgive simply because it is the right thing to do. Jesus will forgive even the worst offenders. Christian history is replete with people who have lived awful lives and said and written awful things about Him, but Jesus forgave them and gave them new life. Doesn’t it make sense that if that is the way Jesus relates to us that we should relate to other people in the same way? We don’t hear as much about it today as we did at one time, but there was a time when we were reminded to do what Jesus would do in any situation in life. It was called “wwjd.” We saw it on bracelets, coffee cups and any number of other places. If we want to really do what Jesus would do, we would forgive everybody and everything that we need to forgive. Forgive others no matter what they have done or said, because it is the right thing to do. Bro. Joe Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
The background of this text is the occasion when Jesus prayed His prayer of submission to the Father, because He knew that he was about to be arrested, tried and crucified. When Jesus went apart to pray, He took what is called His “inner circle” of Peter, James and John with Him to watch while He prayed. They were exhausted and fell asleep while on watch. Peter had just declared that he would stand up for Jesus under any circumstances, but here he was sleeping while he was supposed to be watching. The final time that Jesus came upon them while they were sleeping, He spoke the words of our text above. I want to share with you some thoughts that I had about this text when I read it this morning. When Jesus told Peter, James and John that “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,” He was asserting that He understood their humanity as He understands ours. He knows that the flesh is weak and that we will not always do that which is right. Though Jesus was not weak in the flesh as we are, He still understood that people do get exhausted. He had been exhausted at times Himself as He ministered to people for hours and hours. The weakness of flesh goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve succumbed to the allurement of the serpent. Jesus knows that while we are in our human flesh, we are weak at best. Some people are stronger than others, but we all have weaknesses of some kind. Even the most holy among us have weaknesses. If nothing else, there might be a weakness to be self-righteous and look down our noses at “lesser” people. (The Pharisees come to mind.) So we can be assured that Jesus understands our weakness, or weaknesses. But that is not the whole story. Read on: Jesus will not allow us to appeal to our fleshly weaknesses. Notice that He said to Peter, James and John, “watch and pray that you enter not into temptation.” Jesus understood their exhaustion, but He did not excuse it. He gave them the remedy for giving in to their weaknesses, and this is a lesson to us as well. We need to “watch and pray” because the devil knows our weaknesses and will exploit them. That is why Jesus told them to watch and pray, and why it is a message for us as well. The devil will lull us to sleep, so to speak, and tempt us in our weakest moments; therefore, we need to be alert to his tricks and pray that God will make us more aware of the devil’s tricks. It was the same Peter who was in the garden with Jesus that day who later wrote, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) Yes, our flesh is weak, but Jesus has gone to great lengths to help us overcome our weaknesses. He understands that we will not always overcome; that is why He is willing to forgive us when we succumb to our fleshly weaknesses. His preference, however, is that we “watch and pray, that we enter not into temptation.” If we are honest, we will confess that we know our weaknesses as well. When we are tempted in those weak areas we need to immediately “watch and pray.” Some of our weaknesses may be subtle and not seem like sin. For example, it was just natural to Peter, James and John that when they were exhausted and sleepy that they go to sleep. The problem was that Jesus told them to watch. It was wrong for them to go to sleep because they were supposed to be on watch. When a soldier is on watch duty, he or she could be court martialed for going to sleep. Jesus died on the cross, defeating the devil, and arose from the grave, defeating death, hell and the grave. He has given to us the Holy Spirit to help us overcome our weaknesses. Jesus will forgive us when we succumb, but it is preferable that we “watch and pray” and not succumb. I certainly have not written this to judge you. I have the proverbial three fingers pointing back at me, but we do well to heed what Jesus told Peter, James and John. Bro. Joe When we become Christians, the word of God becomes an integral part of our lives. The word of God becomes food for our souls. God’s word can show us how much we have come in our Christian growth and how far we have yet to grow. We are going to look at various texts that reveal to us symbols of God’s word for our lives.
The word of God is a mirror to show us ourselves. James 1:23: “For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass (mirror).” James’s idea was that if we are not “doers of the word,” we are not being honest with ourselves. The Bible will reveal our shortcomings to us. Who can read Paul’s letters, for example, and not see his or her faults? The word of God is a fire to melt our hearts. Jeremiah 23:29a: “Is not my word like a fire? Saith the Lord…” Fire melts things. (Now there is a profound statement.) I watched my granddaddy, who was a blacksmith, melt steel and shape and mold it into whatever he was making at the time. In the same way, the Lord uses His word to melt our hearts in order to mold and shape us into what He wants us to be. If the word of God can’t melt our hearts and keep us from sin and error, what can? The word of God is a hammer to break our stubborn wills. Jeremiah 23:29b: “…and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces.” Our hearts are sometimes like stone. It is difficult to get through to a person who has a hard heart. The Lord uses His word to hammer away at us, break our hearts and turn us to His will for us. He uses the preaching and teaching of His word for the same thing. That’s why Biblical preaching and teaching are so important. Perhaps a lot of church members stay away from the Bible because they want to maintain their will instead of bending to God’s will. The word of God is a sword that pierces our hearts. Hebrews 4:12: "For the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” God uses His word to get through to our hearts. Hebrews 4:12 illustrates the word piercing our hearts like a Roman soldier’s sword piercing a body. If God’s word, read, preached, taught, or however it is presented, cannot pierce our hearts it just cannot be done. When we do not know our own hearts, which is often, the word will straighten us out. The Gideons tell stories of people picking up a Gideon Bible in a hotel room, reading it and being converted just on the basis of the word. If there is nobody there to interpret the word, the word of God will speak for itself. The same Holy Spirit that uses a witness to tell about the word will interpret the word for the seeker. The word of God is a light to show us the path. Psalm 119:105: “Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” It is easy for even followers of Christ to lose their way in the world. God has given us His word to give us light for us to follow and stay on right paths. The sad fact is that many people, even Christians, do not read the Bible as they should. For a Christian to fail to seek the word of God in this dark world is like a spelunker (cave explorer) going into a cave without a light to show the way. We need to walk daily in the light of the word. Take out your Bible and in some cases, shake the dust off of it (lol), and actually read it and let it help you with your life. Bro. Joe “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
The Bible does not reveal a God who is one-dimensional. Some see Him as only a God of love, who loves us so much that He approves of everything that we do. Some see Him as mainly a God of wrath, who can’t wait to “sock it to us.” According to what I read in the Bible, God is a God of love and a God of wrath. We can’t pick and choose what we want the nature of God to be. He is who He is – period! From my own perspective, I consider that the Bible never says that “God is wrath,” but it does say that “God is love.” 1 John 4:16 reveals to us: “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us, God is love; and He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him.” The Bible tells me that God loves me, and that is enough for me, I don’t need anyone else’s reassurance. I love to read verses like Romans 5:8: “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” He loved us enough to send His Son to die on the cross in order for us to be forgiven for our sins. The New Testament makes it clear, as do Old Testament prophecies, that Christ had to die as a sacrifice in order for us to be saved. What you need to know today is that GOD LOVES YOU. It is not enough for you to know in your mind that God is love; you must also know in your heart that He loves you. Christ died for you! The Bible reveals to us that God loves us so much that He will not let us get by with doing what we want to do. The Bible tells us that God will discipline us when we sin. Discipline is a result of love, not of hatred. The author of Hebrews wrote plainly and simply about this. Quoting from Proverbs 3:11-13, he wrote: “My son do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or faint when you are reproved by Him, for the Lord disciplines the one He loves.” Then he wrote: “Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons (His children, male and female). For what son is there that a father does not discipline?” (Hebrews 12:6-7 HCSB) I knew that my parents loved me, but that didn’t mean that they let me get by with what I wanted to do. I grew up in the days when it was open season on children. Parents would not get sent to jail for giving you a swat or two. I probably did not get swatted as often as I should have, but you couldn’t have told me that back then. Discipline is not pleasant, nor is it meant to be. God uses His discipline to remind us to obey Him. For an example of the greatness of God’s love for us, I want to draw four words out of John 3:16 and take a look at the dynamic meaning of them: “for God so loved the world.” Lift up “God” and “world” and see the contrast. God is all holy, while the world is the opposite. (Just read some world history and you will see what I mean.) But the words that come between these contrasting words are “so loved.” This holy God so loved this unholy world that He gave His Son as a sacrifice for our sins. I can’t explain to you why this had to be, but I can accept it as a token of God’s love for me. I pray that you will accept it as a token of God’s love for you. Don’t diminish God in your thinking by making Him a one-dimensional “teddy bear,” or a “cosmic meanie.” Accept Him as the Bible presents Him and see what He can do in your life. Jesus loves you – accept His love. Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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