Making a Difference in your Life, in the Parts that are for Keeps!
Do you depend on theologians to ‘explain God’,* or do you learn about God (theos) straight from His Word (logos) ?
* Man explaining God is an oxymoron and an impossibility—like a snail explaining a carnival ride from a turtle’s back.
Better let God explain God, and leave it at that.
Be satisfied with what He said about Himself (a lot—enough), and don’t try to add to it.
Many churches take away the liberty of free-will accepting Jesus—and replace it with formulas, rituals, ‘classes’—to make another ‘member’ (whether a true Christian or not).
Jesus described the religious leaders of His day the same way, with stronger words than we would use.
“Whenever you make a convert, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”
We tend to think we have progressed and think the words of Jesus don’t apply to us.
For the moment, set aside the expectations of the experts—prominent preachers, worship leaders, ‘successful’ churches, long-time learned theologians.
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Consider the following without thinking about what you’ve heard.
Just ‘see for yourself’ it it’s really in the Bible—not something somebody tried to fit into the Bible.
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1-once saved, always saved
2-age of accountability
3-trinity
4-infant baptism saves
5-promised prosperity
6-guaranteed healing
7-peace with everybody
8-retirement
9-financial portfolio
10-rapture without persecution/tribulation
11-smooth sailing
12-always up
13-avoid politics
14-be nice
15-non-confrontational
16-inclusiveness
17-non-violence
18-
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Almost guaranteed you can’t read through that list without automatically thinking about what somebody has said.
It’s more work to open your Bible and find The Word’s words on the subject.
It’s much easier to let someone else do the work, and then tell you what’s right.
With all the variety out there, you can find something that suits you.
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And that, my friends, is why many churches over many centuries become so ‘successful’/powerful.
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This may sound like a one-sided article, without answers.
The point—OPEN ‘YOUR’ BIBLE ! ! !
“Sometimes the tables need to be turned over.”
—–Don Wildmon (founder of American Family Association)
(In righteous anger Jesus turned over the tables and used a whip to drive people out of his Father’s House, the Temple—when evil had taken over.)
How valuable is the Word of God ?
How valuable could the Word of God be to me ?
“I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily food.”
How does that happen ?
First, know that I need to hear from God, from the Bible.
Then, ingest some every day, and digest it.
Then, develop a taste, a craving, until the Word of God becomes a necessity, foremost in my day, for life.
Death Penalty—implemented in the U.S., and still debated.
Pro
+”Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.”
+”If you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”
+The punishment fits the crime of murder.
+The punishment deters crime, including the death penalty.
Con
–Some claim that all criminals should be rehabilitated.
–Some criminals could be sentenced by mistake.
–Some think another person should not be killed for any crime.
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The other Death Penalty, widely implemented in the U.S., and still hotly debated.
Pro
+Letting this person live will ruin my life, my plans.
+It’s okay if the government says it’s legal, and if I pay someone else to do it.
+I’m for it because I’ll never expect to see the person.
+Do it right away, don’t think about it, and you can put it behind you.
Con
-The punishment does not fit the crime—NO CRIME, always innocent.
-Government is always wrong legalizing this death penalty.
-Murder for hire serves no justification, and generates a lot of money—evil incentive.
-The heart and soul never forget what the eyes don’t see, or don’t expect to see.
-God knows you—who you are—before you are born.
What if Jesus was alive today ?
HE IS !
JESUS IS ALIVE TODAY !
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What if Jesus was here today ?
Would that bother me ?
Would that help me ?
Would that thrill me ?
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What if Jesus was here today ?
HE IS !
JESUS IS HERE TODAY !
DOES that bother me ?
DOES that help me ?
DOES that thrill me ?
The “fear of God” is all over the Bible, so it must be a big deal.
The fear of God is something so awesome, I don’t dare try to explain it.
I know the preachers and teachers and other theologians are compelled to explain the fear of God when they are asked, and when they are not asked.
I always get the feeling that they’re trying to tone it down, so the word ‘fear’ does not scare anybody away. *
My rule for explaining God is to simply use other Bible verses, and tell people to find those verses and read for themselves what God says about Himself.
What God says, counts ! ! !
What man says, not so much.
What I say, not so much.
I believe God tells us all we need to know about Himself, and all we need to know about how to live.
If we study what He actually tells us, that is enough for us to apply, practice, obey, for our lifetime.
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The main thing I am compelled to add to the above, is warnings about what is constantly added to the Word of God, dangerously and unnecessarily so.
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“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”
“The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life.”
“Through the fear of the Lord, a man avoids evil.”
“Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come.”
“The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”
“The church grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.”
“Blessed is the man who fears the Lord.”
“Better is a little with the fear of the Lord
Than great treasure and turmoil with it.”
“How blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
Who greatly delights in His commandments.”
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
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Those verses just scratch the surface of the many wonderful Bible verses on the fear of God—fear and comfort—beyond and close—awe and confidence—distance and discernment—and on and on.
It all starts with recognizing how great God is, and then learning how He wants to have a loving relationship with us, and how He makes that possible through Jesus bridging the gap between us.
Just start reading and you will be blessed, and get excited—that’s the power of the Word of God.
* Just a thought—“Did you ever hear a message that scared the hell out of you?”
Not a bad thing in the L O N G run.
“. . . forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching for those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”—–Phillipians 3
OR
“He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”—–Revelation 13
Priority is commitment to what we consider most important.
Priorities, commitments, what we consider most important—they can change.
So what can we say, to get on the right track, and stay on the right track.
Priority—something more important than other things that are also important.
Consider the Bible verse, “Seek first the kingdom of God, . . .”
That sounds like a priority, until someone pointed out that the Greek actually says, “Seek only the kingdom of God . . .”
Well, what about the other things we have to have to make it in this life?
The rest of the verse gives the answer, from Jesus, “. . . and all these things will be added unto you.”
Commitment—something we seriously promise to follow and do.
In military conflict, commitment to the cause is superseded by surrender.
In following Jesus, commitment to the cause is superseded by surrender of everything, including our priorities that we consider so important.
What we consider most important—something we must get out of life.
We must find out as soon as possible what God wants us to get out of life.
In following His plan for our life, we don’t have to keep adjusting our priorities and commitments and what we consider most important.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.”
“Strait (limited) is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leads to life.”
“Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction.”
We don’t really have options for priorities along the way to heaven.
We have two choices in life, two decisions—
ONE—Choose the very exclusive gate to start on the road to heaven—Jesus.
TWO—Decide ahead of time to say “NO” to every offer to get off the narrow road.
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