Not Without Purpose

Psalm 138:1-3 ESV

I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;

    before the gods I sing your praise;

I bow down toward your holy temple

    and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,

    for you have exalted above all things

    your name and your word.

On the day I called, you answered me;

    my strength of soul you increased.

I have so much to be thankful for to my Lord. First, he delivered me out of my slavery to sin, he made me into a new person in Christ Jesus, and he gave me meaning and purpose to my life, which is to live for him and for his glory, praise and honor. He lifted me out of that slimy pit of sin, and he empowered me to walk now in his righteousness and holiness. Amen!

Also, although I had sinned against him greatly, and I had wandered from my pure devotion to him, for a time, he restored me to himself, and he gave me a new ministry for his honor and praise, although I was so unworthy to be given such an honor as this. And, he has blessed me tremendously in ministry in giving me all that I need to do what he has called me to do.

He has always provided everything that I need, though not always everything that I thought I needed. And, sometimes he provided what I thought I didn’t need and what I didn’t want, either, but truly what I did need, for he always knows what is best for me, even when I don’t. So, I thank him and I praise him for it all, because he knows my needs better than I do, and he is always looking out for what is best for me.

I thank him for the good times and for the bad times, for even through the bad times he is helping me to grow in him, and to mature in my walk of faith, and he is developing within me perseverance, strength, purity, steadfastness, obedience, and a strong commitment to him, and a deep desire for him above all else.

The bad times are a lot of what he used to prepare me for this ministry, too, so that I would say what he wants me to say, and do what he has called me to do, without fear of what others will think about me or say about me, and without fear of what they might do to me, too.

In fact, he began preparing me for this ministry many, many years ago (over 40 years ago) when I was reading in the Bible about the call of Jeremiah (See Jeremiah 1). He told me then that he was calling me to say whatever he commanded me to say, but that I was not to be afraid of any opposition, for he would give me his strength.

Psalm 138:4-6 ESV

All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord,

    for they have heard the words of your mouth,

and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord,

    for great is the glory of the Lord.

For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly,

    but the haughty he knows from afar.

All the kings of the earth are not yet giving God thanks and praise, but one day all people will bow down to God, and every tongue will acknowledge God, even if now they deny him (Rom. 14:11).

Yet, as I read this about singing of the ways of the Lord, it reminded me that music has always been a part of my life, and that part of the ministry the Lord has given to me is writing music and lyrics, which he gives me for his praise, glory and honor. And, so I am so thankful to him for this gift of music.

And, the Lord did and does regard me, the lowly, and part of the way in which he has shown me regard is by giving me this gift of music and singing for his honor and praise. And, this gift serves two purposes. For one, the songs are all scripture (or scriptural principles) put to music, so this is a way I am able to have scripture in my head all the time, because I remember words better when they are put to music.

So, the Lord uses these songs in my life all the time as a way to encourage my heart and to counsel me in the way in which he wants me to go. And, so I thank him and I praise him for the gift of music as a way to have the word of God implanted in my mind so that the Lord can use that in my daily life to encourage my heart and to direct my path.

The other purpose of this gift of music is to share it with others for their encouragement, too. For, the scriptures teach us that we are to speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs for our mutual edification and strengthening in the Lord. And, the Lord, too, has me include a song in the daily devotions he has me write, too. So, all of this is for his glory and honor, and to give him thanks and praise for all that he has done.

Psalm 138:7-8 ESV

Though I walk in the midst of trouble,

    you preserve my life;

you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,

    and your right hand delivers me.

The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;

    your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.

    Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Oh, this is so true of my life! Although the Lord has blessed me with much good, in the way we often think of as good, i.e. with the things that we enjoy, he has also allowed much trouble (difficulties) in my life, too. But, again, these have been for my good, both to help me to walk in holiness before him, and to prepare me for the ministry he has for me to do.

And, when I have surrendered to him and I have submitted to his purposes in these troubled times, he has carried me through every difficulty. He has filled my heart with hope and with purpose, and he has given me his strength to endure and to be stronger in him because of it.

He hasn’t always delivered me from my enemies in the sense of removing from me their attacks against me, but he has delivered me from letting their attacks or their rejections of me discourage or dishearten me to the point of me giving up. He has helped me to put on the armor of God daily to fight off those attacks and to put on the truth of God’s Word, and thus defeating the enemy, Satan, from accomplishing his evil will against me.

So, the Lord is fulfilling his purpose for me, even in these troubles, and I believe that good is going to come out of them all one day, if not soon. For, the Lord is not without purpose in what he does, and in what he allows to come into our lives. He will work all things for good for those of us who love him (who obey him) and who have been called according to his purpose.

I think sometimes that people think of God’s love as something that keeps them from ever having to go through bad times, but it is because he loves us that he allows us to go through these times, for they are for our good, to make us holy, to conform us to Christ’s likeness, to purify our hearts, and to strengthen us in our walks of faith in Christ to where we will walk in faithfulness to our Lord without wavering.

So, even if we feel that he has forsaken us, he has not, if we are truly his. Just because he allows us to go through tough times doesn’t mean he isn’t there or that he doesn’t care. He will never leave us or forsake us. And, he truly is going to work all for our good. So, we have to believe that. We have to hold on to that when the bad times come, which they will. And, we have to believe that he is all powerful and that he is completely sovereign over every aspect of our lives, and that he has a purpose for it all.

Mighty in Power

An Original Work / June 17, 2019

Jesus, our Savior, reigneth forever;

Mighty in power, His name we honor.

He’s our refuge from all evil.

God our righteous, He’s our fill.

He satisfies us with all His blessings.

We magnify Him. Our praise to Him sing.

Glory and honor, praise to the Father,

Perfect in wisdom, He is our vision.

He delivered us from all sin

So, in Christ, we’d be forgiven.

He purifies us. His love will guide us.

He is beside us, holy and righteous.

Our Holy Spirit, comfort in sorrow,

Strength in our weakness, hope for tomorrow.

He gives courage to be bold in

Witnessing for Jesus Christ.

He teaches all things about our Savior.

New life in Jesus, we found His favor.

https://vimeo.com/343126112

Saturday, June 29, 2019

Do Not Overlook This

2 Peter 3:8-10 ESV

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Some people have the mistaken notion that, just because Jesus has not yet returned to take his bride to be with him, and to judge the earth, that it means he is not coming again, and/or that there will be no judgment. So, God reminds us that, just as he once destroyed the earth with a flood, he will come again and he will destroy the earth with fire (See: vv. 1-7).

Other people believe he is coming again, and that he will judge the earth with fire, but they believe that is a long way off and/or that it will never impact them. And, so they live much of their lives in direct opposition to God’s Word, in dishonor to God, because they believe that how they live doesn’t really matter – that it will not impact their eternal salvation.

Yet, just because Jesus has not yet returned, it doesn’t mean he isn’t coming or that judgment is also not coming to the earth. And, just because this judgment that is promised hasn’t happened is no guarantee that all people will escape it, or that all professers of faith in Jesus Christ are guaranteed freedom from all judgment and/or that they will never have to suffer.

But, the reason the Lord has delayed this judgment is that he is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And, this tells us something else, and that is that repentance is required in order to escape this judgment, so that we don’t come under condemnation, and so that we do not perish in our sins.

And, repentance is not a mere change of mind about Jesus Christ and a decision to believe in him. In nearly all scriptures related to repentance it is clearly speaking of a change of mind resulting in a change of behavior. It is leaving our sinful lifestyles and our idols behind us, being transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God, and now turning to walk in obedient faith to Jesus Christ as Lord (owner-master) of our lives.

2 Peter 3:11-13 ESV

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Therefore, because this judgment is real, and it is going to happen one day, and it could happen in our lifetime, as well, this reality should impact how we live. And, this tells us something else, and that is that how we live does impact our eternal salvation. We don’t just say some magic words and then we are saved for life, no matter now we live our lives.

For, so many people have this mistaken notion that salvation is a one-time deal that secures us eternal life with God, and that once we have that, it doesn’t really matter how we live from that moment forward. But, that is a lie straight from hell. For, scripture teaches us that it is those who walk (in lifestyle) according to the Spirit who have eternal life with God (Rom. 8:1-17; Lu. 9:23-25; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Eph. 4:17-24; Gal. 5:19-21; Gal. 6:7-8).

Yet, it is because that so many people have this mistaken notion about what all our salvation entails that they feel the freedom to continue living for the flesh, while many of them largely ignore the Spirit of God. They think that going to church or serving in some kind of ministry capacity within the church fulfills their religious duties, and that the rest of the time is theirs to live however they want.

Yet, the scriptures teach the opposite of that. The scriptures teach us that there is a direct correlation between how we live and our eternal destiny. It isn’t that we do good works of the flesh to earn or to deserve our salvation. It is that those who are genuinely in Christ Jesus, by God-given faith in Jesus Christ, will have a change of heart and mind about sin and about God, and that they will desire to please the Lord and not the flesh.

This is not saying that we will all be perfect, or that we will never sin again, or even that, at some point in our lives, we will never fail God or that we will never stray from our pure devotion to Christ (See: Rev. 2-3). But, it is saying that true faith in Jesus Christ will result in changed lives away from living for sin and self to now living for Jesus Christ in obedience to his Word.

We should be those who are living holy (set apart from sin unto God) and godly (upright, pure) lives, in the power of God at work within our hearts and minds, as we submit to the Lordship of Christ Jesus over our lives. And, we should no longer be living, in lifestyle (in habit, in practice) according to our sinful flesh.

For, if we sow to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap destruction (decay, death). But, if we sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit we will reap eternal life. So, again, our behaviors do impact our eternal salvation (Gal. 6:7-8; Tit. 2:11-14; 1 Pet. 2:24; 2 Co. 5:15; 1 Jn. 2:3-6).

2 Peter 3:14-18 ESV

Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Again, we are encouraged here that, because we are anticipating a judgment to come on the earth, that we should be diligent to be found by Jesus Christ walking in purity of devotion to him, totally at peace with God, not guilty of compromising with the world of sin.

Again, this is not saying we will never sin again, but that sin should no longer have mastery over our lives. It should no longer control us or consume us, but we should be walking in victory over the flesh by the power of the Spirit of God within us.

I like it here how it explains that some things in Paul’s letters are hard to understand and so ignorant and unstable people twist the scriptures to their own advantage. I agree, but I believe that even the easy to understand scriptures, which could not be more plain and simple to understand their meaning, are also being twisted or just plain ignored by the unstable, as they find so many ways to excuse away their sinful lifestyles and to lead others to do the same.

And, so there is a caution to all who profess the name of Jesus, that we be careful and diligent that we are not carried away from our pure devotion to Christ by these liars and deceivers who would try to convince us that our lifestyles will not impact our eternal security. For, many are preaching a half-truth gospel (a lie) absent of the cross of Christ in our lives. For, they are not teaching that we must die with Christ to sin and live with Christ to righteousness if we want to have eternal life with God.

Instead, they are teaching that a mere profession of faith in Jesus Christ is enough to secure us heaven no matter how we live while we are on this earth. And, so many people have bought into this lie, and so they are dishonoring God by their lifestyles, and they are still walking according to the flesh, and they are not walking according to the Spirit, because they believe heaven is guaranteed them no matter how they live.

So, please know the truth. Please read the New Testament from beginning to end, word for word, in context, comparing scripture to scripture, and you will soon learn that it is not what we profess that guarantees us eternal life with God, but that it is what we live or how we live that matters for eternity. For, again, if we walk according to the flesh, we will die in our sins, but if we walk (in lifestyle) according to the Spirit, and by the Spirit, then we have eternal life with God (Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 8:1-17; Gal. 6:7-8; 1 Jn. 1:5-9).

Victory in Jesus  

Words and music by Eugene M. Bartlett

O victory in Jesus,

My Savior, forever.

He sought me and bought me

With His redeeming blood;

He loved me ere I knew Him

And all my love is due Him,

He plunged me to victory,

Beneath the cleansing flood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcIoFdSC-jA

Watch and Beware

Matthew 16:1-4 ESV

And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.

The Pharisees and Sadducees were religious leaders and teachers of the scriptures within the temple of God at that time. And, the temple of God at that time was a physical building made by human hands, following God’s design and instructions. It was there that people went to worship and to make sacrifices to God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

Today the temple of God is no longer a physical building, for God does not dwell in buildings built by human hands. He dwells in the human hearts of those who are trusting in him as Lord and as Savior of their lives. So, we are now his temple, his body, his church. We, the people of God, are his church, for the church is not a building or an organization or a business of men, but it is a living organism made up of people, who are its living stones.

The Pharisees and Sadducees were also opposed to Jesus Christ. Although they knew the promise God made to Abraham and to his seed, i.e. the Messiah that was to come, when he (Jesus) came, they would not accept him as the one who was to come, the one that they had been waiting for. They refused to believe in him, and so they strongly opposed him.

And, one of the ways in which they regularly opposed him was to try to find ways to trip him up so that they could accuse him falsely of wrongdoing. And, one of the ways in which Satan today opposes the Lord’s followers is via trickery and false accusations, too. And, Satan uses human beings to do his dirty work, too, and some of them are also religious leaders within the temple of God, his church, who have come in by a way other than The Door.

So, these religious leaders within the temple of God asked Jesus for a sign, but he had already given them lots of signs, but they didn’t want to believe in him, so they were not looking to believe in him, but to discredit him. So, this was a trap. And, Jesus knew what was in their hearts. And, so he repeated something he had said before, and that is that an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but they will only be given the sign of Jonah, which earlier he explained was a sign of his death, burial and resurrection; of his plan of salvation to save human lives (Matt. 12:38-42).

And, the Lord’s plan of salvation for our lives is that, just as he died to sin on that cross and he rose from the dead in victory over sin and the grave, so we, too, must die with him daily to sin and self, and we must live to him and to his righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24; Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 6:1-23; Eph. 4:17-24).

Matthew 16:5-12 ESV

When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.” But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

So, Jesus, knowing what was in the hearts of these religious leaders who were trying to trip him up with his words, so that they could falsely accuse him, warned his followers against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees, which was spreading like gangrene. And, what was their teaching? It primarily had to do with externals, i.e. with following a bunch of rules and regulations which made people look clean on the outside but which did not change their hearts and their lifestyles.

And, we have such teaching again today which deals primarily with externals, but does not change people’s hearts nor impact their lifestyles much at all. And, that is this teaching that says that you can profess faith in Jesus Christ at one point in time in your life and you are good to go from that point forward no matter how you live your life. They give the appearance outwardly of having a relationship with Jesus Christ, but by their lifestyles they deny him.

As well, their faith is largely based in humanistic philosophy and human-based religious practices, many of which are traditions passed down from generation to generation, thought to be signs that one is genuinely saved, but scripturally they have no backing.

Practicing Externals

And, one of those practices says that it is a sign that people have truth faith in the Lord Jesus if they attend religious services in buildings called “church” on a weekly or even more regular basis.

But, God does not dwell in buildings built by human hands, thus the building or the organization or church denomination is not the church, so there is nothing sacred about going to these buildings or attending these gatherings in these buildings, which today are largely a mixture of the world and the church, with a large focus on man-made religion and marketing schemes.

And, attending “church” does not make anyone a true follower of Jesus Christ any more than attending school makes one a true student. Yes, we are commanded in scripture not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, but this is not talking about attending meetings at buildings called “church,” but which are truly just businesses of men marketed just like any other business of men, made to appeal to and to attract the flesh of man.

The gathering together the scriptures are talking about is the gathering together of those who are true followers of Christ for the purpose of the teaching of the Word, fellowship, prayer and the breaking of bread.

And, those gatherings can take place anywhere on any day of the week, including on the internet via Christian discussion sites or Christian blogs, etc. For, these gatherings also are to involve the body, as a whole, working together to encourage one another in the faith and to help one another to maturity in Christ, our Lord. And, on the internet there are many opportunities for doing just that, not just to a localized body of fellowship in Christ, but to the universal body of Christ throughout the world.

True Followers of Christ

So, you don’t have to attend something called “church” that is not the true church in order to be a true follower of Jesus Christ. And, attending such a gathering also does not automatically make you a true follower of Jesus Christ, nor does a mere profession of faith. What makes us true followers of Christ are not externals and not mere professions of faith in Jesus, but they are lives given to Jesus Christ, making him Lord (owner-master) of our lives.

What makes us true followers of Jesus Christ is leaving our lives of sin behind us to follow our Lord Jesus in obedience to his commands. This is not a requirement for absolute sinless perfection, for if that could be attained, Jesus would not have had to die on that cross. But, what is required is that, by the Spirit of God, we walk (in lifestyle) according to (in agreement with) the Spirit of God and that we no longer walk according to our sinful flesh.

Yet, there are many teachers of the Word of God today who are saying that we don’t have to repent of our sins, and that we don’t have to follow our Lord in obedience to his commands, for they equate that to works-based salvation. And, many of them have reduced even the sharing of the gospel of our salvation to doing good deeds in order to bless people, while they discourage and even disparage the actual preaching of the gospel of repentance and obedience to Christ for forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God.

So, what our Lord is saying here is that we are not to listen to those who are preaching externals as our path to salvation while they do not preach repentance and obedience to Christ, i.e. heart transformations of the Spirit of God away from living to sin and self in order to follow our Lord in surrender and in obedience to him and to His Word.

For, we must know that we are all going to reap what we sow. If we sow to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap destruction (decay, death). But, if we sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit we will reap eternal life (Gal. 6:7-8; cf. Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 8:1-17; Tit. 2:11-14; 1 Jn. 1:5-9).

Awaken the Dawn  

An Original Work / January 15, 2013

Based off Psalm 57 (NIV 1984)

O my God, have mercy on me!

In the Lord, my soul takes refuge.

In the shadow of Your wings, Lord,

I find shelter till the storms pass.

I cry out to my God Most High.

He fulfills His purpose for me.

He sent His Son to die for me,

So I could be saved.

I am in the midst of lions;

Men whose teeth are spears and arrows;

Whose tongues are sharp; words accusing.

They spread a net, my feet to catch.

They dug a pit, in hopes I’d fall.

O God, be exalted o’er all.

Let Your glory shine to all men,

So they may be saved.

Steadfast is my heart, O my God;

I will sing of all Your wonders.

Awake, my soul! Sing praise to God!

Early I will rise and praise Him!

I’ll praise God among the nations;

I will sing among the peoples.

God’s love reaches to the heavens,

So we may be saved.

https://vimeo.com/115213982

Thursday, June 27, 2019

Loving Unselfishly

When we study the Old Testament of the Bible, we must always read it in light of the New Covenant Relationship God now has with his people who believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their lives. And, this particularly applies to when we read Old Testament and Old Covenant law, such as in Leviticus, from which our passage comes today. If any of this is repeated for us, the church, in the New Testament, then it applies to us.

Leviticus 19:1-5 ESV

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God. “When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted.”

All of these are repeated for us under the New Covenant with the exception of one. We are not required to keep the Sabbath as the Jews were, of old. Now our Sabbath rest is our salvation, and we rest in the Lord our God, and every day is a day unto the Lord. But, we are not restricted from having one day a week that we deem more sacred than others. It is just no longer required. For, now we have God living within us, and we are his temple.

Yet, we are still to honor our God in worship of him, and we are still to gather together with other followers of God, of Christ, for the teaching of the Word, and for fellowship, for the breaking of bread and for prayer. And, we are not to forsake meeting with one another, but we are to encourage one another daily in the Lord, and in our faith, to walk holy before our God in submission to him as Lord of our lives.

And, the sacrifices now required of us are of giving our lives to the Lord wholeheartedly with humble spirits in submission to our Lord, and they are sacrifices of praise and adoration of our God. For, we are to present ourselves to God as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to him, for this is our acceptable worship of him. And, we are to no longer be conformed to the ways of this sinful world, but we are to be transformed in heart and mind, of the Spirit of God, away from sin to God and to his righteousness (Rom. 12:1-2; Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Jn. 1:5-9).

And, we are now to live holy lives unto God, separate (unlike, different) from the world of sin because we are being conformed to the likeness of Christ.

Therefore, we are not to be idolatrous or adulterous in our relationships with Almighty God. We are not to go after other gods of fame or fortune, entertainment, pride, selfishness, stubbornness, self-will, and sinful addictions, but we are to make God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – our only God whom we worship with all our hearts, minds and souls. He is to be Lord (owner-master) of our lives now that we are being saved from our sins.

Leviticus 19:11-14 ESV

“You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.”

When Jesus Christ walked the face of this earth as fully God yet fully man, he summarized the Old Covenant law for us in two laws: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” And, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:36-39).

If we keep these two laws, therefore, we will do all the law that is required of us under the New Covenant. For, if we love God in this way, which is to prefer what he prefers, which is what is holy, pure and honest, we are not going to lie to each other, or steal from one another, and we are not going to profane the name of our God by using his name in a way which is dishonoring to him.

And, stealing from one another is not just about taking one another’s possessions without asking, but it is robbing one another of honor, value, respect, kindness and justice, too. For, it has to do with taking advantage of others and being selfish and self-consumed to where we don’t consider one another’s needs and what is in each other’s best interests, but we are just looking out for number one, for ourselves.

And, lying to one another is not just about telling outright lies, either. It is a lie if we withhold information from those to whom it is due. It is a lie if we do a non-denial denial, i.e. if we skirt around direct questions so that we evade having to answer them, when we are in situations where we are required by law or by conscience to answer the questions with the truth. And, it is a lie to willfully deceive others to believing something to be true that is a lie, no matter what methods we use in order to deceive others, which could be just willful subliminal messages. So, we are not to lie to one another.

But, we are to walk in the fear of the Lord. We are to live our lives in full respect, honor, submission and obedience to our Lord. This does not mean we will live perfectly, that we will never sin, or that we will never fail God. But, what it does mean is that it is our practice, it is our lifestyle, the way we conduct our lives day in and day out, in honor and praise of our God, in submission to his will for our lives and in obedience to his commands.

Leviticus 19:15-18 ESV

“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord. “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”

We are to love one another as God has loved us and as he gave his life up for us on a cross so that we might be delivered out of our slavery to sin and have eternal life with God, our Lord. And, again, to love in this way means to prefer what God prefers, which is what is holy, pure, moral, upright, godly and honest.

So, we are not going to take advantage of one another for our own personal gain. And, this includes not giving people false compliments or false hopes or withholding the truth from them so that they will like us. For, many people think they are being kind when they lie to each other, thinking they are sparing the other person’s feelings, but what they are really concerned about is wanting the other person to like them.

So, it is an injustice to others to withhold the truth from them thinking we are sparing their feelings, when we may be sending them straight to hell because we cared more about what they thought of us than we cared about their relationship with God and where they will spend eternity.

Some people, too, in order to spare themselves, will slander others to their advantage. And, to slander is to willfully lie about others to make them look bad so that we look good by comparison. And, that is the ultimate in hate, which is murder, because we are taking the life of another and we are stomping on their hearts so that others will not like them but they will like us, instead. And, sometimes people do this out of revenge, to get even with those who they think have done something evil to them.

But, if we are to judge one another, we are to do so righteously, according to God’s Word, and to do so for the purpose to help others to find salvation in Christ Jesus, or to forsake their sins and submit their lives to God, or to help them out of the pit of sinful addiction. Judging should always have a good purpose, to help others, not to hurt them. But, this does not mean that they will not be hurt in the process. And, all judging must be according to scripture, too, not according to our own thinking or believing about stuff.

And, at the core of all of this is that we are to love God with all our hearts, mind and strength, and we are to love one another as God loves us and as he gave himself up for us that we might be delivered out of our slavery to sin and walk righteously before our God.

For Our Nation  

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: we’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

https://vimeo.com/112351857

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Lying Prophets

Jeremiah 23:14-15 ESV

But in the prophets of Jerusalem

    I have seen a horrible thing:

they commit adultery and walk in lies;

    they strengthen the hands of evildoers,

    so that no one turns from his evil;

all of them have become like Sodom to me,

    and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”

Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:

“Behold, I will feed them with bitter food

    and give them poisoned water to drink,

for from the prophets of Jerusalem

    ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”

The prophets of old were people of God who spoke God’s direct words to the people. They were the word of God to the people, like we have the written word of God today, our Bible (Genesis to Revelation). But in these last days God has spoken to us through his Son Jesus Christ – God the Son (Heb. 1:1-2). He is the fulfillment of the law and of the prophets (Matt. 5:17).

And, now Jesus Christ, in the person of his Spirit, dwells within the lives of all who have truly trusted in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives. And, the Spirit of God who dwells within us counsels, guides, and instructs in the ways of the Lord, and he empowers us to live godly and holy lives, pleasing to God.

But, he also gives us spiritual gifts, as he determines, for the building up of the body of Christ for the unity of the faith and maturity in Christ Jesus. And, we are each given assignments within the body of Christ, too, for the mutual edification of one another. And, some of these gifts involve giving God’s messages to the people, too, such as the gifts of prophecy, teaching and knowledge (Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Co. 12:4-31; Eph. 4:11-16).

So, some of these people who are teaching or preaching (prophesying) the Word of God from the Bible, as applied to our lives and world today, in all practicality, are doing some of these same things as the prophets did of old. And some of these same words from God, as applied to the prophets of old, can also be said about some teachers or preachers of the Word today.

For, in America, at least, we have many who are preaching or teaching the Word of God who are lying to the people and who are living in sin. In fact, many of them are even promoting sinful actions or they are certainly giving free license to continue in sinful practices while promising heaven to their adherents. And, so they are strengthening evil doers when they tell their listeners (or imply) that faith in Jesus Christ requires no repentance, no obedience and no submission to Christ and to his cross.

So, they do not turn people away from their sins, but rather they convince them that faith in Jesus Christ means forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God, but that forsaking our sins and walking in obedience to the Lord are optional. For, they teach a faith absent of death to sin and living to righteousness, as required for our salvation and eternal life with God. So, they are teaching forgiveness of sins, but they are not teaching deliverance from bondage to sin, which Jesus died for (1 Pet. 2:24; Rom. 6:1-23).

Jeremiah 23:16-20 ESV

Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”

For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord

    to see and to hear his word,

    or who has paid attention to his word and listened?

Behold, the storm of the Lord!

    Wrath has gone forth,

a whirling tempest;

    it will burst upon the head of the wicked.

The anger of the Lord will not turn back

    until he has executed and accomplished

    the intents of his heart.

In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

Vain hopes are what many preachers and teachers of the Word of God are giving people today. For, when they teach salvation from sin and eternal life with God absent of true repentance and obedience to Christ, they are giving people a false hope of heaven based on a lie. For, scripture is real clear on this subject. We must walk according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh if we want to have eternal life with God (Lu. 9:23-25; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; Tit. 2:11-14; Gal. 6:7-8).

So, what these preachers and teachers of the Word of God are teaching, for the most part, are not God’s words from the Bible, but they are words coming from their own minds where they twist and distort the scriptures to their own advantage in order to appease the flesh rather than put it to death. And, they are giving people the idea that it will go well with them even if they live in gross sin against God, despising the Lord.

So, they are lying to the people, but they are giving them what their itching ears want to hear. For, many people want to hear that they can “believe” in Jesus Christ and have heaven as their eternal destiny, but that their “faith” in Jesus Christ does not necessitate that they alter their lifestyles a whole lot, or at all. They also want to believe that they will be raptured up to heaven and that they will never have to suffer any judgment of God because they professed faith in Jesus Christ, even though they dishonor him with their lives.

But, these liars and deceivers, these wolves in sheep’s clothing, these who are thieves and robbers are convincing people by the masses that a mere profession of faith, or some words repeated after someone in a prayer, guarantees heaven for them no matter how they live their lives from this moment forward, so they are, instead, sending them straight to hell.

For, the Word of God says we will reap what we sow. If we sow to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap destruction (decay, death). But, if we sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit we will reap eternal life (Gal. 6:7-8).

Jeremiah 23:21-24 ESV

“I did not send the prophets,

    yet they ran;

I did not speak to them,

    yet they prophesied.

But if they had stood in my council,

    then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,

and they would have turned them from their evil way,

    and from the evil of their deeds.

“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.”

Those who are truly sent from God and who are speaking his messages to the people, from his Word, are going to turn people away from their sins, and they are going to turn their hearts to walk in obedience to our Lord, continually, persistently and faithfully to the very end. They are going to teach the whole counsel of God and not a half-truth gospel absent of repentance and obedience. They are not going to twist the scriptures to appease the flesh, but they will, in all sincerity, teach what is true to the glory and praise of God.

So, if the teaching or preaching of the Word you are receiving is not leading you to forsake your sins and to live to Christ and to his righteousness, then it is not of God. If the teaching you are receiving is convincing you that faith in Jesus Christ is a one-time experience which guarantees you heaven no matter how you live once you “believe,” then it also is not of God. For, if it is of God, it is going to turn you from your evil deeds, not pacify you in them.

So, know that God sees all, and he knows all, and that he is all powerful, and he will do everything he said he will do. If we keep on our sinful addictions after we claim to have faith in Jesus Christ, and we do not walk (in lifestyle) according to the Spirit of God, then heaven is not guaranteed us, and we don’t have eternal life with God, but a fearful expectation of judgment and of hell (Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 8:1-17; Gal. 5:19-21).

For, to believe in Jesus Christ is to die with him to sin and to live with him to righteousness. It is to love him, and to love him is to obey him. It does not mean we will never sin again or that we will be perfect, but it does mean that, by the Spirit, we are putting to death the deeds of the flesh, and by the Spirit we are walking with Christ in holy and godly living (Tit. 2:11-14). And, it means that Jesus Christ is now truly Lord (owner-master) of our lives.

It’s All You

Lyrics by Tosin Iyawo Ogaga & Sue Love

Music by Sue Love @ Original Works

Vocals by Tosin Iyawo Ogaga

May 31, 2019

You are the reason I want to dance.

You are the reason I want to sing.

You are the reason, expressing myself,

I serve You in all the ways You lead me.

You are the reason my heart gives You praise.

You are the reason that I am alive.

I bring out Your best moves

Just so I do embrace You;

Sing out loud as You lead just to please You.

Let myself follow You. I don’t care who watches me.

All I want to do is to make You smile.

Let every fiber of me bring You praise.

Your love has lifted my feet to dance.

Your faithfulness leaves me singing for joy.

You, Jesus, are the reason, it’s all You.

Your grace gives me life.

*full lyrics used by permission of the lyricists

Tosin singing:

https://youtu.be/_bc1O3UBKdU

Monday, June 24, 2019, 11:11 p.m.

Love and Steadfastness

2 Thessalonians 3:1-5, 13

Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ… As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.

The Word of God

In America and in the world today, the Word of God is not honored by the majority of people, not even by the majority of those who call themselves Christians here in America. It is certainly well known, at least here in America, and it is easily accessible here in America via the internet, and in most book stores. And, many Americans have at least one copy of the Bible in their homes. But to honor the Word of God is something else entirely.

For, to honor the Word of God is to respect it and to exalt it, and it is to keep (obey) the Word, to carry it out. For, we can be in possession of a Bible, or many Bibles, and we can even memorize scripture and study it and debate it with others, but if we do not obey the Word of the Lord, and we do not follow Jesus Christ where he leads us, then we don’t honor God’s Word.

And, because of this, the true Word of the Lord is being hindered, and it is being hijacked, too, by thieves and robbers whose goal it is to destroy the gospel and to destroy the church. And, thus they are dishonoring God’s Holy Word by twisting it and turning it in the direction of human flesh to make it more palatable to the flesh of humans. And, they are denying that God’s main purpose for his followers is that they walk in holiness and purity.

So, the prayer here is that those of us who are sharing the gospel of our salvation with the world around us, that we would be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith. For the wicked and the evil are trying to destroy the gospel and its messengers so as to hinder the spreading of the true gospel. So, this is truly a prayer that we would be able to continue to share the gospel unhindered so that many will be saved.

Our Faithful Lord

Knowing that our Lord is faithful is so comforting to our hearts and minds, for so many humans today are not faithful. For, immorality has become so common place. Jesus said that adultery is to even look at someone, to whom we are not married, with lust in our eyes and in our hearts. Yet, his words don’t seem to be taken too seriously by many. And lying to people, too, seems to be socially acceptable, even within the church.

And, since this cheap grace gospel is now so accepted as the true gospel, and so its adherents believe that they don’t have to obey God’s Word, they are not only dishonoring God’s Word, but God himself. And, thus they are attacking not only the gospel of our salvation, but they are attacking its messengers with lies, cheap shots, cutting remarks, and false accusations, and the like. And, they try to shame those still holding to the truth of the gospel into surrendering to compromise of truth “for the common good.”

But, our God is still completely sovereign over all things. He is fully in control. And, he has allowed evil to reign, for a time, and for the gospel and its messengers to come under attack. So, we must trust him during these times when immorality is rampant and the scriptures are being twisted and diluted. And, we must commit our lives into his capable hands, and trust him to keep us strong, to carry us through it all, and to empower us to keep on sharing the truth despite all opposition.

Doing the Will of God

It can get discouraging sometimes when we see so many professing Christians taking the easy way out, and falling for the lie that says that they don’t have to leave their old lives of sin behind them, and that they don’t have to obey the Lord and his Word. And, too, when we see the church on such a massive spiritual decline, and so many professing believers in Jesus living no different or not much different from those who have not faith, it can be very disheartening.

The worldliness in the church and among God’s people is astounding. So, if you hold to the truths of scripture, and you walk in holiness and righteousness, then you are considered “weird” and maybe even “extreme,” and “extreme” is to be considered as something bad. Yet, being more like the majority is being raised up to being more “normal” and acceptable.

But, Jesus didn’t die that horrible death on a cross 2000 years ago so that we would be worldly and “normal” and acceptable to the world. He didn’t die for our sins merely to forgive us our sins and to promise us eternal life with God in heaven, either. He died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness and that we would no longer live for ourselves and for sinful pleasure but that we would live for him who gave his life up for us.

Faith in Jesus Christ, too, is not a mere intellectual assent to who he was/is and to what he did for us on that cross. True faith in Jesus, the kind that is required for salvation, is God-inspired and gifted to us by God, and thus it submits to Jesus Christ, and it walks in obedience to his commands.

And, to love God is to obey him, for if we do not walk in obedience to the Lord, in practice, not necessarily in perfection, then we don’t love God. But, we should love God, and we should desire to walk in obedience to him if we truly love him. And, we should want to be steadfast in our faith, in practice, and to keep on doing what the Lord directs us to do, because we love him.

Thus, when we are faced with opposition, and we are regarded as “extreme,” because we still hold to the tenets of the faith, and because we are walking in obedience to our Lord, and we are still sharing the true gospel with people for their salvation, we should not grow weary of heart. For, our work for the Lord and for his gospel will be rewarded.

For the Word of God which goes out into the world will not return empty, but it will accomplish the purpose for which God sent it, for when all else perishes, God’s Word will remain.

So, we should not get discouraged, but we should keep praying, and keep doing what God has called us to do, and then trust that he will accomplish his purposes in and through our lives for his praise, honor and glory and for the salvation and sanctification of human lives. To God be the glory!

Have Thine Own Way, Lord

Hymn lyrics by Adelaide A. Pollard, 1907

Music by George C. Stebbins, 1907

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Thou art the potter, I am the clay.

Mold me and make me after Thy will,

While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Search me and try me, Master, today!

Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,

As in Thy presence humbly I bow.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Wounded and weary, help me I pray!

Power, all power, surely is Thine!

Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Hold o'er my being absolute sway.

Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see

Christ only, always, living in me!

*copyright status is public domain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSnBbgsecD4

Monday, June 24, 2019

Wait for The Lord

Isaiah 40:27 ESV

Why do you say, O Jacob,

    and speak, O Israel,

“My way is hidden from the Lord,

    and my right is disregarded by my God”?

Do you ever feel that God has forgotten you? Do you ever feel like maybe the Lord went on vacation and that he isn’t really paying attention to what is going on in your life? Do you sometimes wonder why things are happening to you the way that they are? And, do you wonder how long your difficult circumstances must continue? Will they go on forever?

Do you doubt God’s sovereignty over your life? Do you question whether or not he really is in control? Do you, perhaps, even think that God is not powerful enough to do anything about your situation?

I still remember the time in my life when I said to God, “But God, you don’t understand!” I really believed what I said. I believed God was powerless to do anything about my situation and that man had power over me that God could do nothing about. And, that is because I had been severely abused as a child, and God did not rescue me. He comforted me, but in my mind I decided that man had power over me that God could do nothing about.

But, you say, “I would never think that!” I didn’t think I would, either. If you had asked me if I believed God was sovereign, I would have said, “Yes.” But, what I believed with my mind (with my intellect) did not convince my heart and my emotions, so what came out of my mouth then revealed what I really believed. And, that is why faith, if it is genuine, will be proved by our actions, for our actions reveal what we truly believe.

And, this is why a lot of people take matters into their own hands, because they truly don’t trust the Lord. They don’t trust him to meet their needs. They don’t trust him with their difficult circumstances. And, so they get fearful, and then they respond in fear rather than in faith, and sometimes they do foolish things out of fear, because they are lacking in faith.

Isaiah 40:28 ESV

Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

    the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

    his understanding is unsearchable.

Like I said, our actions reveal what we truly believe about God. They either reveal that we trust that God is who he says he is, or they reveal that we don’t really believe God, even though we may think that we do. For when we get fearful over things going on in our lives, or over what people might do to us or might say about us, it reveals that our faith is weak, and that we are lacking in true understanding of who God is and what he is about.

But, he is God! He created the heavens and the earth, the sky and the sea, the sun and the moon and the stars to shine in the darkness. He created spiders and worms and all kinds of creepy crawling things. And he created all kinds of animals and the fish in the sea and the birds in the air. And, he created you and me. And, he made us for a purpose, that we might bring honor and glory and praise to him and to his name.

Even before he created the world he had a plan for our lives. For those of us who are believers in Jesus Christ, he predestined us to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ, God the Son. Even before the ages began, he purposed that we should be saved from our sins, by his grace, and called to a holy calling. And, to be holy is to be set apart (unlike, different) from this sinful world, because we are being conformed to God’s likeness.

All the days ordained for us were written in God’s book before one of them came into being (see Psalm 139).

So, God who made us, and who called us to his purposes, had a design for our lives even before he created the world. Thus, the God who could do this, who is all knowing, all powerful, and who is everywhere at all times, certainly has the power over whatever it is we are going through and, in fact, he already has a plan for what he is going to do in our lives and through our lives through those circumstances, too.

Isaiah 40:29-31 ESV

He gives power to the faint,

    and to him who has no might he increases strength.

Even youths shall faint and be weary,

    and young men shall fall exhausted;

but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

    they shall walk and not faint.

One thing here that we need to understand about God is that he doesn’t promise us that we are going to have no troubles, or that we are always going to be treated fairly, or that everyone is going to speak well of us.

In fact, in his Word he says that we are going to be treated like he was, like Jesus was, who is God, and who is our creator, too. He promised us that faith in him also means suffering with him and like him, first in death to sin and in denial of self, and then in being hated and persecuted like he was, too.

His Word promises us that the world will not love us, but that they will hate us, and this includes the worldly Christian, too. For who were Jesus’ main persecutors who then put him to death on a cross? They were those who claimed to believe in God the Father and who even taught the scriptures and who served in positions of leadership and rulership within the temple of God.

The Bible promises us, too, that we are going to have trials and tribulations and troubles. We are going to go through things which will test our faith as though by fire. And, when we go through these difficulties, we may feel weak and tired, and we may even despair of life as Paul did. And, we may begin to wonder how we are going to make it through another day.

Well, the encouragement here is that, if we put our trust in the Lord, he will give us all that we need to endure whatever it is we are going through. When we feel we have nothing left, and that we have nothing to give, and that we can’t go on much longer with things the way that they are, he lifts us up. He strengthens us. And, he empowers us to do more than we could possibly ever think or imagine is possible.

He puts a new song in our mouths, and a new spring in our steps, and somehow we are able to make it through another day, and we are able to move forward even knowing that what awaits us is probably going to be much like we have had already or even worse. And, this is not being pessimistic. This is just the reality of where we are now in the world and regarding the direction the world is headed.

But, no matter what the Lord takes us through, we must know that he is allowing these things in our lives for his purposes, and we just have to trust him that he knows what he is doing, because he does, because he is God. And, we just have to wait on him to do in our lives and through our lives what it is that he wants to accomplish through our trials. And, then he will renew our strength so that we don’t grow weary and lose heart. Amen!

Mighty in Power

An Original Work / June 17, 2019

Jesus, our Savior, reigneth forever;

Mighty in power, His name we honor.

He’s our refuge from all evil.

God our righteous, He’s our fill.

He satisfies us with all His blessings.

We magnify Him. Our praise to Him sing.

Glory and honor, praise to the Father,

Perfect in wisdom, He is our vision.

He delivered us from all sin

So, in Christ, we’d be forgiven.

He purifies us. His love will guide us.

He is beside us, holy and righteous.

Our Holy Spirit, comfort in sorrow,

Strength in our weakness, hope for tomorrow.

He gives courage to be bold in

Witnessing for Jesus Christ.

He teaches all things about our Savior.

New life in Jesus, we found His favor.

https://vimeo.com/343126112

Sunday, June 23, 2019