Glorifying Jesus – God Loves The Small

Posted on March 19, 2018 by bibleteacherorg

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Revelation 2:18-29 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; 19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. 20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. 21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. 22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. 23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. 24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. 25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. 26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star. 29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Thyatira was one of the smallest towns in the Roman Empire. Unlike Pergamos – an independent and self governed Roman Colony – Thyatira was considered unimportant. It was a small, throw away town that existed for one reason: it was a bumper, a buffer zone for more important places. It just didn’t matter to Rome, but it mattered to God, for God loves small things. God works with the humble, with those who love Him.

Proverbs 8:17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.

I have heard people say “I prefer a small Church”.
Jesus prefers ANY Church of ANY size
That That Loves Him And honors God.

Jesus loves the small Church. His first Church had 12 disciples, of whom one was a devil. The eleven faithful went on to grow and become a church of 120, all praying together on the Day of Pentecost. That’s a small Church. Jesus loves a small Church, but Jesus also loves the large Church. Those 120 became 3000 before the day was over because the 120 honored the Son.

God blesses those who humbly follow Him.

Small Is Important To Jesus

Revelation 2:18-29 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God…

We have a tendency to think that SMALL means INSIGNIFICANT. That’s not true. Small is important to God. God says:

“This is the Word of the Lord to {His Servant}: Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord of hosts. Who are YOU, O great Mountain? Before {my Servant} you shall become a plain. Do not despise the day of small things … “ (Zechariah 4:6-7, 10 Author’s Paraphrase)

Jesus Christ addresses Thyatira. “I am the Son of God”. Who was Jesus? He is the Only Begotten Son of God. He was the King of Kings

Born in a manger amidst the stench and filth of animals.
Born in an unknown tiny place called Bethlehem.
Raised in a ridiculed small town named Nazareth.

Don’t you dare despise small things. The King of Heaven brought His Kingdom to this earth as a small baby. The largest man in this congregation was once a tiny baby held in a mother’s arms. Do not despise smallness. Thyatira was small, but Jesus was watching over it.

Revelation 2:18 These things saith the SON OF GOD, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;

Only here in Revelation is Jesus referred to as “Son of God”. He Jesus is watching little Thyatira – His eyes burn with passion! Oh how He loves His Church! His feet are like fine brass. He is with His Church and shall not be moved.

Jesus knows what it is like to be devalued. He was devalued by the Pharisees, the Scribes, the Sadduccees.

“By what AUTHORITY do You do these things, Jesus?”

What school did YOU go to? Which Rabbi APPROVED your words? How dare YOU question US? You are not of the Ruling Council. You are nothing, Jesus, Nothing! When some were told about Jesus they asked:

“Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?”

People thought Nazareth, and Bethelehem and Thyatira were unimportant, tiny places that did not matter. But Jesus was born into humanity in Bethlehem. He was raised to adulthood in Nazareth. Jesus looked at Thyatira with passion in His eyes. His feet were like fine brass, refined in fire. Jesus was not going to walk away from His people. He was with them. These were His people, people He had given His life for. Christ says to the world and the worldly:

Mark 9:19 … O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? …

but to His people He says:

Matthew 28:20 … lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Jesus stood with Thyatira, just as He stands with all the outcasts, the small, the devalued. The Bible says:

1 Corinthians 1:26-29 (KJV) For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Thyatira is not nothing because it is small. Jesus sees His people. He passionately died for us, and He passionately watches over us. He cannot be pushed away from His people. He tells Thyatira:

Revelation 2:19 I know thy works, and charity, and serviceDIAKONIA, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.

If you read what Jesus says to His Church you’ll see something very interesting. The Lord repeats Himself. He says “I know thy works …… and thy works, and the last to be more than the first”.

Though Thyatira Was Small She Was Growing In Works.
Every Church Should Be GROWING In WORKS.

Like the Church at Macedonia we studied last Wednesday this small Church was GROWING in its works. They were continually reaching out to do more things.

One of the greatest dangers to face any Church is COMFORT and SELFISHNESS. A Church can become apathetic, settled in its ways and in its traditions. This is what destroyed Judaism. When Jesus came He challenged their traditions. Jesus came rocking the boat, and wants His people to keep reaching out, to keep telling, to keep doing. To be a brighter and brighter lighthouse, not a fishbowl or a clubhouse. Thyatira worked for the Lord, and were working more and more every day for the Lord. Their works were not just works for works sake, but works in charity (love for others).

The word “SERVICE” is the Greek DIAKONIA which means “Ministry”. They were sharing the Gospel, showing their love for Christ and God’s Kingdom. They had “faith” in what they were doing, which is good, because the Bible tells us:

Hebrews 11:6 (KJV) But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Furthermore they were “patient”, the Greek HUPOMONE, a word that means “to rest in hope and not in hopelessness. To look upward. To trust in God”. So many Churches fail because they lose hope, but Thyatira – though small – had hope. And that’s a good thing!

The Problem With Smallness Is When We Devalue Ourselves

It looks as if Jesus is going to do nothing but praise Thyatira until we read verse 20:

Revelation 2:20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest (allow) that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

What is going on here? Thyatira is a great Church, working for the Lord. Jesus is commending the Church, praising them for their works. But now He notes that Jezebel is among them. Who is Jezebel? Jezebel is the wife of King Ahab, one of the most wicked Kings Israel ever knew. A wicked King, he married a wicked Queen. Jezebel was like liquid poison. The Bible tells us that:

Jezebel cut off the Prophets of the LORD (1 Kings 18:4)

That means SHE HAD THEM KILLED. Jezebel hated God. She ran off or murdered anyone who stood up for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the Scripture. Jezebel brought in BAAL WORSHIP, and ordained priests to spread their false teaching throughout the land. Had not faithful Obadiah hid 100 prophets in two caves, giving them food and water, the Faith of Abraham would have been wiped out of Israel. The Prophet Elijah stood against the 450 Prophets of BAAL on Mount Carmel, and wiped them all out by the Word of God.

Jezebel was wholly evil.

Jezebel demanded that the Israelites worship a false god, sacrificing their children to this evil. Jezebel would eventually be killed, and tossed from the wall of the palace. She was eaten by dogs (2 Kings 9:35-36), and they could find no more of her but her skull, her hands, and her feet. She died a grisley death.

But the spirit of Jezebel lives on, sometimes afflicting the Church of Christ. Jezebel was in the Church at Thyatira. Jesus said:

Revelation 2:20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest (allow) that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

The spirit of Jezebel teaches and seduces. It leads to fornication, or sexual sin. The spirit of Jezebel teaches idolatry rather than glory to God. How can these things get in Christ’s Church?

Jezebel comes in when the small Church devalues itself.
The Church tolerates that which it should not have tolerated.
The spirit of Jezebel is infused through many local Churches today.

There are many who profess Christ today who are pro-choice on abortion. What does God have to say on this? When does life begin? What does the Scripture say? Many do not ask, nor care. They have tolerated Jezebel in order to increase to roll of the Church.

There are many who profess Christ today who are pro-sexual sin. They endorse homosexual and heterosexual sins. They do not agree with Jesus Himself Who said:

“Have you not read that at the beginning of creation God made them male and female? For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Mark 10:6; Matthew 19:4)

The majority of America has gone the way of progressivism, believing that all lines between the sexes are to be blurred and wiped out. This is Jezebel. Many Churches are becoming or have become more tolerant of that which God has said NO. Jezebel teaches Christ’s servants to commit fornication – sexual sin – and to fall into idolatry.

There are many who profess Christ today who believe there are many ways to God outside of Christ. This is idolatry. Just a few days ago megaChurch pastor Michael A. Walrond Jr said:

“Saying you’re going to hell if you don’t believe in Jesus is insanity.”

He leads the more than 10,000 member First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem. He went on to say:

“There was a time when you would see people in the pulpit say, ‘well, if you don’t believe in Jesus you going to Hell. That’s insanity in many ways because that is not what Jesus even believes. And so the key is you believe in God. And whatever your path is to God I celebrate that. Personally I celebrate that.”

This is Jezebel. Jesus said:

John 14:6 (KJV) Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

And John wrote 1 John 5:11-12 (KJV) And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

An “all beliefs are ways to God” platform is not of the Scripture, but it is Jezebel. How does Jezebel get in a Church?

When The Small Church Chooses Human Methods
To Grow It May Move To Jezebel.

Years ago when Rick Warren and his book “The Purpose Driven Life” came out there was a push in Southern Baptist Life to do a “Forty Days of Purpose” campaign. Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t think that Rick Warren is Jezebel, and I enjoyed reading the Purpose Driven Life. I try to live my life on purpose for Christ. But I didn’t feel led to lead our congregation to a “Forty Days” program. The Lord told me to just keep on preaching the Word – and I did. But I had a dear friend who bought into the “Forty Days” Purpose Driven program. He wanted his small Church to go from 50 to 500 or more. I prayed with my brother Jim that it would happen. We prayed together every week. At the end of Forty Days his Church had not grown, but actually decreased in size. Here’s what I want you all to understand.

Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it. (Psalm 127)

Jesus must build the Church. The Holy Spirit must save the people. There is no magic elixer or Jack and the Bean Stalk magic beans that will grow anything. Many Churches in order to grow have tolerated Jezebel and her Children. What did Jesus say of this?

Revelation 2:21-22 And I gave her {Jezebel} space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. 22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.

The way to get on the dark side of Jesus is to tolerate Jezebel. Jezeus promised TRIBULATION to those who laid down with Jezebel. Jesus promised a LOSS of followers if Jezebel was allowed in the house. He said:

Revelation 2:23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

Toleration of Jezebel – not standing up with God as Elijah did – is what leads to the most horrendous evil. Elijah told the nation in Jezebel’s heyday:

1 Kings 18:21 (HCSB) … Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If Yahweh is God, follow Him. But if Baal, follow him.” But the people didn’t answer him a word.

You can’t ride the fence. Riding the fence, Germany murdered 9 million people in concentration camps. Riding the fence our government – funded by Planned Parenthood – aborted 327,653 babies in 2013 and received 8 million tax dollars. Of these were 18,000 very late term abortions, children who screamed and cried as they were killed.

The Church of Jesus Christ needs to be like Elijah, like Joshua who said:

Joshua 24:14-15 (HCSB) “Therefore, fear the LORD and worship Him in sincerity and truth. Get rid of the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and worship Yahweh. 15 But if it doesn’t please you to worship Yahweh, choose for yourselves today the one you will worship: the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my family, we will worship Yahweh.”

We need to lovingly stand up against Jezebel. We need to resist a redefinition of marriage and morality. We need to shine the light of Christ and His Gospel to whoever will hear.

We Will Conquer The World In Christ

Revelation 2:24-26 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this DOCTRINE, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. 25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. 26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, TO HIM WILL I GIVE POWER OVER THE NATIONS:

The Church that stands strong with Jesus in love and love of life will have power over the nations. That Church will rule. It will change society. It will make a difference.

Revelation 2:27-29 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star. 29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

The power of evil and darkness is broken when righteousness stands up and says NO! Jesus says “I will give him the MORNING STAR”. What is “the Morning Star”?

Dr. Thomas Constable writes:

“John identified the “morning star” (v. 28) elsewhere as Jesus Christ Himself (22:16). The morning star (usually the planet Venus) appears in the night sky, just before the dawning of a new day. From Babylonian to Roman times, the ancients regarded the morning star as a symbol of sovereignty and, in Roman times, victory.

Jesus Christ will guide faithful believers in the future, as the new day of His rule dawns (cf. Titus 2:13; Dan. 12:3). “The gift of the morning star must refer to the fact that the exalted Christ shares his messianic status with the believer who conquers.”

“To ‘grant the morning-star’ . . . means . . . to make the dawn of salvation or of life eternal shine on him after his dark afflictions.”

Christ stands with His people – but we must stand with Him.

May God touch your hearts with His Word.

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Cheerful Givers

Posted on March 19, 2018 by bibleteacherorg

2_Corinthians_9_6t8_Cheerful_Givers_Riverview_BOOK_EXCERPT_BIBLENOTES

Let us stand in honor of the reading of God’s Holy Word.

Please read with me.

2 Corinthians 9:6-8 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. 7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

There is a law just as sure as the Law of Gravity.
There is a law just as sure as the Law of Magnetism.

There is a law just as certain as the Laws that maintain our earth at a proper distance from the sun. The Almighty God established Laws of Physics and Laws of Nature that work in a certain way. These Laws are immutable, unchangable, for they are fixed. These Laws are bound in the Nature of God, and exist for our good, for the Common Grace of mankind. The Law we’re going to discuss tonight is certain, fixed, without change.

It is the Law of Sowing and Reaping.

God established the Law of Sowing and Reaping when He created the earth. We are told in …

Genesis 1:11 (KJV)  And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, WHOSE SEED IS IN ITSELF, upon the earth: and it was so.

God created plant life with seed within itself. He designed creation to understand that if it want to survive it HAD TO GIVE OF ITSELF. If plant life had taken the seed that it was given and, in rebellion to God, REFUSED TO GIVE, then plant life would have died out. To be selfish is to eventually become obsolete. God designed the earth on the Law of Sowing and Reaping. We read:

Genesis 1:12 (KJV)  And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, WHOSE SEED WAS IN ITSELF, after his kind: and GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD.

The earth did as it was to do. The plants did as they were supposed to do. God saw that it was GOOD. What was given was shared, and life continued. There was no selfishness.

When there is OBEDIENCE and FAITH
in God there is blessing!

Because Adam took what was not his to take, the Lord cursed him and his seed. Sin entered the world – and death by sin – because of Adam’s transgression (see Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:21). Selfishness leads to death. Adam SOWED DISOBEDIENCE and REAPED ITS WAGES. It is always that way. And yet, even in this fallen world, the Law of Sowing and Reaping did not change.

God promised ABRAHAM that if he followed Him that Abraham would be blessed. Abraham had no seed to sow, no natural seed that is. But Abraham could follow the Lord and love Him with all his heart. Abraham followed God, and God blessed Abraham. Eventually God gave Abraham seed, and Abraham had a son called ISAAC or Laughter.

Joy comes from obeying God’s Law

Isaac was the joy of Abraham’s heart. Abraham made some mistakes, some failures, and Isaac followed in his father’s footsteps. WHAT YOU SOW you WILL REAP. What your children see you do while they are tender ground will later spring up in their lives. Isaac repeated some of his father’s errors, but Isaac also followed Abraham in faith. The Bible tells us that there was a great famine in the land. A famine is a time when there is no food. Famines are caused by a lack of water, droughts, often considered a curse of God on creation for its evil. The Bible tells us that …

Genesis 26:1-2 (KJV)  And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.  [2]  And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:

There was a famine – no food. The word went out that Egypt had food stores, relief from the famine. But the Lord came to Isaac and said “Don’t go to Egypt. You go where I tell you. Stay here in Gerar.”

Genesis 26:3-5 (KJV){Stay} in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;  [4]  And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;  [5]  Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

Abraham obeyed God’s Law of Sowing and Reaping. If Isaac obeyed God – even though to the human eye it looked as if it would be better to go to Egypti – then God would bless Isaac where he was. What would Isaac do? Isaac did something ridiculous by human standards.

He stayed in Gerar.
He planted a field in the midst of a famine.

Genesis 26:12-14 (KJV)  Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him.  [13]  And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:  [14]  For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.

The lost world envied Isaac and wanted what he had. But why did Isaac have anything at all in the midst of famine? Because he sowed in obedience to God, he reaped the blessing of God.

No good thing comes without faith. You can sit on your hands and hope for the best, but if you do not sow you will not reap. This is an immutable law of God. In our text today we read:

2 Corinthians 9:6-8 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

To SOW is to SCATTER SEED.
To TOSS IT FROM YOU.
Seed will not grow in your hand.
Seed only grows OUTSIDE of your hand.
If you sow LITTLE, you shall reap LITTLE.
If you sow MUCH you shall reap MUCH.
If you plant ONE tomato seed, you get ONE plant.
If you plant MANY tomato seed, you get MANY.
The law of God is true in the garden.
And it is true in the SPIRITUAL world.

If you have something in your hand and in your heart, you should be willing to sow it for the Lord!

In thre first five verses – as well as in the previous chapter – the Apostle spoke of The Macedonian Christians. These believers had little, but sowed what they had, and in sowing God gave them more. They sowed beyond what their means were, trusting God.

This is faith. The Bible defines “faith” as:

Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

It is not faith in God to do something when you have plenty of resources. It is faith in God to believe in His promise, to obey His will, though it may not seem likely according to the flesh. Faith trusts God no matter how circumstances look. The Bible says that …

Hebrews 11:6 (KJV)… without faith it is impossible to please {God}: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Faith is to release the seed to the ground, to broadcast it, to be a good steward of what God has given you. A Christian is to be a sower, a planter, believing in God. Jesus gave a wonderful illustration of this in Matthew 25. Matthew 25 is all about stewardship, about trusting God, about sowing and reaping. Jesus starts out in Matthew 25 speaking of 5 foolish virgins, and five wise virgins. These virgins were to wait for the coming of the Bridegroom. The wise virgins were prepared. They had oil in their lamps. But the foolish virgins wasted their time and were not prepared. They sat around and instead of filling their lamps with oil, they demanded that the wise virgins give them their oil – which they would not do.

You cannot sit around and hope somebody waits on you. God has given you life, which is a stewardship. He has offered you eternal life in His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. If you sit around doing nothing with your stewardship you will find yourselves coming up short at a critical time. Fill your lamps with oil now. Don’t make the preacher have to chase you to get you in Church. What you sow you will reap. If you are not prepared, not saved, not Spirit filled, when Christ comes you will NOT BE PREPARED.

What you sow you will reap.
If you sow little, you get little.
The reason for little faith is little sowing.
Follow Christ consistently.
Be in Church regularly.
For Jesus will come, and you need to be prepared.

In Matthew 25 Jesus also tells the story of three servants. Each servant was given “to every man according to his several ability”.

God always gives to us
“According To Our Own Ability”

One man was given FIVE TALENTS, another TWO TALENTS, and another ONE TALENT. Each servant was able to do something with these talents. The person with FIVE talents INVESTED what he had. He sowed what was in his charge. When the Master came he said:

Matthew 25:20 (KJV) … Lord, thou deliveredst unto me FIVE talents: behold, I have gained beside them FIVE talents more.

He sowed what he was given for the Lord. If you sow 5, you reap 5 – and he reaped 5. The Master looked at him and said:

Matthew 25:21 (KJV)  His Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.

Heaven is yours. You did what you could with what I gave you. Enter into the JOY of thy Lord! I am overjoyed with you, and shine with pleasure for you have served me. Then the servant that received TWO talents came to the Lord. He said:

Matthew 25:22 (KJV) … Lord, thou deliveredst unto me TWO talents: behold, I have gained TWO other talents beside them.

The servant SOWED what was entrusted to him. What was the Lord’s response? Exactly the same thing he said to the first servant:

Matthew 25:23 (KJV) … Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.

The words were the same – EXACTLY the same. Though one started with FIVE talents and ended with TEN, and though the other started with TWO talents and ended with FOUR, BOTH MEN were equally commended by the Lord. It doesn’t matter what you start with. If you sow what God has given you to sow, you will be blessed.

But then the THIRD servant comes to his Lord. What did he do with his ONE talent?

Matthew 25:24-25 (KJV)  Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:  [25]  And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.

This person did not know the Lord Jesus. Perhaps this person had a PROFESSION of Christ but no POSSESSION. He blames the Lord for not investing.

Lord, it’s YOUR FAULT I have little.
Lord, you are HARD on me.
Lord, if I had been given FIVE then…
Lord, I was frightened.

This servant buried his talent in the earth. How do we “bury our talent”? We do not sow it. We do not – trusting God – invest what He entrusted to us. We have money enough for fishing boats, trucks, four wheelers, and lands. We have money invested in the banks, and we give gifts to our families. But God’s talent is God’s talent. What will we do with it? This man said:

I bury it.
I hide it.
I hoard it.
But I will not invest it.

I can use a little holy imagination now and think about this man who buried his talent. He probably went to the other two stewards and told them “If I were you, I wouldn’t invest. I’d hold on to that money. I’d save for a rainy day. I’d sit on this in safety and security. When the Master returns I’ll be able to give Him back EXACTLY what He gave to me. So you’d better hold on to it. Hold on!”

When Adam sinned in the Garden he blamed God, then the woman. Now this steward blames the Lord. “I was scared of you, so I didn’t sow”. If you sow nothing, you reap nothing. The Lord told the steward:

Matthew 25:26-30 (KJV)  His Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:  [27]  Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.  [28]  Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.  [29]  For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.  [30]  And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The WICKED servant lost his talent, and was cast into outer darkness. What does that mean? Some see this as a promise of eternal punishment, of hell for those who do not serve the Lord. That is a possibility. Those who love the Lord want to serve the Lord. The one who will not sow has a problem with faith and loving the Lord. So perhaps this person does go to hell.

But here’s another thought.

The “outer darkness” where there is “weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth” can refer to the life that lost sight of Christ and His Commission. I have seen a number of “Christians” die in misery and despair, wishing they had lived their lives better for their Lord. I have seen a number of parents in despair over the direction their grown children have taken. What you reap, you will sow. If you do not discipline the child nor

Ephesians 6:4 (KJV) … bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

If you allow that child to get away with murder, don’t be surprised if the child grows up to BE a murderer. What you reap you will sow. In time the seed you planted will become a tree, and that tree will bear GOOD FRUIT or BAD FRUIT. What was in the seed comes up in the plant. What is in the well comes up in the bucket.

Always.

The average heart will beat 36,000,000 every year, or around 2.52 billion times during a 70 year lifespan – and many of us live beyond that. The average respiration rate for a person at rest is 16 breaths a minute, 960 breaths in an hour, 23040 breaths per day. This comes to 588,672,000 breaths during a 70 year lifetime.

God made an investment when He made you. He made an even GREATER INVESTMENT when He died for your sins. You are purchased with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:19) if you have received Him as Lord and Savior. You are to sow for the Lord.

Sow What You Expect To Reap

Galatians 6:7-9 (KJV)  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.  [8]  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.  [9]  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

We are to sow for the glory of God. If we sow sin, we reap death. If we sow to self we reap more of self. But if we sow to the Spirit, we reap of the Spirit. Whatever seed you sow will – in time – become what it should be.

Sow love, reap love.
Sow criticism, reap criticism.
Sow doubt, reap doubt.
Sow encouragement, reap encouragement.
Sow discouragement, reap discouragement.
Sow harmony, reap harmony.
Sow discord, reap enemies.
Sow good, reap good.
Sow evil, reap evil.
Sow sin, reap death.

When the Church justifies SIN in order to placate the world, this seed brings forth darkness. When God’s people show hatred and disharmony instead of love it will not be long before the Church disintegrates. What you sow, you will reap. If you sow Christ, you will reap Christians. Sow Christ. Live in God’s Word. Someone said:

“Living a life of carnality and sin and expecting to inherit Heaven is like planting poison ivy and waiting for roses to bloom. It just won’t happen!”

We are told in the Old Testament:

Proverbs 11:18 (KJV)  The wicked worketh a deceitful work: but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward.

Proverbs 22:8 (KJV)  He that soweth iniquity shall reap {emptiness}: and the rod of his anger shall fail.

Give Because You Love God

Our Lord Jesus was standing at the Temple one day watching how people gave. Those who had much would come up to the Temple offering and LOUDLY let every one know they were giving. Now it was good that they were giving. But as Jesus watched He saw a little old lady hobble to the collection plate.

Luke 21:2-4 (KJV)  {Jesus} saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.  [3]  And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all:  [4]  For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her {poverty} hath cast in all the living that she had.

This woman could have said:

I don’t give because I have medical bills.
I don’t give because I am a widow, all alone.
I don’t give because my children need it.
I don’t give because my mortgage went up.
I don’t give because I need groceries.
I don’t give because my utilities went up.
I don’t give because all I have is 2 mites.

The widow woman had a lot of reasons not to give. She didn’t take any of them. God gave her life. God gave her two mites to give. So the woman gave. And though her offering was tiny compared to those who gave much more, God appreciated her offering more.

She sowed out of faith.
She sowed out of love to God.

It is easy to give when you see where the money is coming from. It is easy to give when you have a lot of money in the bank. To give out of your ABUNDANCE is not faith. To give trusting God, believing what Jesus said:

Matthew 6:33 (KJV)  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Do what God tells you to do with your stewardship. Do not listen to the Devil who says “hath God REALLY said?” Yes, God has really said. And God meant it.

2 Corinthians 9:7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity…

Giving to God is to be from the HEART. Our giving – whether it be time, talent, or money – is to be NOT GRUDGINGLY or because the Pastor or the Law says so. It is not to be OF NECESSITY. The Law of God speaks of a TITHE, and Abraham gave a tithe to God before the Law was ever written (see Genesis 14:20). Why did Abraham tithe? Because he loved the Lord. The Lord said of Abraham:

Genesis 26:5 (KJV) Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

Abraham obeyed and gave to the Lord not because it was a law written down, but because the Lord he loved asked him to do so. Abraham loved God, and God loved Abraham!

2 Corinthians 9:7 … for God LOVETH a cheerful giver.

“God loveth”. The word translated “loveth” is the Present Active Indicative verb of the Greek AGAPAO (agapaw ag-ap-ah’-o). This is the same word that we find in the beloved passage:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

What’s the difference between “loved” in John 3:16 and “loveth” in 2 Corinthians 9:7? The tense of the verb is different. In John 3:16 it says “God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son”. This is Past Tense, showing that God poured out His love on the world when He sent the Lord Jesus Christ to the Cross. In 2 Corinthians 9:7 it says “God loveth a cheerful giver”. This is Present Tense, showing that God keeps on pouring out His love on those who cheerfully give.

When people who have received Grace are Gracious themselves, God sees this – and keeps on pouring out His love on them.

“God loveth a cheerful giver”. The word translated “cheerful” is the Greek adjective HILAROS (`ilaroj hil-ar-os’), the word from which we get our English word “Hilarious”. HILAROS means “to be cheerful, joyous, even hilarious, filled with mirth”. God keeps on pouring His love out on the hilarious giver, the person who gives – not because they have to – but because they want to. The God Who made us gives – not because He has to – but because He wants to. He gives liberally. He gives joyously. And He wants us to give in like manner. It is unnatural – against all creation – to take and take and take and never give back.

The God Who gives all things richly to us is the same God Who designed our hearts. He designed us to be communal, that is, to live together. He made us born again to LOVE OTHERS. It is in our giving of self and stuff that we show our love toward others.

II heard of a wealthy farmer who always bought three times the seed he needed to sow his fields. The salesman asked him why he did that. The farmer replied, “I give seed to my neighbors on each side of my farm. When the bees begin to pollinate my crops, I don’t want them to bring pollen from lower grade seed on to my land. By giving my neighbors the best seed, I bring myself the best riches”.

As the Apostle Paul prepared to leave the Church at Ephesus he told the Pastors there:

Acts 20:35 …. laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

It is more blessed to give than to receive. It blesses others, and it blesses you. And remember as you give for God it will not return void. The Apostle said:

2 Corinthians 9:8-9 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: 9 (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.

God is able. He is able to bless us. We must trust Him and give, if we have been given eternal life. May God touch your hearts with His Word.

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Ho! A Word From God

Posted on March 19, 2018 by bibleteacherorg

Isaiah_55_Ho!.png

Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

Isaiah 54:17 (KJV) No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

Isaiah 55:1-3 (KJV) Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Isaiah 55:6-7 (KJV) Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

God makes precious promises to His people, the ones He calls “the servants of the LORD”. Those who live to serve themselves are not so blessed. Those who live for themselves will at times be very happy, for God causes

… His sun to shine on good and bad people alike, and He sends His rain to fall on the righteous and unrighteous alike (Matthew 5:45)

Asaph, one of the three Worship Leaders appointed by King David, wrote a song we call Psalm 73. In this song Asaph asked why do these ungodly people prosper in this world, and increase in riches, and yet to Asaph it seemed as if he who loved the Lord struggled while the wicked had SUCCESS. Asaph wondered about this. He said “I did not want to speak my doubts aloud lest I betray your people”. But in his heart he wondered how it was that the servant of God should struggle so, whereas the wicked seem to have such good lives. Asaph wondered until …

Psalms 73:17-18 (KJV) Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. 18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.

The easy riches and easy life without God NOW is but an illusion. The person without God and without Christ is not blessed, but cursed. They may have money, they may have popularity, they may have rich health, but in time – which is all so fleeting – they have nothing. When Asaph came into the Sanctuary of God and His Spirit began to speak to his heart Asaph cried out:

Psalms 73:22-27 (KJV) So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. 23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. 24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. 26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. 27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.

Though there may be times when the ungodly seem to have the best life, that will not last. There will come a day when the ungodly go through the VALLEY. When in the VALLEY and the darkness comes, to whom shall they turn? When DEATH knocks on the door of their soul to whom shall they cling? When attacks come from those around them (and they will come) who shall defend them? If you belong to the Lord He “guides me with His counsel, and afterwards receives me to glory”. The heritage of the servants of the LORD, the Eternal and Great I AM is that

Isaiah 54:17 (KJV) No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper
and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.

This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

God’s people are protected from the weapons of the wicked.
God’s people are protected from the TONGUES of the wicked.
God’s people receive IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS from the Almighty.

We Are God’s People Because We Are Satisfied In Christ

The Lord speaks of the protection of His Servants in chapter 54. In chapter 55 He tells us WHO are HIS PEOPLE? His people are those who are THIRSTY.

Isaiah 55:1 (KJV) Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

We see first of all that God’s people are those who ARE THIRSTY. They had tried the things of this life and found them unsatisfactory. They tried things, power, sex, or fame for satisfaction. Yet all that they tried brought thirst. It didn’t satisfy.

God calls a THIRSTY people to Himself.
If you are satisfied with the godless life
You will not seek God.

If you are satisfied with yourself as God and accountability only to yourself, or to the cry of the age:

“It’s MY body and I’ll do what I want to”

If this is what you are satisfied with, then you will not hear God’s call. God calls to the thirsty. He calls to the hungry. He calls to the unsatisfied. God made us in His image and in His likeness. Because of that we are not happy until we come to Him. We are thirsty until we find our fulfillment in Him.

Jesus met a Samaritan woman at a well one day. He said “Give Me something to drink”. The Samaritan woman was intrigued. The Jews and the Samaritans had nothing to do with one another. The Jews considered the Samaritans to be half breeds, children of their enemy. So the Samaritan woman asked Jesus “How is it that you – a Jew – ask me a Samaritan for water?”. Jesus told her “If you knew who I am you would ask Me for water. The water you give will only satisfy for a little bit. But the water I give will satisfy … you will never thirst again.” The woman told Jesus “Give me this water. I want this water that lasts forever so I don’t have to comer to this well anymore”. Jesus told her, “Go, call your husband, and then come back to see Me”. The woman said “I have no husband”, and Jesus replied “It’s true you have no husband. You’ve had five husbands and the man you’re with now is not your husband.” You see, this woman was like so many others. She was seeking happiness and satisfaction in life without God. She was frantically searching for something to please her, but never finding it. She went to Church. She had a home she went to. She had a man she cared for. Yet her life was empty. Why? Because life is empty without the Lord in it. Jesus told this woman:

John 4:22-24 (KJV) Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

True worship is of the Jews. Christ our Messiah came out of Israel. He is the One that the Father sent to satisfy our thirst. We are to come thirsty to Him. When we chase after the things of this world we are like this woman of Samaria. We think this will satisfy our thirst, or that will satisfy our thirst. But our thirst is only satisfied in Him, in God. When we come to Him and worship Him in Spirit and in truth heeding His Word and do all that He says we are satisfied, for God then is our Father, the Son our Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit our guide.

God says to whoever will hear Him “Come to Me. I will satisfy your thirst. I will meet your needs”. He says:

Isaiah 55:1 (KJV) Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

God calls those who come to His embrace to come and buy, but NOT WITH MONEY. The great truth of the Scripture, repeated all throughout the Bible is:

“the just shall live by his faith.”
Habakkuk 2:4, KJV

“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith:
as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”
Romans 1:17, KJV

no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident:
for, The just shall live by faith.”
Galatians 3:11, KJV

“Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back,
my soul shall have no pleasure in him.”
Hebrews 10:38, KJV

The Lord says “if you’re thirsty, come to Me. Let your FAITH be in ME. I will satisfy your thirst. I will love you. If you come to Me I will give you the greatest thing in the world, something you cannot purchase with money. I WILL GIVE YOU ME.

Every year Israel would have the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles, a Feast to commemorate the time that God led them out of Egypt and gave them food, shelter, and clothing in the wilderness. On the last day of that Feast the Priests would go from the … (and here I refer to Ellicott’s Commentary) …

“… Temple to the pool of Siloam, where the priest filled a golden vase with water and carried it to the Temple amid the joyful cries of the people. He then poured it out on the western side of the altar of burnt-offering; while another priest poured a drink-offering of wine, at the same time, on the eastern side of the altar, and the people{would praise the Lord loudly}.

As soon as the people stopped shouting the Lord Jesus stood up and with audacity cried out:

John 7:37-39 (KJV) … Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

If you reject Christ for the world
Your companions Are the wandering lost.
If you RECEIVE Christ
You gain the Spirit of God
Your Eternal Companion.

When you receive Christ instead of the world you receive God’s Indwelling Spirit, the Spirit of Christ Who walks with you NOW and into ETERNITY.

When the LORD said “HO – LISTEN TO ME all who are thirsty. Come and drink!” He was in effect saying what Jesus said. God sent His Son to this world to make payment for our sins. Sin separates us from God. In Christ we are united to the Holy Family NOW and FOREVER.

Jesus came to pay for us, to cover our sins by His own body on the tree of Calvary. If we are thirsty – if anyone is thirsty – we come to Christ. When we come receiving Him as Lord and Savior then “out of our bellies flow rivers of living water”. This is a reference to the Holy Spirit that indwells every Child of God. We purchase this WITHOUT MONEY. We hear God’s HO! We comer to God’s Son. We believe He died for us. We receive Him as He is. The Apostle speaks of this great purchase of God in:

Galatians 3:11-14 (KJV) But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. 12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

When we hear God’s HO! we come to God’s Son. Receiving Him, He enters our life through the Blessed Holy Spirit. God is with His people all the time. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He loves us, and dwells with us.

God’s People Listen To, Honor, & Obey God

Isaiah 55:2 (KJV) Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

God asks His people “Why do you spend money for that which is not bread?” The world chases after things, trying to satisfy themselves with stuff. The stuff this world offers will not satisfy the soul. You may fill your bellies, but your soul will dry up and shrivel without the Lord. God calls out to all saying “Don’t spend your money for that which not satisfy. Walk away from stuff and come to Me. I will satisfy. I will bless. I will empower you by My Spirit. I will guide you by my Word.”

When Israel departed from following God they told the Prophet Samuel that “We want a King so we can be like the other nations”. So God allowed this. The Lord told Samuel to anoint Saul of the House of Benjamin to be king over Israel. When Samuel came to anoint Saul he did not want to be king. He said:

1 Samuel 9:21 (KJV) … Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou so to me?

Saul felt himself unworthy of the call. He resisted the Word of God. On the day that he was to be anointed King the Bible tells us this interesting fact:

2 Samuel 10:21-22 (KJV) … when they sought {Saul}, he could not be found. 22 Therefore they enquired of the Lord further, if the man should yet come thither. And the Lord answered, Behold he hath hid himself among the stuff.

Saul “Hid himself among the stuff”.
Are you hiding yourself among the stuff?

When God calls to salvation He calls whosoever will. But many are never saved. Why? Because they hide themselves among the stuff. God asks “Why do you purchase things that will not satisfy. Come to Me. I am better than the stuff you are hiding among”. God’s people should know that their blessings come only by knowing God, by learning of Him, by worshiping Him. There are many believers in our day also who, though saved, have no joy in their salvation. Why? Because they have blended God with stuff. They do not worship God, but stuff. They love stuff more than anything else. They love seeing their friends, or partying, or going to the gym or the store. Their satisfaction is not in God’s companionship, and many who profess Christ are no more blessed than the lost. What a sad thing this is!

We need the Lord. The lost need the Lord and His Word. The saved need the Lord and His Word.

Isaiah 55:3 (KJV) Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

God says “If you come to Me in faith YOUR SOUL SHALL LIVE.” There is no true life if life is without the Lord. There is no true happiness if Christ is not living and walking with you. The Lord promises an everlasting covenant with those who come to Him in faith. He says “as I blessed David with mercy, so shall I bless you”.

We are to come to Him, to the Person of Christ. We are to receive Him by faith. The Lord says:

Isaiah 55:6-7 (KJV) Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Some Of The “Stuff” That We Hide Ourselves Among Is Foolish Philosophies
And Vain Thoughts.

God has spoken in His Word. A person says:

“I was born this way, and I want to stay this way”

Were you born that way? Sure you were. You were born a sinner, a fallen creature, lost from the Father of Lights. But the Father calls you to His Son. As many as receive Him, to them I give the power to become sons of God. You were born a sinner, a lost person. God calls us to salvation. He says “let the wicked forsake HIS way and go MY way”. He says “let the unrighteous person turn from HIS thoughts to MY thoughts”. This, I believe, is the problem with America today. We are focused on OUR thoughts, on what WE think is right and wrong, and not what GOD has said is right and wrong. The Lord says:

Isaiah 55:8-11 (KJV) For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

God’s Word has spoken on what is right and what is wrong. What we think is right is wrong in God’s Word, and His Word is always true. Therefore God calls us to His side. He says “Here is what I think” and we, if we are His Children, must agree with Him. He knows best.

While we do things OUR way we experience thirst, unhappiness, and misery. When we do things God’s Way then …

Isaiah 55:12 (KJV) For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

When we do things OUR way then what we do turns to thorns and thistles. It was when Adam rejected God’s Word and heard instead the serpent that thorns and thistles came into paradise. But when we honor the Lord He promises:

Isaiah 55:13 (KJV) Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

God wants to bless you. Will you come? There is blessing in hearing and heeding God. Will you be blessed?

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Focused On Jesus’ Word In Pergamos

Posted on March 12, 2018 by bibleteacherorg

1

Revelation 2:12-17 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; 13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. 14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. 15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. 16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

We continue to study the Revelation of Jesus Christ, so named by the Apostle in verse 1 of the Book:

Revelation 1:1 (KJV)  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

As we continue to study through the Book of Revelation we now come to the Church of Pergamos. The name Pergamos means “a fortress, a place of refuge”. Pergamos was a besieged Church, the Church under attack by the world itself. When Jesus spoke to Ephesus He said:

Revelation 2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith HE that HOLDETH the seven stars in his right hand, who WALKETH in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

He says “I am the One Who HOLDS You and WALKS with You”. Jesus said in effect “I love YOU and am with YOU. Will you love ME?”

Then Jesus addresses Smyrna, the Suffering Church:

Revelation 2:8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the FIRST AND THE LAST, WHICH WAS DEAD, AND IS ALIVE;

Jesus tells the suffering Church “Though I am your God I suffered too. But I also defeated suffering, and I am with you.” What an encouraging message to His people … oh how I love Jesus!

And NOW Jesus comes to the Church called “Fortress”, a Church built on the Rock that is Christ. What does Jesus say to this Church? He says:

Revelation 2:12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith HE WHICH HATH THE SHARP SWORD WITH TWO EDGES;

Out Of Christ’s Mouth Is The Two Edged Sword

Jesus has a SHARP sword with TWO edges. We saw this picture first in Chapter 1:

Revelation 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and OUT OF HIS MOUTH WENT A SHARP TWO-EDGED SWORD: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

The weapon that Jesus holds is not in His HAND but from His MOUTH. His WORD smites the nations. When Jesus returns to rule this earth we are told later in this Book of Books:

Revelation 19:11-16 (KJV)  And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.  [12]  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.  [13]  And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.  [14]  And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.  [15]  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.  [16]  And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

Jesus will rule with the WORD of HIS MOUTH. Jesus Christ is the Living Word of God. His WORD is true. His WORD cuts to the soul. His WORD changes the heart of man. We are told in …

Hebrews 4:12 For the WORD OF GOD IS QUICK, AND POWERFUL, AND SHARPER THAN ANY TWO EDGED SWORD, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

It is Jesus Word that conquers the soul of man. His Word penetrates deep, going into the heart, changing the life. Christ conquers, not by physical killing – not now. His Way is Gracious, loving. His Word convicts. Throughout human history deluded men have dressed up in suits of armor and went out in ships with crosses painted on their sails to defeat the alleged enemy with the sword. Deluded people professing Christ have crusaded and cut their way through worlds, killing whole civilizations in the name of Christ. Yet this is not what Jesus was ever about. When Jesus told His disciples to go into the world it was not to cut and rend, to force people into the Kingdom of God. No! His way was:

Matthew 28:18-20 (KJV) … All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.  [19]  Go ye therefore, and TEACH all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  [20]  TEACHING them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

No metal human sword was ever put in the hand of the Church or the Christian. We were to wield His WORD. His WORD is a two-edged sword that cuts to the soul, CONVICTING of sin and CONVINCING of the need of salvation.

Jesus has the sword with two edges. If we have Him and love Him we have the sword He has. His message – the message by which the world is conquered – is

Matthew 4:17 …. REPENT: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Mark 1:15 …. The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: REPENT ye, and believe the gospel.

REPENT because your way is wrong.

Romans 3:23, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

We are all sinners. None are superior. All are in God’s eyes unworthy.

Romans 6:23 the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We deserve death, but Jesus offers life if we but receive Him as Lord and Savior.

Romans 5:8 … God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God loves us, so Jesus took the penalty of our sin on Himself. We didn’t deserve it but He did it.

Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Confess Him as Savior and Lord. Believe He rose from the grave and lives to lead you in love. You will be saved! That two edged Sword of the Word doesn’t shed blood, but it kills nonetheless. Those who hear and respond to the Gospel have their old self killed, and a new and loving self rises up in their place.

Pergamos Was A Great Fortress Of Christ’s Word

Revelation 2:13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

Even though under attack from the world Pergamos worked for the Lord. He said:

“I know thy works”

They worked though working was hard.

A person who professes Christ but does not serve Him may not be a Christian at all.
A person who professes Christ but does not serve Him may not be a Christian at all.
A person who professes Christ but does not serve Him may not be a Christian at all.

What did James the stepbrother of Christ say?

James 2:17-22 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

We “confess with our mouth the LORD Jesus Christ and are saved”. Our faith is in Christ, and so we serve Him and Him alone. I heard Dr. Adrian Rogers once talk about getting on a plane to go to a speaking engagement. Before the doors of the plane closed he heard the stewardess call his name over the intercom. “Dr. Rogers, will you please come forward”. Uncertain as to why he was being called, he got up and headed to the stewardess. When he got there she said, “Dr. Rogers, we’ve all made a mistake. You got on the wrong plane, and we just caught it. You need to get off and get on the right plane.” Adrian went on to say “I had absolute faith that I was on the right plane, but though I had faith – no matter how hard I believed that plane wouldn’t get me where I wanted to go. Faith alone will not get you to Heaven. Faith alone IN CHRIST alone WILL!”

The saved love to work for Jesus. Let me say that again: The SAVED love to work for JESUS! This was a working Church. Not only this, this was a CHURCH under ATTACK. We read:

Revelation 2:13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat (or THRONE) is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

Satan’s “SEAT” is actually the word THRONOS, which means “Throne”. The city where Pergamos – God’s Fortress Church was – was actually in a place where idolatry and sin were rampant. They were Stationed in Sodom and Gomorrah and Bivouacking in Babylon. They were in a place where Satan RULED … yet they continued to work for the Lord.

Jesus said to them “thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith”. They stood together as a Church under the Name of Christ. The Church was yielded to His authority, His Word, and following Him. This is what made the Church a fortress, a Pergamos. They understood that Jesus was Lord and “hast not denied MY Faith”.

Jesus Christ purchased our faith with His own Blood. He owns our faith. He owns the Church. The Church belongs to Him. He is the Overcomer, and His Church overcomes.

This Church stood strong “even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you”. I didn’t know who Antipas was until I studied this passage. Antipas was at one time the a faithful Pastor at Pergamos, a man ordained by the Apostle John. Some believe he was burned to death on a brazen bull shaped altar. I don’t know how he died, but Jesus did. Antipas died a martyr’s death, and stood, and so did the Church.

Pergamos was a wonderful Church …

But Pergamos Was Infiltrated By Money Loving Preachers

Revelation 2:14-15 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. 15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

When we read texts with strange names in it we are tempted to gloss them over. What is “Balaam” and “Balak” (here spelled with a “c”, but it should be a “k”) and the “Nicolaitans”? There are some important truths here we need to see.

“Balaam” and “Balak” Refer To A Sin That Happened In Numbers 22-24. This sin is mentioned not just here in the New Testament, but also in

Jude 10-11 … But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. 11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and RAN GREEDILY AFTER THE ERROR OF BALAAM FOR REWARD …

2 Peter 2:14-15 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: 15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following THE WAY OF BALAAM …. who LOVED THE WAGES OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS;

The “error and way of Balaam” has to do with monetary gain.

Balaam was a prophet who sold his prophecies, twisting the Word of God in order to get rich.

One day Balak the King of the Moabites contacted Balaam and asked him to pronounce a curse on Israel. He thought that if Balaam cursed Israel then God would turn His hand against Israel and destroy that nation. What is interesting about this is that the Moabites are actually cousins of Israel, being born of the Old Testament Lot whe he and his daughters escaped the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Moab existed because God’s Word is faithful, and because Lot heard God’s Word and left Sodom before it was destroyed! Though man may mess up, when we obey God’s Word there is life! Good life! Abundant life! Eternal life!

Balak should have loved the Word of God … he was king of Moab because of it. Yet instead he hired Balaam to pronounce a curse on Israel. God does not want to curse His people. His Word does not exist to curse His people. Some of those television evangelists you swear by – wearing $1000 dollar suits – selling their wares and twisting God’s Word – they are like Balaam. When Balak approached Balaam the prophet should have said: “I will not twist God’s Word.

God cannot forget His Israel nor His Church. He will not curse His people Whom He gave His life for. Balaam sold his services to curse Israel … but God would not let him do so. God will not bless anything that twists His Word. By compromising with the unbelieving Balak, Balaam “taught Balak to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel”.

The Church nor the Preacher is never to compromise the Word of God in order to profit. God’s people read, and hear, and guard God’s Word. For us His Word and His Way is what we follow. The Nicolaitans were also those who thought that “the Word of Man trumped the Word of God”. We will not be this way, but will follow His Way, declaring to our Lord and Savior …

Psalms 119:103-105 …. How sweet are thy Words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. 105 NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

What Keeps The Church A “Fortress” Is Fidelity To Christ’s Word, To The Holy Scripture. Jesus tells the Church of Pergamos:

Revelation 2:16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

I want you to note what Jesus says very carefully. He says “I will come to THEE wuickly, and fight against THEM with the sword of My mouth”. He’s not going to fight His Church, but Jesus will purge His Church of those who have infiltrated it who do not follow His Way. It is HIS Way or the HIGHWAY. Jesus has decreed over and over again:

John 14:6 I am THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE: no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.

Many years ago in ancient China Mongolian Hoards often came across the border to ravage villages, steal property, rape women and enslave children. Finally the Emperor had enough. He ordered a wall built across China. The Great Wall of China was built 30 feet high, 18 feet thick, and over 1500 miles long. The Wall was too high to climb, too thick to break down, and too long to go around. But during the first hundred years of the Wall’s existence China was invaded three times. It wasn’t the Wall’s fault. No one climbed the Wall, nor broke it down, nor went around it. You know they got in? The enemy bribed a gate keeper and marched in through an open door.

Jesus ends with these words:

Revelation 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

One of the great believers of our age now with the Lord is Billy Graham. He reached a point in his ministry where so many were telling him to turn against the Word of God, to declare it just another human book. Billy said:

“I surrendered my will to the living God revealed in the Scripture. I knelt before the opened Bible and said, ‘Lord, many things in this Book I do not understand, but Thou hast said the just shall live by faith. All I have, I have received by faith. Here and now by faith, I accept the Bible as Thy Word. I take it all. I take it without reservations. Where there are things I cannot understand, I will reserve judgment until I receive more light. If this pleases Thee, give me authority as I proclaim Thy Word, and through that authority convict me of sin and turn sinners to the Savior.”

God’s Word rules His Church. Not popular opinion, but God’s Word. Not man’s written bylaws. God’s Word. Those who obey and follow God’s Word have “hidden Manna” – the food of God that the world cannot know. Those who obey and follow God’s Word have “a white stone with a new name written on it”. There is new life in Jesus – a clean slate – a great destination.

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The Arm of the Lord

Posted on March 12, 2018 by bibleteacherorg

1Isaiah 53:1-5 (KJV)  Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?  [2]  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.  [3]  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  [4]  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  [5]  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

One of the most beautiful texts in the Old Testament is Isaiah 53. The chapter starts out with two questions:

Who has believed our report?

God is going to do something so incredible that the question is asked, “Who will believe this?”. God is going to reach out and do something never before seen, nor even conceived of.

To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

God is going to reach out and save those who believe on Him. God did a new thing when He saved Israel from Egypt. God’s arm …

“dried the sea, the waters of the deep,
making a way for the ransomed to pass over” (Isaiah 51:10)

The arm of the Lord that made us, that stretched forth the Heavens and laid the foundations of the earth (Isaiah 51:13) will do a new thing. The

“Lord hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (Isaiah 52:10)

What shall the Lord do? What shall the Almighty God do that will astonish the world? In love God will enter His creation to save it from its sin. In love God will become Christ, the Messiah, the Redeemer of all who will receive Him.

God Reveals His Arm In Christ’s Birth

No one can explain the mystery of the Red Sea Crossing, how God parted the waters so that Israel could go through and yet drowned the armies of Egypt. People try to explain it away. Egg head theologians tried years ago to explain and rationalize the Red Sea crossing. I know one scholar suggested that the Red Sea was shallow and naturally dried up at the time when Israel went to cross it, so there was no miracle there. That same scholar could not explain how God destroyed all the army of Egypt – a mighty army – in just inches of water (see Exodus 14:28). Archaeologists of Egypt’s Antiquities Ministry discovered the remains of a large Egyptian Army from the 14th Century BC at the bottom of the Gulf of Suez, in the Red Sea. The bones of the large army were discovered 1.5 kilometers off shore, stuck in a vast amount of clay and rock, and there was no evidence of boats or ships in the area. No one can explain this naturally.

But God is able. God is able to suspend the laws of physics. God is able to part water, to do the impossible. God does the impossible because for Him, nothing is impossible. When God reveals His arm He does the impossible because HE IS GOD.

Isaiah 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground:

When God reveals His arm in Christ He does something as miraculous as the parting of the Red Sea. Jesus comes into the world

“as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground”

What is “a ROOT out of DRY GROUND”. If you take a root out of dry ground it will have no life in it. It will be dead. It is not possible for a root to bring forth fruit from dry ground. Roots need water. They need the nourishment of soil. The root out of dry ground speaks of the uniqueness of Christ’s birth. God foretold the birth of Christ in …

Isaiah 7:14 (KJV) Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

The sign of the Christ was that He would have a miraculous and mysterious birth. The parting of the Red Sea for Israel was a mysterious and unique event in history, never before nor after duplicated. The birth of Christ is equally unique. God would cause a new thing, a unique birth.

A virgin shall conceive.

This is unique in human history. No virgin has ever conceived prior to Christ’s birth, and no virgin can conceive now. Conception requires both egg and seed, and when egg and seed meet there is no virgin. Some people say:

“I can believe in Christ, but I sure can’t believe in this virgin birth stuff”

Beloved, the virgin birth is central to the Christian faith. God said:

“I Myself will give YOU a SIGN”
“A virgin SHALL CONCEIVE”
“And bear a SON”
“And you shall call Him Immanuel – which means God with us”

When Christ enters the world He enters through a virgin. We are told:

1 Timothy 3:16 (KJV)16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

God became flesh through a unique delivery system, a method that cannot – even with all our scientific and medical knowhow – be duplicated. If you take the virgin birth away you destroy the authority of Christ. Without the virgin birth – what the Angel told Mary:

Luke 1:35 (KJV) ….. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

Why did Christ have to be born of a virgin?
Because all others born are infected with the sin of Adam.

The Bible tells us that …

Romans 5:12 (KJV) Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

We are all sinners not because we sin, but because it is IN OUR NATURE to sin. We are born infected with sin. We sin whether there is Law to break, or whether there is NO LAW to break. The Apostle points this out in ..

Romans 5:14 (KJV) … death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned {in the same way that Adam did – my words}

We are born sinners. A child newly born looks innocent, but as the child grows it becomes clear that it has an old sin nature. The Psalmist said:

Psalms 51:5 (KJV) Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Psalms 58:3 (KJV) The wicked are {strangers to God} from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.

If Jesus were born as you and I were born, then He would be a SINNER just as we are sinners. Yet this is not so. Christ was virgin born. God was His Father, not Adam. He was – as the Bible says:

Hebrews 4:15 (NKJV) … was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Jesus Christ came “in the LIKENESS of sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3-4). He looked like us humans. His flesh was like our flesh. He felt pain and hunger – but NEVER knew sin. Adam was not His father. God was His Father. If Jesus were a sinner just like us – if His birth was just like our birth – we would yet be dead in our sins. As a sinner Christ could not pay the penalty for our sin. But the Scripture declares:

2 Corinthians 5:21 (KJV) For {the Father} hath made {Christ} to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

The salvation of the sinner can only be found in the substitutionary sacrifice of the Savior. He suffered in our place – the innocent for the guilty – so that we could be saved. This is why His Blood is called “Precious”.

1 Peter 1:18-20 (KJV)18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain {way of life} received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

God’s arm reached out to save us, and He did so by sending His Son. To save man Christ had to be man, human like us. But to save man He did not need to be a sinner as we are. A sinner cannot save a sinner. Only a savior can Save a Sinner. Christ is that Savior. He is God’s outstretched arm to save us.

But there is one other thing we need to think of in the Virgin Birth. In order for life to come to the virgin she had to humble herself and submit. When the Angel told Mary she was to have a child her response was:

Luke 1:34 (KJV) … How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

Mary was a virgin in a day when to be unmarried and NOT a virgin was shameful. In America today sexual sin has so perverted our public morality that we think nothing of loss of virginity. But in Mary’s day it was shameful to be pregnant outside of marriage. As Mary asked this simple question I can imagine the state of her heart. What will others think? What will JOSEPH think? What will my mother and father think? And the neighbors … what of them? The virgin birth is a beautiful illustration of salvation itself.

God speaks.
We choose to move.
God acts.
Life comes forth.

If Israel had heard the Word of the Lord and not moved, they would have died under the Army of Egypt’s onslaught. If Moses had heard the Word of the Lord and not lifted up the rod he carried over the Red Sea it would have never parted. Mary had a choice. God told her what He was going to do. She could accept it, or reject it. If she accepted it then she would have life where previously there was no life. So it is with salvation. As Adrian Rogers once said:

“Just as that Baby was formed in Mary, Christ is formed in us, and there is a new birth. Something supernatural takes place in us. Thank God for the virgin birth. Jesus Christ came to earth that we might go to Heaven. Jesus Christ was born of a virgin that I might be born again.”

God Reveals His Arm In Christ’s Life

Isaiah 53:2-3 (KJV) … he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

We have all seen the familiar pictures of Jesus. I have several hanging on the walls of my office. Jesus in a robe standing in a garden was given to me by my mother before she died. There are two other pictures drawn of Jesus by my oldest son Michael, one of Christ in Gethsemane and another of Christ on the Cross. They are the familiar picture we’ve all seen. Would it surprise you to know that NO ONE TODAY KNOWS WHAT JESUS LOOKS LIKE. There was never a picture drawn of Christ in the early Church. God forbade that His people worship idols in the Ten Commandments:

Exodus 20:4 (KJV) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image …

The first “images” of Christ were made between 240-256 AD, 200 years after Christ ascended into Heaven. When Christ came to this earth He was not movie star beautiful. Isaiah said:

“He hath no form nor comeliness”

Jesus was not stately nor majestic in appearance. The Lamb of God did not come to us with the beauty of Hollywood. He looked rather ordinary. Why? Because He came to give Himself not just for the beautiful people, but for the rest of us. Have you ever been watching television or a commercial on television and asked yourself:

“Why aren’t there any PLAIN people like me in this show?”

Have you ever noticed that? I have. Jesus didn’t come for the popular crowd. He came for EVERYman and EVERYwoman. He is “The Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world”. We are told:

“when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him”

When the devil seeks to entrap, he does it with beauty and power. He sends the BEAUTIFUL prostitute and the magazine filled with GORGEOUS women. He makes the alcohol or drug experience feel GOOD. The leading men of Hollywood are BUFFED and BEAUTIFUL.

But God does not want to entrap us. He sent Christ to save us. Jesus was not a show off. He came presenting Himself as the ONLY WAY TO GOD. When the devil tempted Jesus:

Matthew 4:5-7 (KJV) Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

Jesus was not into publicity stunts. He did not want to attract people through the miraculous. Several times He healed people and said “Do not tell anyone that I did this”. Jesus didn’t want a group of followers chasing Him for the wrong motives. Christ came to bring us to God, into union with the Heavenly Family. When the Pharisees said “Give us a sign and we’ll believe You” Jesus told them:

Matthew 12:39-40 (KJV) …. An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah: 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Jesus Christ came to call us to follow Him to the Father. He did not come to woo us through His beauty, for beauty is temporal and fleeting.
He calls us to salvation BY HIS WORD and BY HIS WORK.

God Reveals His Arm In Christ’s Death

Isaiah 53:3-4 (KJV) He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  [4]  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

The world did not receive Christ. Isaiah says of Jesus:

He IS despised and rejected of men
He WAS despised and we esteemed Him not

The Jesus of Scripture was despised when He came to this earth. Born of a virgin, God walked among us like a common person. He was the King of Kings and yet kings hated Him then and hate Him now. He was without sin, and yet He was condemned as a sinner. Though He never did evil …

Isaiah 53:12 (KJV) … He was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

He was crucified between two criminals. And as He died on that Cross of Calvary He prayed for His torturers,

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34)

Why did Jesus go through the terror of not only the Cross, but empty Himself to walk among us (Philippians 2:7)? He put aside all glory to do something very specific. We are told:

Isaiah 53:5 (KJV) But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Only through His suffering – the Sinless for the Sinful – are we saved. Our transgressions are covered by His Blood. We have peace with God because our punishment was placed on Him at Calvary. With HIS STRIPES we are HEALED. Oh, I could preach another hour! But I will not. I know some of you care little for what was said today, but I pray the Holy Spirit break your hearts before the words fade from this room. There is no life outside of Christ. But in Christ is ETERNAL LIFE, both now and forever more. What are we told?

Isaiah 53:6 (KJV) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Do you see Him? Him Who said:

Isaiah 50:6 (KJV) I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

Jesus Christ did that for you and I. He set His face like flint (Isaiah 50:7; Luke 9:51) and went to the Cross voluntarily for you and I. He was so beaten that the Scripture says:

Isaiah 52:14 (KJV) As many were astonished at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:

Jesus Christ died for us. Have you received Him? Have you believed on Him? The arm of the Lord reaches out to you today in Christ. Will you come, receiving Him, and so join the Children of God?

May God speak to your hearts this very day.

Posted in Isaiah, Sermons Preached | Tagged | Leave a comment

Genuine Faith Gives

Posted on March 10, 2018 by bibleteacherorg

2_Corinthians_8_1t9.jpg2 Corinthians 8:1-9 (KJV)  Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;  [2]  How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.  [3]  For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;  [4]  Praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.  [5]  And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.  [6]  Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also.  [7]  Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.  [8]  I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.  [9]  For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.  

1 Timothy 1:9-11 (KJV)  Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,  [10]  For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;  [11]  According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

Sunday night we talked about Smyrna the Suffering Church, and how Jesus commended that Church for working for Him though the world stood against it. Tonight the Lord through the Apostle Paul speaks of another group of Churches that were poverty stricken. These were the Churches of Macedonia. Macedonia was a very rich land, very prosperous. The IVP New Testament Commentary states:

“{Bible Scholar and Historian} Edwin A. Judge (1982) describes Macedonia as a splendid tract of land, centered on the plains of the gulf of Thessalonica. It was a prosperous area. Running up the great river valleys into the Balkan Mountains, it was famous for its timber and precious metals.”

Paul planted the Churches at Macedonia (Phillippi, Thessalonica, and Berea) during his second missionary journey.

In the middle of this very prosperous land the Gospel was spread – and it took hold like wildfire. But the devil does not like the Gospel, nor does He care for authentic Christianity.

Religion would have been welcome in Macedonia, but not Christ like love.

Religion has always been acceptable, and with it humanism, evolutionism, liberalism, and every ism that accompanies it. The Law of God was given by God to shine out in the darkness, to convict the world of evil, and the need for a Savior. The Gospel is God’s solution to the Law and our inability to keep it, the eternal life preserver, thrown to the convicted and drowning sinner. Man has a choice when the Law of God speaks. He can REPENT, turn, and receive the GRACE of God that bestows salvation on whosoever will. Or he can REFUSE the Word and continue in his sin.

The Law was not given to the righteous.
Christ was given to the righteous.
The Law was given to the sinner.
Christ is given to the Convicted Sinner.

When the Gospel was preached in Macedonia and the Law was presented to the unrighteous many were convicted and many embraced the Gospel. But not all were saved. Those who came to Christ not only had to give up their sins but, in many cases, were terribly persecuted. We read:

2 Corinthians 8:1-2 (KJV)  Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;  [2]  How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

Where Grace Is, The Heart Is Changed

God bestowed GRACE on the Churches of Macedonia. TEN TIMES the word CHARIS or “Grace” is used in reference to Macedonia. The sinner hears the Law, and repents, coming to Christ. Then God bestows Grace on that sinner making a Child of God. Yet in Grace and Light the believer walks in Christ, but walks at odds with the world and the worldly. The believers in Macedonia were before salvation RICH in the things of this world, but now persecuted are …

“in a great trial of affliction”

Though tested and tried, though brought to “deep poverty” these believers still experienced JOY and RICHES OF LIBERALITY. Though made poor by their giving, the Apostle says:

2 Corinthians 8:3-4 (KJV) For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;  [4]  Praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. 

They gave BEYOND THEMSELVES. Though they lacked they literally FORCED Paul and the other local Churches to receive gifts to “minister to the saints”. They had little, but out of their little they gave to others. The Apostle says:

2 Corinthians 8:5 (KJV) And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.  

The Macedonian believers “gave themselves to the Lord” and then “gave themselves to US” or the other Churches. Their love was not in word only, but was sacrificial.

The Apostle was encouraging the Corinthians to giving. Where did he turn to encourage them? Did he – led by the Spirit – turn to the Old Testament Law? The Apostle loved to quote Old Testament text. Did he refer to Abraham who tithed a portion of all his goods to the King of Salem Melchizedek

Genesis 14:20 … and Abraham gave Melchizedek a tithe of all …

or did he refer to that famous passage in Malachi:

Malachi 3:8-10 {NKJV} …Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.

There are many places in the Law that refer to the Tithe, yet the Law is not for a righteous person. We who are saved by Grace do not give because a Law says we give.

We give because we love the Lord.
We give because we love our Father.
We give because Christ gave to us.
We give because we are loved of the Eternal.
We give because we are Children of God.

When Paul wants to teach the Corinthian believers – saved by the Grace of Christ – he refers to their fellow believers in Macedonia. He says “Look at these brothers and sisters. They were rich before they knew Christ. They were privileged. They had everything. Yet they lost it all when they came to Christ. Having lost it all, what did they do? Did they draw up into a ball, a fetal position, and withdraw from the world? Did they fall to pieces? NO! They gave MORE than they ever gave before.” The Apostle said:

2 Corinthians 8:6-7 (KJV) Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also.  [7]  Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.  

Paul said “We sent Titus to preach to you that YOU WOULD HAVE THIS SAME TYPE OF GRACE. You Corinthian believers abound in:

faith
utterance {sharing the Gospel}
knowledge {of God’s Word}
diligence {to obey His will}

BUT – Paul said – I WANT YOU TO ABOUND IN THE ATTITUDE OF THE MACEDONIANS ALSO. He commended the Corinthians believers on what they were doing, but wanted them to be like the Macedonians in giving. The Apostle says:

2 Corinthians 8:8 (KJV) I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness {diligence} of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.  

The Apostle says “This is not a commandment. This is not a point of God’s Law. But I ask you to give this way to PROVE the SINCERITY of YOUR LOVE.” Do you love God? If you do, then give as others who love God give. Do not be like the Pharisee who only gave to be seen of men. Jesus spoke to them one time saying:

Luke 11:42 (NKJV) But woe to you Pharisees! For you TITHE mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. THESE YOU OUGHT TO HAVE DONE, without leaving the others undone.

Jesus tells the Pharisees “You tithe – and this you should do. But you should also do JUSTICE (obey God’s others Laws) and do THE LOVE OF GOD.” We prove our love for God when we do the things He wants us to do. But if we only do the parts of the Law we like and ignore the other parts that are harder, are we indeed the Children of God. Children obey the Father’s will. We prove our love when we love others and love God. When we love God we do what He says, NOT because it is written in a Law on paper made from dead trees bound between the skins of dead animals. We do what God says because we love God.

As Paul references Macedonia and the Macedonian Christians to the Corinthians, there is an even deeper message here. Corinth was located in GREECE, and GREECE was a long time rival of Macedonia. Those two countries were usually at odds with one another. As Paul references Macedonia commending them for their love of God and love of the brethren the hidden message is this:

These people who used to be your ENEMIES
And now your EXAMPLES.
Will you give as they gave,
And love as they loved?

These Macedonians gave EVERYTHING to the cause of Christ. Impoverished for their faith, they gave out of their poverty. Though they only had pennies in their banks, they gave what they had our of love for God. They were a beautiful example of love for all to see. They gave BEYOND their means, and because they gave BEYOND their means God blessed them. God has promised to His Children:

Matthew 6:33 (NKJV) But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

The lost person gives out of what they are able. The Child of God – trusting Christ – gives out of FAITH in God. The lost person says “I’ll give AFTER I pay off my bills”. The saved person says “I’ll give as God has directed my heart”. The lost person says “The Law says give 10%, so I’ll give 10%”. The saved person says “I will give what God tells me to give regardless as to percentage”.

2 Corinthians 8:9 (KJV) For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.  

The Apostle referred to the Macedonians and how they gave as Children of God. Now He refers to Jesus Christ. Not the Law, but to Jesus.

Jesus was rich.

Jesus was rich IN POSITION. He was ETERNAL GOD.

John 1:1, 14 (RSV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . [14] And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

God became flesh and dwelt amongst us. As God He was Spirit. As God He was above pain, above suffering, above temptation, above need. There was nothing that Christ could not do. When tempted of satan in the wilderness that old devil said:

“If you are the Son of God,
Command these stones be made bread!”

Jesus could turn stones into bread. He could have fed Himself. He turned two little fish and five tiny biscuits into a feast for over 5000 (Matthew 14:13-21). But He was not going to give heed to satan’s word. He was not going to let the devil have his way. Tempted, Jesus rejected the word of satan and held up the Word of God. Though hungry He said:

Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God!

Jesus Was Rich In Company

Jesus was daily in the Presence of the Father and the Spirit. Jesus said:

John 10:30 … I and the Father are ONE.

His mind was not fallen as our mind is fallen. In eternity He did not have to confront sin. He was not surrounded by evil, but by Angels, and by worship. Jesus was immortal God in the presence of immortal God, part of the mystery we call the Trinity. He had a throne. The Father said to Him:

“Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Hebrews 1:8)

And the Scripture declares “In Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9). Jesus Christ was God. Yet God – all immortal – lowered Himself to mortality. He went from the glory of Heaven to this fallen earth for us.

In Heaven He was exalted as God.
On earth He was devalued as “The man from Nazareth”.
In Heaven He was the Eternal Son of YAHWEH.
On earth He was mocked as YOSEPH’S son.
In Heaven He was the Son of the Eternal Creator.
On earth He was the son of a lowly carpenter.
In Heaven He was waited on by the Angels.
On earth He washed the feet of fallen men.
In Heaven His Word was heeded by all.
On earth His Word was mocked by the religious.
In Heaven He could not die,
But on the earth He had to die!

Very little is written of His childhood. His own stepbrothers did not believe in Him until after He rose from the grave. His own mother thought at one time that He had lost His senses. When Christ emerged from obscurity, He was frequently attacked, mocked, ridiculed, and humiliated.

Hebrews 4:15 (KJV) For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Jesus Christ suffered as we suffer – yet never sinned. And when the time came He was crucified between two thieves, mocked as a criminal, and all of our sins were poured out on Him and judged. The Bible says:

Romans 5:8 (NIV) But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus was rich, but became poor for our sakes. He gave EVERYTHING for us. Shall we withhold anything from Him? If we are born again by faith in Him then our answer must be no. We must give because Christ gave. We must lower ourselves because Christ lowered Himself.

God’s people are saved by God’s Son.
God’s Son impoverished Himself for us.
We are to be sons of God!

As you have been loved, so should you love. As Jesus gave, so are we called to give. This is proof of our love, proof that He has loved us. Jesus said:

John 13:35 (KJV) By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Love is more than a word. Love gives. Love gives sacrificially. Love gives as Christ gave. May God touch your hearts with His Word!

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The Father’s Photo Album

Posted on March 5, 2018 by bibleteacherorg

Isaiah_49_1t8_Fathers_Photo_Album_Riverview_BIBLENOTESIsaiah 49:1-6 (KJV)  Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.  [2]  And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;  [3]  And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.  [4]  Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.  [5]  And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.  [6]  And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

When each of our children were born Sherry and I took pictures of them that we placed in our family album. You can go through the numerous photo albums that we have and see our babies, our toddlers, our children, our adolescents, our young adults. We took pictures of them in parks, on trips, sitting with their grandparents and great grandparents, on vacations, and even when my oldest son was married with his new bride. Times have changed. We used to take pictures on Kodak Film in Kodak cameras. Today there is no Kodak. I still have negatives of all our old pictures. Not sure how I’d develop them … everything is digital now. But even though the medium changed, we still take pictures. We take them so we can look back and remember. That’s because we are parents who love our children.

God the Father loves His Son. When God takes a picture, He doesn’t use Kodak or digital cameras, and certainly doesn’t use film. God shows us pictures through His Word, painting us word pictures, describing His Family. In Isaiah 49 today we have one of God’s photo albums. We have pictures that He has given us of His Son Jesus Christ.

We take pictures to look back and remember.
The Father takes pictures to look forward and proclaim.
Isaiah 49 is a Prophetic Picture Album of Jesus Christ.

In our picture albums we had no voice. Our parents took pictures of us – sometimes embarrassing (like when we are in the tub) – sometimes celebrating (like birthday parties). In Isaiah 49 our Lord Jesus speaks. The Word Who was WITH God and the Word Who WAS God speaks.

John 1:1-3 (NKJV) … the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

Our Jesus Is Unique Among Men

What does Jesus say?
First He proclaims His uniqueness to the whole world.

Isaiah 49:1 (KJV)  LISTEN, O ISLES, UNTO ME; AND HEARKEN, YE PEOPLE, FROM FAR; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.

Jesus Christ is the uniquely called Son of God. He is unlike any other. He was not named by Mary His earth nor by Joseph His stepfather. The LORD, the Great I AM called Jesus from the womb. Before He was even concieved the Virgin Mary was told:

Luke 1:31-33 (KJV)  And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.  [32]  He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:  [33]  And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Once concieved and yet still in His mother, unborn but Eternally Immortal, the Angel told Joseph:

Matthew 1:20-21 (KJV) … fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.  [21]  And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

He and He alone shall save His people from their sins. There is no other Savior. There is no other solution to our sin problem but Christ. As He cries out from this Prophetic Photo He and He alone shall save His people from their sins. There is no other Savior. There is no other Way unto Heaven but reliance on Him.

J.D. Greear related how he tried to witness to a young lady on a plane one day. When he told her that faith in Christ is the only way to be saved she said “Surely you are not saying that your way is the only way to God”. When he pointed out that Jesus said this in Scripture:

John 14:6 (KJV) … I am the way, the truth, and the life: NO MAN COMETH UNTO THE FATHER, BUT BY ME.

She replied “That has to be the most arrogant, closed minded thing I’ve ever heard someone say. I can’t believe anybody today would be so bigoted as to think that there is only one way to God. What kind of God is that? That’s not a God I want to know.”

As the plane began to descend Pastor Greear said “I’m sure glad the pilot of this airplane doesn’t look at the airport the way you look at truth. … Say he announces, ‘You know, I’m sick of this arrogant little “control tower” always saying I’ve got to land this 737 on a narrow little strip of cement they call a “runway”. That’s their way, not mine. I am an open minded pilot, so today I’m going to land on the interstate. Or try to balance this aircraft nose first on the tip of the Bank of America building downtown.’ Personally I’m glad that our pilot chooses to enter the airport along that narrow little way the control tower lays out for him”. (from “You Don’t Get To Choose Your Own Personal Jesus, pp 9-10)

Christ is “the Word made flesh Who dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Jesus Christ was the One of Whom it was prophesied He would be “born of a Virgin”

Isaiah 7:14 (KJV)  Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Matthew 1:23 (NKJV) Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

Jesus warned us that “false christs and false prophets shall arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive” (Matthew 24:24). We are not to believe this, nor to even consider it. Though all the world be against us, there is but ONE Savior, ONE Christ, ONE Jesus Who came to save the world. All others who came before Christ were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them (John 10:8). Christ came to save His people.

Isaiah 49:2 (KJV)  And He (the LORD) hath made MY MOUTH LIKE A SHARP SWORD; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;

Jersus came to clearly speak the Word and Will of the Father. He was protected by the Father as He spoke. If you have been here on Sunday nights as we have studied the Book of Revelation we saw Jesus described as the One Who…

Revelation 1:16 (NKJV) … had in His right hand seven stars, OUT OF HIS MOUTH WENT A SHARP TWO-EDGED SWORD, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.

Revelation 19:15 (NKJV) Now OUT OF HIS MOUTH GOES A SHARP SWORD, that with it He should strike the nations….

When Christ came His Word would cut the the very soul of those who heard Him (see Hebrews 4:12). The religious but lost Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes, as well as the Priest of the Temple, were so incensed by His Words that they plotted to kill Him (see Matthew 26:4). But Jesus spoke the truth of the Father in love.

Though the word often cut, Jesus like a surgeon cut in order in order to heal.
Until the heart looks upward, broken and repenting,
There is no salvation.

Jesus Is The Israel Of God – The Savior

Isaiah 49:3 (KJV)  And (the LORD) said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.

This verse confuses many people, because here the Messiah is called “Israel”. Why does the Father call Him Israel? First because “Israel” as a name means “The Prince of God”. Jesus came to do His Father’s will, to serve Him by revealing the Father in His life. When God named a nation “Israel” that people was supposed to be obedient and loving, revealing God the Father in their daily lives. Israel the nation never came close to this mark. Israel was supposed to shine as a light to the world, telling others of the Coming Christ. But Israel refused to believe. The Bible says of Jesus:

John 1:11 (NKJV) {Jesus} came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

God sent His Son – The Prince With God – to save Israel first. Jesus was born a Jew because God is faithful to His Promises. He promised Abraham that:

Genesus 12:1-3 Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

It was God’s intention to “bless all the families of the earth” through Abraham. But first God would “make of Abraham a great nation”. This was Israel the nation, a nation that should have loved God but did not.

No nation that hates God and His Word can ever truly be great.
No nation that hates God and His Word can ever truly be great.
No nation that hates God and His Word can ever truly be great.

For God to make His promise true to Abraham He had to save Israel the nation. So He sent Christ to Israel FIRST. When Jesus called His disciples He told them:

Matthew 10:5-7 (NKJV) … Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

The modern liberal mind would read this and think Jesus to be racist or Samaritanphobic. They would be wrong. When a Samaritan woman came to Jesus pleading that He heal her daughter He said:

Matthew 15:24 (NKJV) … I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

He was not being racist, but He was doing the Father’s will. Jesus came to the Jew first. He was sent as Israel to redeem Israel. We read this earlier …

Isaiah 49:5-6 (KJV)  And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, TO BRING JACOB AGAIN TO HIM, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.  [6]  And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be MY SERVANT TO RAISE UP THE TRIBES OF JACOB, AND TO RESTORE THE PRESERVED OF ISRAEL: ….

Christ came first for the Jews. He came as a Jew to save the Jew, to save Israel, to redeem Abraham’s nation. He was not racist, nor gentilephobic. Jesus was given an orderly mission, to come and present Himself as the Servant of YAHWEH, the MESSIAH that Israel so desperately needed. As the Apostle Paul said:

Romans 1:16-17 (NKJV) For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, FOR THE JEW FIRST and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

Though Jesus would tell the Samaritan woman:

Matthew 15:26 (NKJV) … “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”

When she persisted in faith, saying “But Lord, even the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the children’s table” our Lord commended her faith and healed her child. Christ was not racist. He came for Israel first. But when Israel – through the Scribes, Pharisees, and Priests rejected Christ He told His disciples

Later on in His ministry Jesus would tell His disciples to go to the Gentiles. In His Great Commission to the Church Jesus specifically commanded that the whole world hear of His Gospel. He said:

Matthew 28:19-20 (NKJV) Go therefore and make disciples of ALL THE NATIONS, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

and before Jesus ascended into glory He said:

Acts 1:8 (NKJV) But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in JERUSALEM, AND IN ALL JUDEA AND SAMARIA, AND TO THE END OF THE EARTH.”

Racism is of the devil, not of God. God sent His Son into ALL the world to save ALL who will believe in Him. We even see this in Isaiah. The Father says to the Son:

Isaiah 49:6 (KJV)  And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I WILL ALSO GIVE THEE FOR A LIGHT TO THE GENTILES, THAT THOU MAYEST BE MY SALVATION UNTO THE END OF THE EARTH.

Jesus was to “raise up the tribes of Jacob and restore Israel”. But the Father said that Jesus was also “to be a light to the Gentiles, to be God’s salvation to the end of the earth”. Jesus came for the Jew first. When Israel rejected Christ, the Apostle Paul says the the Gentiles …

Romans 11:19-24 (NKJV) You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

God always intended on saving the world through Christ His blessed Son, but He sent Jesus to Israel first. Once He presented Himself to Israel, Jesus went on to present Himself to the Gentiles as the Savior of the world.

John 4:42 (NKJV) … “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

1 John 4:14 (NKJV) … we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.

How Then Does Christ Save Us?

Isaiah 49:8 (KJV)  Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give Thee for a Covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;

How did Christ save whosoever will? How is salvation possible through Him and only Him? He Himself became the Covenant of the people. How did Jesus become the Covenant of the people? We read:

Isaiah 49:16 (KJV)  Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

we start with the word BEHOLD! The word BEHOLD is a word of wonder, of admiration, of excitement. Found in 1275 verses in the Bible BEHOLD was used by God when He presented Paradise to Adam and Eve:

Genesis 1:29 (KJV)  And God said, BEHOLD, I have given you…

Behold Him. Behold the Jesus, mocked and beaten,

John 19:5 (KJV) … WEARING THE CROWN OF THORNS, AND THE PURPLE ROBE. And Pilate saith unto them, BEHOLD THE MAN!

Behold Him! Behold Him Who said “I have graven thee on the palms of my hands”. Jesus said:

John 10:17-18 (NKJV) …. I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I LAY IT DOWN OF MYSELF. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

Jesus says “I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands”. He was not murdered, but sacrificed. He was laid upon the altar of the Cross so that – dying and bleeding – He could pay for your sins and mine.

Jesus died for SINNERS.

Romans 5:8 (KJV) But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US.

Jesus died for SINNERS.

Mark 2:17 (KJV) … They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Jesus died for SINNERS.

God manifested Himself in the flesh for all people, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). He chose the nails. He chose to die. He died to pay my way into glory. Jesus says:

I have engraved YOU.

There will come a day when you will stand before God. Perhaps the Lord will ask,

Why do you deserve to enter My Heaven, My Paradise?
Adam enter My Paradise because He was born it it.
Why should YOU deserve My Paradise?

What will you say? What work will you rely on to enter Heaven. I am told that a few weeks ago someone left the service complaining because the preacher went 15 minutes over time. Will grudgingly given attendance at a worship service get you into Heaven? Will the little bill you put in the offering plate get you entrance into Heaven? Will your twice a year visits to the Church at Easter and Christmas get you into Heaven.

Why do YOU deserve to enter MY Heaven, My Paradise?

On the day that I am asked this question I will not note the number of sermons I preached, nor my tithe, nor my attendance, nor my work in nursing homes and hospitals. When I stand before God and hear this question asked I will look for my Jesus, and find Him faithful. He will speak for me. He will point to the nail scars in His hands and say “Father, here is David. These wounds are David. They are His sins. My Blood covers them. I paid the penalty. He is engraved in My hands!”

Praise God for this unspeakable Gift of salvation. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I hope you love Jesus. If you are engraved on His hands, if He was pierced for You, He says:

Isaiah 49:16 (KJV)  Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; THY WALLS ARE CONTINUALLY BEFORE ME.

Jesus cares for His own. He protects His own. He is able to protect me now, and throughout eternity … blessed be the Name of Jesus!

May God touch your hearts with His Word!

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Walking Without Fear In Smyrna

Posted on March 5, 2018 by bibleteacherorg

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Revelation 2:8-11 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; 9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. 10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. 11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

We have been studying through the Book of Revelation, so named in the first verse of the first chapter:

Revelation 1:1 (KJV)  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

John was given this Revelation of Christ while suffering for the faith on the Isle of Patmos. The Christian is well acquainted with suffering. The Christian and the Church that suffers for the Name of Jesus will be persecuted by the world. Tonight we look at a Church called Smyrna, the Suffering Church.

Of the seven Churches that the Lord Jesus Christ addresses in the Book of Revelation, two Churches – Smyrna and Philadelphia – are not rebuked.
Only four verses of Scripture were written to Smyrna, and every bit of it is encouraging.

If you examine the name “Smyrna” you’ll see three letters “MYR” in the middle. The city of Smyrna was famous for producing Myrrh. Myrrh was one of the three gifts – gold, frankincense, and myrrh – that were brought to the baby Jesus by the wise men from the east (Matthew 2:11). Myrrh comes from a shrub like tree that produces a bitter gum. It is made by stripping the leaves from this tree and then pressing or crushing them until the gum came out. Though the gum was bitter, it was very fragrant, and was used in the practice of embalming. When a loved one died the Jews would mix myrrh and aloe, and then use this paste to wrap the body to prepare it for burial. When Jesus died the Bible tells us that:

John 19:39-40 (NKJV) And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. 40 Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.

Myrrh became associated with suffering and death. Our Lord was aware of Myrrh, and He was aware of Smyrna. As Jesus speaks to His suffering Church He tells them:

Revelation 2:8 …. These things saith THE FIRST AND THE LAST …

Jesus is “The First and the Last”. This is an Old Testament name that God applied to Himself. He said:

Isaiah 44:6 (KJV) Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.

Isaiah 48:12 (NKJV) … I am He. I am the first, I am also the Last …

Jesus Christ is God. He is the One of Whom the Father says:

Hebrews 1:8-9 (NKJV) Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.

Jesus is God, God in the flesh, God manifest. And yet even God suffers. He says:

Revelation 2:8 … These things saith the first and the last, WHICH WAS DEAD, AND IS ALIVE;

Jesus was dead. He suffered on Calvary. He suffered the whip. He was beaten and bruised for the faith of God. He died …. but He now lives forever. Jesus is not a perpetual Victim, but the eternal Victor. He was killed. He was wrapped in Myrrh and Aloe. He was buried in a borrowed tomb. But Jesus rose again on the third day, and is alive forever more.

The Working Christian Suffers

Revelation 2:9 (KJV) I know thy WORKS, and TRIBULATION, and POVERTY, (but thou art rich) ….

The Church that does nothing will not suffer.
The Church that compromises with the darkness will not suffer.
The Church that exalts itself and not God will not suffer.
But the Church that works for Christ will suffer.
The Church that acts as the hands and feet of Jesus will suffer.

If Jesus had entered this world and never did anything contrary to the world, then you would never have heard of Jesus. Jesus was not mediocre. He did not blend. He came to “work the works of God” (John 6:28). Jesus came to “be about My Father’s business” (Luke 2:49). Jesus worked so hard for the Father that He said “If you have seen Me you have seen the Father” (John 14:9).

Christ was persecuted because He stood for the Father.
The Church that stands for the Son will be persecuted.

Jesus said in John 15:18-19 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. (19) If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

The Church that lives on GIMME will never suffer or be tried. But the Church that lives for Jesus will be tried. Jesus said

I know your WORKS …
and your TRIBULATION …
and your POVERTY…

To stand for Christ costs us something, and it should cost us something. Are we willing to stand for Him though it lead to TRIBULATION? Are we willing to stand for Him though it lead to POVERTY? Will we follow His Word regardless as to whether it is fashionable, even if they call us …

Bigots
Haters
Whateverphobes

Will we stay the course with Christ while the false churches prosper? Jesus told Smyrna:

Revelation 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which SAY THEY ARE JEWS, AND ARE NOT, but ARE THE SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN.

There were people in “Synagogues” or local Church buildings that said “We are Jews. We are Christians”. They had Christian names posted on their signs and doors. They had creeds and covenants hanging up in frames behind wooden, quite Christian looking pulpits. But God was not in them. They were of the Church of Satan. Where is the Church of Satan today? There was a formally constituted “Church of Satan” founded by Anton Szandor LaVey on April 30th 1966. Chelsea Clinton tweeted to the Church of Satan wishing them a Happy New Year this very year. But the Church of Satan that is dangerous is not LaVey’s Church, but the Church that professes Christ but is not possessed of Christ. They “say they are Jews – God’s people – but ARE NOT”. Christ is not honored in their midst. God’s Word is not elevated in their practice. They do not love Jesus, but love the trappings of godless religion. These false churches destroy the witness of God throughout the nation.

The Church at Smyrna SHINED for Jesus. They were not ashamed of Him or His Word.
They stood up for Him, believing His Gospel and His Spirit.

Jesus told the saints at Smyrna …

Revelation 2:9 (KJV) I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty,
(BUT THOU ART RICH) …

Smyrna was rich because these believers had their treasure in Heaven. They loved one another and loved the Lord Jesus. The other pretend Christians who said they were of the Jews were in reality like Judas Iscariot. They were of the synagogue of Satan, advancing not the Kingdom of God but helping the devil.

The Shining Church Will Suffer

As our Lord spoke to the Church of Smyrna He didn’t tell them “I know you’ve suffered. Don’t worry – it’s going to get better”. That’s the kind of preaching that everyone loves to hear. You’ve suffered, but it’s almost over. You’re suffering. Here’s how to get out of it. This is the preaching you’ll hear in many pulpits today. Notice what Jesus said:

Revelation 2:10 … FEAR NONE of those things which thou SHALT suffer …

Trials are coming for every Church in America that is doing the will of Christ. True Christians are fair game in our society. Years ago I said:

“I believe the day is coming when same sex marriage is not only legalized,
but forced upon us.”

I said this just four years ago. Today it is legalized, and people are being forced to cater to those who believe in same sex marriage. I believe there will come a day when Churches and Pastors will bew forced to acknowledge what the Scripture says is wrong.It’s coming.

I believe there will come a time when the Gospel is outlawed as hate speech. We will not be able to preach …

Acts 4:12 (NKJV) Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

or … John 14:6 (KJV) Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Jesus was quite specific that faith in His finished work is the only Way to the Father. The early Christians were accused of being Atheists by the worshippers of the Roman gods and goddesses. The world will attack the claims of Christ. What does Jesus tell Smyrna?

Revelation 2:10 ….. behold, the devil shall cast some of you into PRISON, that ye may be tried; and ye SHALL HAVE TRIBULATION TEN DAYS

Note two things in this text. You shall have tribulation. It is coming. It is certain. The darkness hates the light, and will fight the light. BUT … TEN DAYS tells us that GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL!

When God created our world and our solar system in Genesis 1 the phrase “God said” occurs TEN times. Creation did not come out of nothing, but from our God. Our God is in charge. He is in control.

Psalms 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

Ten plagues were placed on Egypt.
Ten commandments given to the Children of God.
God is in control!

Psalms 46:1-3 (KJV) God [is] our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 [Though] the waters thereof roar [and] be troubled, [though] the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

Grow in your knowledge of God. Know that He is with you. Love Him. Focus on Him, not on the threat that is to come.

Back in the days of the Old West the townspeople were warned that there was going to be an Indian attack, so the people left their homes and moved inside of the walls of the nearby Fort. Once everyone was safely inside the Commander of the Fort called for his Indian tracker. He asked the man, “Can you find out how badly the Fort is going to be attacked?” The tracker said nothing, but knelt down and put his ear to the ground. The tracker, a native American with broken English, said “Bad attack coming. Four chiefs. Four tribes. Many horses. Many guns. Many people. Very bad!” The Commander looked at the tracker and said, “Good grief, you can tell all that just by putting your ear to the ground?” The tracker said, “No! Just looked under gate!”

Jesus told us that we would be persecuted. He told us in the Gospels, and tells us tonight. Yet in the persecution Christ will be with us. Let us look to Him and love Him, remembering that we are His Ambassadors. He has promised to us …

Romans 8:35-37 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? …. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

When tried …. keep your eyes on the Lord!

Dr Charles Stanley spoke of the time early in his ministry when he was surrounded by the bulls of Bashan in his Church. People were attacking him daily. One little old lady in his Church asked for him to come and see her, but he kept putting it off. He figured it was just one more attack. Finally, after many calls, he went to her house. When he got to her house she led him into the living room and pointed to a picture of Daniel in the Lion’s Den that hung on her wall. She asked, “Young man, what do you see?” Charles said “Well, I see Daniel and the lions”. She said “No, no. Look closely. What do you see?” Not knowing what she was looking for and weary from attacks Charles said “I’m sorry. My mind is just not focusing today. What do you want me to see?” She said, “Brother Stanley, look closely at Daniel. What is he looking at?” Charles said “It hit me like a ton of bricks. Daniel was not looking at the lions, but he was looking upward through an opening into Heaven!”

Jesus told His poor, beleagued little Church:

Revelation 2:10-11 (KJV) …. be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. 11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Jesus said, “He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death”. The false believer of the Church of Satan will not stand for Christ, and therefore will never enter Heaven. Hell is where Satan and his followers will go, a place called the “second death”, that terrible Lake of Fire. Those who have not accepted Christ as Savior end up in this place of terrible torment. The Bible says:

Revelation 20:14-15 (KJV) …. the lake of fire. THIS IS THE SECOND DEATH. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

If Christ is yours and you are Christ’s then your name is written in the Book of Life.
If Christ is yours and you are Christ’s then His Spirit indwells you.
If Christ is yours and you are Christ’s then you know you are His Child.

If Christ is yours and you are Christ’s then you will not collapse when tried.

Bless God for the trials that wake us up. When Jacob wrestled with God he was made lame – and discovered he needed to be saved. When Job was tried though he suffered greatly he said, “I know my Redeemer liveth!” (Job 19:25).

2 Timothy 3:12 (KJV) Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

Are you His? I pray that you can answer yes with both lips and heart this very day!

Posted in Revelation, Sermons Preached | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Why Not Admit The Error?

Posted on March 3, 2018 by bibleteacherorg

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I got angry today.

No, I didn’t lose my temper. I didn’t curse. I was not unreasonable. But I got angry. Why? Let me tell you.

Last year I got my oil changed by the people at Hyundai of Columbia (1370 Nashville Hwy, Columbia, TN 38401). They did an EXCELLENT job. I was in and out in less that 15 minutes. They were professional, and though busy, took the time to do the job right. Since it was time to go get my oil changed again I decided to go back to where I was treated right. So I headed to Hyundai. 15 minutes is no big deal.

I get to the service department, drive in, and ask how much an oil change is. “It’s $29.95”. Sounded great. So I said “I’ve been here before, I should be in the system”. The Service Manager said “We switched our computers over, so you need to fill out this sheet”. I did. No problem. Took about 5 minutes. “Please step inside and have a refreshment. I’ll call you when we’re done”. So I do.

As there are no other cars in the oil change bay I figured I’d be out quickly. I checked in at 11:55 am. Around 12:30 pm the service manager comes in the waiting room. “We do a 25 point inspection on all vehicles, and you need new plugs and plug wires. We can get them from O’Reillys Auto for”… and he quotes a figure.  I tell him no, I just need the oil change right now. “We’ll be done shortly”. So I wait. At 12:40 he comes back in. “You’re finished. Let’s step outside.”

I get the bill. It isn’t $29.95, but over $40.00. He said “Whoever changed your oil last time stripped out the oil plug, so we had to charge you for it.” I initially paid him cash, but when he went inside I thought “Wait a minute. Hyundai changed my oil last time.” When he came out I reminded him Hyundai changed my oil last time, so if the plug was stripped they stripped it. I still had the receipt. His reply was “Oh, o.k. I didn’t go over there and see what the technician did, but I’ll refund you the $7.55.” He goes back inside, gets my refund, then comes back out. I’ve been here almost an hour.

IMG_3494Taking my change I get in my van and head toward our Church. But as I’m driving I look at the Hyundai sticker they always post in the window on the driver’s side. They put 5w30 oil in my car. I get to the Church parking lot, pop the hood, and there it is on the valve cover in bright yellow letters. Can you see it? I can. My van runs on 5w20 weight oil. You might think “No big deal” but it is a big deal. Though the wrong weight oil will not immediately damage an engine, it reduces the life of the engine. The ONE thing I went to Hyundai for was an oil change, not for a 25 point inspection. So then I look at my bill. It states on it:

“The customer requests a 25 point inspection.”

No, I did not. So I head back toward Hyundai and the service manager lets me in again. I tell him “I did not ask for a 25 point inspection, nor did I want you to mess with my spark plugs and wires. I did ask you to change the oil, and you did that wrong.” I show him the oil cap. He then proceeds to tell me that all cars automatically get a 25 point inspection whether I request it or not, and then he looks at the technician and with a straight face asks…

“What grade of oil did you put in? It was 5w20 wasn’t it?

The young man said “Yes, that is just a typo. We REALLY put 5w20 in.” I asked “How do I know that. It’s on the receipt, and on the window sticker. Let me speak to a manager.” After a few minutes a manager named “John” came out and I explained the whole thing to him. He turned, looked at the service manager, and said “Change the oil”. Then he walks away.

I watched from the lobby as they changed the oil, hopefully putting the right weight in the engine. I came away from the whole incident angry still. Why? Because NO ONE ADMITTED FAULT. No one APOLOGIZED for my unnecessary wait time. Even John the Manager just said “Change the oil” then walked away, almost disinterested in the whole process. Does this post have a reason other than venting? Yes, it does.

Businesses stay in business when they take care of the customer. If Hyundai would do what they did the first time I went to them they wouldn’t need to manufacture jobs by doing unnecessary 25 point inspections. A business that does not do what it says it will do …. and they PROMISED in writing …

Oil changes done fast! Get in. Get out. Get back to your life.

An hour and 20 minutes is not fast. I could have done it myself in that amount of time. If a business does not satisfy its customers it goes out of business. There is a BoJangles restaurant in town barely staying in business because they make customers wait an inordinate amount of time. There is a Churches Chicken place that sells overcooked chicken. But not far away from both businesses there is a Hardees that is swamped with business. Why? The people are friendly, fast, and the food tasty. People go to businesses to be served. When the service is off – and everyone has off days – APOLOGIZE. An apology would have doused the flame of my anger. We all err. But do NOT try and hide the mistake, or try and manufacture an excuse. Just say I’M SORRY, admit the error, and move on. I had an oil change done at Walmart one time when they forgot to put the oil cap on the valve cover. They apologized and steam cleaned the oil off of my engine. It’s fine. We all err.

There is one other lesson in this post. When we fail in life – no matter who we are – we should apologize to the one we failed. This is adult behavior. As adolescents we blamed our brother, our sister, or the monster under the bed. Adults admit their mistakes. I have been called on mistakes many times and I have apologized many times, sometimes from the pulpit in front of the whole Church. I am not diminished by apologizing. After all, we are all sinners that Christ gave His life for. When we fail others, ourselves, or God, we should apologize for the wrong. This is called REPENT. To turn, to apologize, to do the right thing. If we don’t people will not trust us. I may never go back to Hyundai because – quite frankly – if you can’t tell the right weight of oil on a clearly labelled engine like mine, are you reliable? And if you don’t care enough about the customer to apologize, do you REALLY care about my engine?

I don’t know.

I just don’t know.

 

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Sorrow and Sorrow by C.H. Spurgeon

Posted on February 27, 2018 by bibleteacherorg

read by David Buffaloe

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