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.
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“Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace and pursue it. 15. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry.”
The thought came to me today that we ought to simply “do good.” I found the perfect text for it in Psalm 34:14-15. This text lays out a pattern of how we can do good, and why we should do good. First, in order to do good we must “depart from evil.” You might be saying “duh” to this because that is simply understood. If it is simply understood why do we find it so difficult? If something is evil, we just simply should not do it. The line between right and wrong has been blurred in our day, just as it happened to the Jews in the Old Testament. I know that we are not Israel, but there is still a line between right and wrong that we should not cross. If we want to do good, we will have to “depart from evil.” Second, in order to do good, we should “seek peace and pursue it.” The modern translation of “pursue” is “go after it.” First, seek peace within yourself by avoiding evil. Be at peace in your own heart, because you are seeking to do good. If you fail to do good, go to God and ask for His forgiveness. He will give you peace in your heart. None of us can claim perfection in this matter of doing good. The difference in us and the world is that we recognize when we have done wrong and we seek the forgiveness of God. Second, we should also seek peace with people. I know that when I am not right with my fellowman/woman, I am not at peace. A lot of evil has to do with our relationships with people. Third, we are given a good reason to do good in the text: “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry.” We should simply do good to please our Heavenly Father. It is God’s will that we do good in our lifestyles, and in our treatment of other people. If we are aware that the eyes of the Lord are upon us, and that His ears are open to our cry, we are more likely to do good. We just don’t want to disappoint our Lord Jesus Christ. For better or worse, this is my statement on how and why we should do good. Bro. Joe Some times when I get a case of “writer’s block,” I will write down a word and try to make an acrostic of it. This time I wrote the name of Jesus, and what follows is the acrostic that I came up with to describe Jesus, our Savior.
J- Justification – It is through Jesus we can be saved and justified in spite of the fact that we are sinners. Here is what Paul wrote about justification in Romans 3:23-24: “For all have sinned and short of the glory of God; 24. Being justified freely by His grace thorough the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” In spite of the fact that we are sinners, we can be justified before God almighty through faith in Jesus Christ. It is a matter of confessing your sins and asking Jesus to come into your life and save you. This justification is available to all people – even you! E- Eternal life – Eternal life in heaven is made possible through Jesus Christ. I want to quote from Paul’s Roman letter, chapter 6:22-23: “But now being made free from sin, and become servants of God, you have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23. for the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The mortality rate on earth is 100%. We will all die, but by faith in Jesus Christ we can have eternal life in heaven when we invite Him into our lives. This eternal life is available to all people – even you! S - Soul Satisfaction – It is true that soul satisfaction is given us through faith in Jesus Christ. What was written in Psalm 107:8-9 is true about Jesus: “On that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men. 9. For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry with goodness.” This is what Jesus does for those who put their faith in Him. Eternal life is available for all – even you. U - Understanding – There are a lot of things that we will never understand. It is difficult sometimes to understand the ways of the Lord. But Jesus gives us understanding of the greatest truth. I will let 1 John 5:20 explain what I mean. Read it carefully: “And we know that the Son of God is come, and has given us understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” This understanding is available for all – even you! S - Surety – Perhaps you are unsure about what is written above. I want to share Hebrews 7:22 and 25 – 22. “By so much more was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. 25. Wherefore He (Jesus) is able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them.” This assurance is available to all people – even you. Well, that ends my acrostic, but I hope that this does not end your interest in what I have written. Read it and share J-E-S-U-S with the world. Bro. Joe "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth (looks on or examines) the hearts."
"But the Lord said unto Samuel, look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord sees not as man sees: for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." Most of us worry about what people think of us. We work hard to keep up appearances in order for people to have a high opinion of us. Is this the right way to live? It is not according to the two texts written above. We might look good in our own eyes and in the eyes of others, but God is more concerned about our hearts, i.e., what is inside of us, than He is in our appearance. The Lord cautioned Samuel to not choose Israel's next king based on outward appearances, but on what was in the future king's heart. The Lord knew David's heart and knew that he was the right one for the task. (In fact, David was once called, "a man after God's own heart.") So today we need to consider that God is not judging our lives, and our Christian service, based on what they appear to be, but based on what they really are - what is in our hearts. He is concerned about what our real motives are. One translation of proverbs 21:2 has it that "the Lord considers our motives." Our real motives are those that come from our hearts. Why do we do what we do? Do we do religious things to impress people, or do we act in faith to please God? That is a huge question. It gets right to the heart of the matter. Jesus dealt with this in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, chapters 5-7. For example. in chapter 6 He took the Pharisees to task for doing religious things to appear righteous to people. He mentioned that when they gave alms for the poor, they were not to advertise the fact, but just give from their hearts. This would please God. Jesus mentioned that when they prayed, that they should not pray loudly on the street corners, but shut themselves away from the world and seek god privately. He was not condemning all public prayer, only that which is done as a religious show. We should weigh our motives very carefully, and ask ourselves whether we are serving for appearance' sake or for Jesus' sake? It is not bad if people are pleased and happy with what we do. It is bad if to please them is our only motive. We need to keep careful check on our hearts. We need to weigh our motives. The most effective service is that done from the heart, not for self-aggrandizement, or to hear people brag on us, but to please God. Serving God from the heart will be better for people, in the long run, than serving just to please them. Bro. Joe “Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6. That you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Toward the close of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, he admonished them to be like-minded. That was wise advice. We need to heed it in our own churches. What does it mean to be like-minded? We should be like-minded “according to Christ Jesus.” Out of love and commitment to Jesus Christ, we should seek, and pray, to be like-minded. This is the motivation for like-mindedness. First, we should think alike: “That you may with one mind…” I want to warn you that this does not mean to have group-think. This is what happens when one group, or one powerful man or woman, do all of the planning for the church. It does not mean that we have to walk in lock-step. True like-mindedness occurs when Christians meet together to make a decision, ideas are shared and discussed prayerfully and respectfully. When a decision is reached after prayerful agreement, the church of Jesus Christ moves on with the mission of Christ. It will pay to learn to disagree like Christians. Second, we should speak alike: “and with one mouth…” When we speak of and for the fellowship of our church, we should stress agreement rather than disagreement. In other words, the whole town, county, or state does not need to know about our disagreements. (That is part of what I meant about disagreeing like Christians.) Actually, if you cannot think of something good to say about your church – which would be a shame on you or your church - then don’t say anything. I don’t mean to be harsh on this matter, but I have seen mouths destroy many a church. Third, the purpose of like-mindedness is to glorify God: “That you may with one mind, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Actually, this is the purpose of the church – period. He put us here to glorify Him. Sometimes to do this we have to speak prophetically to a lost and dying world about Jesus Christ. Often, we have to disagree on moral matters with the world at large. To disagree with the world does not give us permission to hate the world, for we are called to love as Christ loved. I think that you will agree that this makes like-mindedness all-important. Say “amen.” Bro. Joe Note: I will have a wedding in Colorado Springs on Sunday. I'll be traveling on Sunday. I will return on Tuesday. “Where when does wisdom come from? Where does understanding dwell? 21. It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, concealed even from the birds of the air. 28. And (God) said to man, ‘The fear of the Lord that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.’”
From his misery, Job gave us the real source of wisdom, for which people are always seeking. Real wisdom is not derived from education. This, obviously, doesn’t make education unimportant in attaining knowledge, but it is not the source of real wisdom. Let’s see what Job tells us about the source of real wisdom. First, real wisdom does not come naturally, for “it is hidden from the eyes of every living thing.” There is such a thing as earthly wisdom, but that is not real wisdom. The source of real wisdom is hidden in God and is revealed by Him. Second, Job reveals that “the fear of the Lord that is wisdom.” No, this does not mean that wisdom lies in being always afraid of God, but to reverence Him as Lord and God. The fourth commandment is “thou shalt not take the Lord thy God in vain.” This is not limited to the one curse word that we always refer to “taking the Lord’s name in vain.” It means to take Him lightly in all aspects of our lives. For example, we should not take God lightly in the decisions that we make in our lives. A really wise person will seek God’s will out of reverence and worship. I do need to remind you that “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews10:31) He does not take it lightly if we do not hold Him in reverence and worship. Third, with real wisdom comes real understanding: “To shun evil is understanding.” We find out how unwise it is live without reverence for God and His will for our lives when we do not shun evil. We need to steer clear of evil, which is always present and always invites us into its net. This is why part of real wisdom and understanding is to seek God’s forgiveness, not if we sin, but when we sin. Jesus who prayed from the cross: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do,” is always ready to forgive us when we come to Him in sincerity and repentance. (Wow, what a long sentence. lol) So, seek real wisdom and real understanding. Bro. Joe “The Lord says: ‘These people come near me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me…’”
The people of Jerusalem thought of themselves as the people of God, but God knew their hearts, and gave Isaiah this message for them. We probably need the message too, for at times our Bible reading, prayer time and worship experiences, etc. are not in our hearts but are merely rote experiences. The Christian life is always a matter of the heart. Ask yourself some questions and answer honestly. When you are worshiping in your church, is your heart in it? I remember as a teenager, thumbing through the hymnal while the preacher preached. (Maybe that’s why I know so many hymns by heart. lol) When I answered the call to be a preacher, I settled in my heart that when I was worshiping in church I would put my heart in the hymns and in the sermon. What a difference it made in my worship experiences when I made them matters of the heart. (Yes, I also rejoice when the offering plate is passed. lol) Give some serious thought to your public worship experiences. When you pray in your private devotional time, is your heart in it? Our prayers can just be rote experiences if our hearts are not in them. The same is true of the time that we spend reading the Bible. Do you take the time each day for Bible reading and prayer? (We call this “private devotions.”) Perhaps this could explain why you have a difficult time putting your heart into public worship. You can find time for private devotions --- if your heart is in it. Seriously, set aside some time for Bible reading and prayer. It will make a difference in your life!!! When you think about all that Christ has done in your life, is your heart in it? I will call this “taking time to be thankful for all that God has done for you.” We need to spend more time doing this than we do complaining about our problems and about politics. (I’m also preaching to myself.) If you can get up in the morning and go to work you should give God thanks. If you have children and grandchildren, you should give God thanks. If you have friends who love you, you should give God thanks. If you have fellowship with your fellow Christians, you should give God thanks. If your heart is in your life in Christ, you will be thankful. Please give some thought to this! After all, it is “a matter of the heart.” Think about it. Bro. Joe “There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.”
I recently had a thought about what it means to be “in Christ Jesus.” This is a description that is given often in Paul’s epistles. I want to share with you a portrait of what it means to be “in Christ.” It means to walk with Christ. Jesus is with us in every step that we take. Peter expressed it this way: “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps.” Jesus knows that we will misstep, but He forgives us and walks with us. i thought of an old hymn that I love to sing: “Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on let me stand, I am tired, I am weak I am worn; through the storm through the night, lead me on to the light. Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.” This is a good prayer for us as we walk with Christ. It means to talk to Christ, and to listen for the “still small voice” of the Holy Spirit. Because He is walking with us, Jesus is always only a prayer away. We need to have a special prayer time to talk to Jesus, but there is not even a second during the day when we cannot talk to Jesus. This thought led me to another old hymn: “Let us have a little talk with Jesus, let us tell Him all about our troubles, He will hear our faintest cry and He will answer by and by….You will find a little talk with Jesus makes it right.” Christian, Jesus wants you to talk to Him at any time. Take advantage of this opportunity. It means to rest in Christ. Of course, my mind went immediately to Matthew 11:28: “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” This is not an invitation for us to take a “heavenly nap,” but to find our rest in Him even in the midst of the toils and the storms of life. There is comfort in knowing that whatever we face in this life, and we will face many things that can discourage us, we can rest our weary souls in Jesus. His arms are always open wide for us. Psalm 37:7a came to mind: “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him…” Find your rest ”in Christ Jesus.” Take the time today to reflect, and meditate, on your walk with Jesus, your talks with Jesus and your rest in Him. Then raise your hands and praise Him. Bro. Joe “Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve Him in sincerity and truth: and put away the gods which your father’s served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord. 15. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your father’s served on the other side of the flood, or gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
What building blocks are you using to build your life? Is it success in your chosen field? This is not a bad thing, but it is not enough to build your life on. Is it your appearance? A lot of money is spent each year keeping up our appearance. This is not a bad thing, but it is not enough to build your life upon. Is it your popularity with other people? I guess that most of us want to be loved and accepted by other people, but that is not enough to build your life upon. Is it to make a lot of money? What is wrong with that? Nothing if you are not building your life upon it. The text from Joshua gives us some good building blocks. First, he said to “put away” the past things that have stolen your victory. He mentioned the other “gods” they had served. These gods were not sufficient for God’s people. We will also need to “put away” some things from our pasts as well, if we are to really have victory in the Lord. Get rid of the “blocks” that have robbed you of victory. Second, he said “choose you this day whom you will serve.” We cannot live victoriously for the Lord if we continue to choose the things that defeated us in the past. We need to look within our hearts and minds and see who, or what, we are really serving and determine that we will serve the Lord. Nothing else that we will choose will give us the spiritual victory that we need. Third, he said: “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” Joshua decided that if all others chose to serve someone, or something, besides the Lord, he and his house/family would serve the Lord. It is easy to follow the line of least resistance and to just do what everyone else is doing, but that is certainly not the best way. Go it alone if you have to in order to live victoriously for the Lord. Think about what you are building your life upon. Are there some things that you need to “put away”? Are you choosing to put the Lord first and serve Him above all else? Are you willing to serve the Lord if no one else seems to be serving Him? At least, these are some things to think about. Bro. Joe “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk (live) in the Spirit. 26 .Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another.”
The issue under question in this verse is about living in the Spirit and not according to the dictates of the flesh. (“Flesh is also translated as “sinful nature.”) You are probably aware of the struggle that all of us have with the desires of the flesh and the holy urgings of the Spirit. You are also probably aware of the three things given in this text that I am calling, “Three Enemies of the Spirit.” These three things almost seem natural to us and can mute our witness and ruin our fellowship with other Christians. The admonition in verse 25 was, “If we live by the Spirit, let us walk (live) in the Spirit.” Verse 26 tells us what we will need to avoid if we are going to effectively live in the Spirit. First, we are to “not be desirous of vainglory.” This means that we are not to be conceited. People who are conceited have an overblown opinion of themselves. The Spirit leads us to humility instead of conceit, but the flesh desires to have first place and to be superior. The temptation to focus on self is powerful. We need to remember that we are not led to conceit by the Spirit. Our desire as Christians should be to be controlled by the Spirit instead of the flesh. The tendency to focus on ourselves and our own authority is subtle and is a great tool of Satan. Second, we are told to avoid “provoking one another.” The word that is translated “provoking” in this verse is “prokaleo.” What it means is “to call forth, as to a contest, hence to stir up what is evil in another.” (Vines Dictionary of New Testament Words) Basically, to put it in our vernacular, what this mean is to look for a fuss. It is easy to get into a fuss with somebody, all we have to do is choose an issue that we know will cause a fuss and go to it. Disagreement among Christians is a natural thing, provocation is a sinful thing. Watch this tendency within yourself! Third, we are told to avoid “envying one another.” One of the main tenets of the gospel is that we love one another. Envy and love are at opposite ends of the scale. Envy can cause us to be conceited, focused too much on self, and can cause us to provoke someone else. When we envy someone we are admitting that we want what they have. If they have a spiritual gift that we do not have, we want that gift for ourselves. We forget that God gives us different gifts of the Spirit in order to carry on the work of His church. Envy is always of the flesh and is never of the Spirit. The Spirit will lead us to focus on our own gifts and do the best that we can using those gifts. We need to be aware of these enemies of the Spirit and avoid them. Bro. Joe |
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