PreacherBlog

Our New Home

2005-10-22T09:17:00.000-04:00

Excitement!

We have just about completed moving to our new site. We still have some fine-tuning to do, but you can visit now by following the link below (make sure to add the site to your bookmarks/favorites).

The Ezekius Network

Please, drop by and visit the newly designed site (we think/hope you'll like it) and check out the rich, new content available. The blogs aren't yet completely implemented, but they should be ready for regular updating by October 27 (Thursday). We look forward to your visiting and linking to us on your site/blog if you have one and spreading the word about the Word of God being promoted and presented to the world. Pray for us, really, and God bless YOU!

We're Moving!

2005-10-19T09:23:00.000-04:00

In the very near future, the "PreacherBlog" weblog will be moving. Those of you who might have found something of value in these writings will be able to follow us to our new address. The new address will be posted here within the next couple days or so, so watch this space!

Why Are We Moving?
That's a complicated question. While the Blogger service is nice (and free), there are some things that are not quite to our liking, not the least of which is the fact that we just get lost in a sea of weird blogs, many of which are just advertisements for some business endeavor. Also, for whatever reason, we aren't getting the traffic we were getting when we were using paid blog hosting. And we are also wanting to integrate the current three Blogger blogs (the other two are BibleFire! and The fire In My Bones!) into one so that we aren't so stretched trying to keep them all updated regularly.

We hope you have really gotten something, or at least found this blog interesting, enough to not only follow us once we are in our new "home", but that you will also help us to drive as many people as humanly possible to the blog. It's not about the traffic, it's about getting God's Word to as many people as we can.

God bless!

Faith In The Truth

2005-10-15T08:45:00.000-04:00

People believe what they want to believe until they are faced with an undeniable truth. Belief is always a choice until actual proof is manifested. People with no proof whatsoever believe that there is no God. The Bible calls them fools. People also believe there is a God with no proof. Are they fools also? Not necessarily. We begin the search for the truth of God based on choosing to believe (in fact we must begin this way). But we cannot have an ongoing reletionship with God without FAITH. And faith is not (as some unbelievers claim) just blind belief. Faith is knowing. In fact, the Bible says that faith is evidence! God says that if we belileve (and act on that belief), then He will manifest Himself, thus turning "blind" belief into knowing faith.

Imagine a 5-year-old boy who believes that grass is green, but has never seen grass himself. Someone tells him that grass is purple. He says, no, it's green. The person says again that it's purple and proceeds to convince the boy of this. If that person's words are convincing enough, the boy will believe that grass is purple. But there are two questions: Does he believe the truth? (No, he believe the words of the person). Does what he believes happen to be the truth? (No, grass is not purple).

Five years later, someone new tells the now ten-year-old boy that grass is orange. He says no, it's purple. If this person has more convincing words than the other person, then the young man now believes that grass is orange; otherwise he continues believing it's purple. The same two questions aply: Does he believe the truth (No, he still believes someone's words) and does what he believes happen to be true? (No, grass is not orange).

Five more years pass and yet another person tells the fifteen-year-old that grass is green. He disagrees, saying it's either orange or purple, depending on which of the first two persons had the more convincing words. If this person convinces him to believe that grass is green, how would that affect the two questions? Well, does what he believes happen to be the truth? (Yes, grass is green). But, does he believe the truth? (No, he still believes someone's words). If you think it makes no difference, you are wrong. Why? Because all it will take is for yet another person to come along with more convincing words and the young man will then believe that grass is some other color.

If, however, the last person shows the young man where he can go to actually find grass and see it for himself, then the young man will be face to face with the undeniable truth that grass is green. He will believe the truth, and he will believe it because it's true, not because he was talked into believing. And from that moment, nothing anyone ever tells him will change his belief, because he has perceived the reality for himself. This is what faith is like.

So it is with faith in God. Many people today say they believe in God, but they only believe what they have been told by someone else; they have not actually experienced God's reality for themselves. Therefore, their faith is weak, because Jesus is not the author and finisher of it; the author of their faith is whomever they chose to believe. We cannot live lives that are pleasing to God with this kind of carnal faith, which is really nothing more than belief, blind belief at that, because the person hardly knows enough about God to fully trust the idea that he can completely put his or her life into God's hands!

The Bible promises that if we seek God with all our heart, diligently, and if we act on the simplicity of belief and find out what God wants of us, and if we commit to give it to Him, He will make Himself absolutely real to us. This is not the promise of Christianity, nor the promise of the Church; it is the promise of God Himself. No Saint has any reason to have to try to build a life of holiness on blind faith; it can (and should) be built upon a substantial, evidential faith as defined in Hebrews 11:1.

"Specialist" Demons

2005-10-10T10:45:00.000-04:00

Have you ever heard a person with an alcohol problem be referred to as having an "alcohol demon"? Or a person with a problem with sexual lust being said to have a "lust demon"? Do you know that the idea that there are certain, specific demons that "specialize" in certain types of sin is not an idea that can be supported by Scripture?

There is a sense in which it isn't really wrong to say things like this. If we want to say that a person has an envy demon, we probably know what we mean to say, and those we speak to may understand on some level what we mean, that the person has something in him or her that ought not to be in a Saint of the Most High God. But there is also a sense in which this kind of thing can be dangerous. First of all, we should consider that nothing is either true (spiritually) or essential if it cannot be solidly backed up with Scripture, or if it at least can be reliably shown to be edifying to a person or to the Body of Christ in general. Second, we have to realize that Jesus has established that sin results from a condition of the heart. Actually, Jesus did not establish this; it was established by God Himself in Genesis 6:5, when He saw that the imaginations of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually. He did not blame this on a demon, but on the growing wickedness of men because of their own sinful nature. James also said in the first chapter of his letter that sin is the result of temptation, and temptation arises from being drawn away and enticed by our own lusts, not from being under the control of any demon. This is not to say that demons are not real, for certainly they are. The point is that the Bible does not support the notion that there are "specialist" demons. There are demons that are responsible for some physical conditions, such as the "dumb spirit" that Jesus cast out of the young man in the 9th chapter of Mark, but demons being directly responsible for men's acts of sin is not Biblical. Another danger of this thinking is that it tends to minimize the responsibility we take for our sin; we may not repent of something we ought to repent of because we have been convinced that the fault lies with the demon that specializes in the sin we can't stop committing.

There is an internal battle going on within the Saint; the flesh warring against the spirit, the law of sin battling the law of righteousness, creating a situation in which we desire earnestly to always do that which is good and right, but are unable to find a way to do it. Paul expressed his personal frustration with this very thing in the 7th chapter of Romans, but in the 8th chapter, he describes how to be victorious! Jesus said that sin is a heart condition, not the work of specialized demons, James said temptation sprang from our own lusts, and Paul said that there is a battle between the fleshly nature and the spiritual nature that brings us into captivity to sin. None of these Biblical concepts in any way indicate that demons are selectively used to make certain people vulnerable to certain sins. Demons are just unclean and ungodly spirits, the Bible does not define them as any more than that, and whatever evil is in our hearts, they will attempt to magnify and influence us to follow.

We can say (figuratively) that there is a "spirit" in certain things, such as drugs. There is, in fact, a spirit in drugs, in the sense that our flesh and our minds can be enslaved by them. There are other activities as well, such as gambling, that have the ability to entrap a person and resist that person's ability to control the doing of them, and in this sense we might say that there is a "spirit" in these things. What we mean is that the devil will use these things to weaken and bind a person and keep him in captivity to sin. But God is greater and is just as able to deliver from something like this as He is able to give us power over demons in general.

Saints must rely completely on the Bible for understanding all things, and seek God through the Holy Ghost for rightly dividing the Word, in other words applying it properly to the various situations and circumstances we face in life. Christianity, in spite of what some might say, is not a superstitious set of beliefs, it is a lifestyle of seeking and obeying the true and living God, and living within His will so that we might be justified in the Day of Judgment. If we hold to supertitious beliefs, we might not only deprive ourselves of the fullness of the reality of God, but we may also allow our faith to be lumped in with other belief systems that are superstitious, like numerology and astrology, and even other false religions. God has commanded, through Jesus, that we do not give that which is holy to dogs, or cast our pearls before swine. We are to hold our beliefs, and the truths of Scripture, in the highest regard. To allow them to become banal by adding unnecessary and unsupported superstitious ideas harms that high regard and may even belittle the name of God.

The Preacher's Job

2005-10-03T12:09:00.000-04:00

What is the Preacher's (or Minister's) Job? Interesting question. Here are three lists that might shine some light on the answer.

What The Preacher's Job IS:

To feed the flocks of God (the Saints)
To provide sound, spirit-led counsel to the Saints
To rightly divide the Word of God, and present it to the Saints in a clear, rightly divided manner that can be applied directly to their lives
To be examples to the Saints of holiness, gravity and spirituality
To maintain prayerful contact with God in order to receive the wisdom to deal wisely and in a godly manner with all things pertaining to salvation
To admonish and rebuke the Saints, when led to do so by the Spirit
To preach the Word of God that saves, delivers and empowers victorious living
To discern and warn the Saints against any evil that tries to harm the Body of Christ
To be firmly rooted and grounded in the Word of God, through the Holy Ghost
To Promote Jesus Christ as the Savior, Lord and the only way any man can have eternal life and a relationship with the true and living God

The Preacher's Job is NOT:

To preach that Saints cannot live victoriously over sin
To assume a position of lordship or ownership of God's people
To teach Saints what the Bible says; all Saints should study the Bible for themselves. The preacher helps is rightly dividing and applying the Word in practical ways.
To collect money based on having a title. The laborer is worthy of his hire, but if a preacher not laboring to edify the Body, then every cent of every offering or tithe he accepts is stealng
To entice any member of the Body of Christ to sin in any manner whatsoever
To save or condemn any person. Only God saves, and only God's Word condemns. The preacher must, however make all men aware of salvation, condemnation and what they mean to each person
To judge the righteousness or service of another Saint. While all Saints are to reprove sin, this doesn't mean that we judge others, nor can we determine if a person's sincere service (in the absence of sin) is acceptable to God or not.

You Should Not Sit Under Any Preacher Who:

Does not preach that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, who was sent by God and is the only way to eternal life
Tells you that you cannot be victorious over sin
Mocks other Saints, or rejects other Sants without sound Biblical basis
Is a known womanizer, drunkard, homosexual or who engages in other outward sins that would cause his name to be belittled among unbelievers
Does not promote holiness as necessary to see God in peace. If he can't even explain what holiness is, run!
Always tries to come up with clever ways to get money out of you, or who constantly harps about money
Has ideas or teaches doctrines that represent interpreting the Bible in accordance with the modern morality of the world
Does not preach love, purity and righteousness, with the bible as the foundation of all beliefs
Does not strongly encourage all Saints to study the Bible for themselves and to seek an intimate, personal relationship with God.

There are other things, but these are just a few of the basics. You should study the Bible to see that all these things are based on it (there are too many to go into Scripture reference for each one). If you can't find one of them, just comment on it and we will respond with the Biblcal reference.

...And You Don't Even Tremble...

2005-09-24T08:57:00.000-04:00

There was a commercial for a smoking cessation product some years ago, and at the beginning, a man looked into the camera and asked, "Are you still smoking?" Now the tone of the question indicated that it should have been obvious that no one should still be smoking, so the answer should have been "no". In the same manner, the question is asked of those who call themselves "devout" Christians:

Are you still sinning?

Do you love God? Or do you say you love God because you know (or think) that somewhere in the Bible it says that you're supposed to love Him? Do you know that, if you read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, you will find only one thing by which God measures our love for Him? It's not praise, nor thankfulness nor gratitude nor singing nor being happy nor going to church nor giving generous offerings nor preaching nor teaching Sunday School. It's obedience. If we love God, we will obey Him, and if we don't love God then we won't. It really is that simple, and that vital. No matter what anyone else may have told you, the Bible teaches that obedience to God is the only way God determines if we love Him. In fact, in 1 John, we are told that if we say we even so much as know Him, but we don't keep His commandments, then we are lying and the truth is not in us. (1 John 2:4) Surely we cannot presume to call God a liar and be justified!

People who follow the ritual and protocol of the Church, no matter how faithfully, but have not repented of sin and turned to obedience to God, are no better off than the Pharisees of Jesus' day, and Jesus said that unless our righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees, we would in no wise enter into God's Kingdom (Matthew 5:20). People who boast about how much they know and love God, yet continue to willingly walk in those things God has called unrighteous are fooling themselves, but they are not fooling God. People who sit piously in church services week after week, but who carry on extended adulterous relationships, have meanness and hatred in their lives, regard envy and pride in their hearts, preach and teach lies to the people of God, worship other gods, obtain filthy lucre, and any other evil work are hypocrites and will not see God in peace, because God will not have people with such hearts with Him in His eternal Kingdom.

Of course, many people will hide behind the false doctrine that says, "God knows my heart". But we cannot trust our hearts in place of the Bible. The Bible tells us, in Proverbs 28:26, that a person who trusts his heart is a fool. The heart of man was called evil as far back as Genesis 6:5. Our own heart cannot be trusted to assure us that we are righteous, only God's Word can do that, and if we are not righteous according to that Word, then what our hearts may convince us to believe is a lie. How can we know God and not live holy and separated from sin? How can we walk in sin, without guilt, and say we know God? How can we believe in the power of God, yet not access the power that delivers us from sin? James said that just saying we believe means nothing; because even devils believe. But the devils at least have sense enough to tremble at the knowledge of God; many Christians today sin willfully and repeatedly and frequently and yet do not tremble before God, who is holy. They laugh and relax and revel in their iniquity and give their whole hearts to enjoying their sin and have convinced themselves that because they have "good hearts", they can go to church and have their filth washed from them over and over again. But God is not mocked; He is not going to be the fool here. If we do not retain God in our knowledge, He will turn us over to a reprobate mind (a reprobate mind is a mind turned away from God, by God). He will give us over to the things we refuse to let go of, and we will perish.

If we give deep, sincere, careful consideration to what the Bible says about God, and what it says about how God feels about sin and hypocrisy, perhaps He will be merciful and open our eyes enough that we will tremble before Him in recognition of His great holiness, and in recognition of our weak use of His delivering power. If not, then we may already have been turned over. Every word of God is true. One of the saddest phrases in the Bible is in 2 Corinthians 4:3~4 (But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not; lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, which is the image of God, should shine unto them) This simply means that if we cannot see the truth of the Gospel, it's because we have been blinded by Satan and we are already lost. But there is still hope if we will repent and turn to God.

Righteousness Exalts A Nation

2005-08-17T10:39:00.000-04:00

Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. So says the Bible in (Proverbs 14:34). But, rightly dividing the Scripture requires an understanding that this righteousness is not our own righteousnesses, which are as filthy rags before God; this righteousness refers to the righteousness of God, which none can hope to obtain without the newness of life of being born again of the Spirit of God, and being filled with (and following the leading of) the Holy Ghost.

It has become a favorite (and filthily lucrative) passtime of many preachers today to organize protests in the streets over some new law or ordinance or incident. These preachers are willingly ignorant of the fact that such action is largely pointless. Why? Because getting laws changed, or expressing outrage over some community ill is not going to bring anyone into the righteousness of God, but bringing others into God's righteousness will bring about newness of life without law. Righteousness cannot come by an act of congress, it comes by an act of God!

In a midwestern city, the local authorities recently passed a law permitting the sale of alcohol on Sunday. Now, I don't think any Saint of God needs to be drinking at all, and certainly the Bible makes drunkeness and revelry a sin. Still, a local preacher, more famous for his protests than for the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, organized a "civil action" outside a local liquor store to protest this new ordinance. His rationale was that this is contributing to the crime and other evils in that area. Probably he was right, but what's the point? People who drink are used to simply waiting until Monday to buy liquor, or stocking up on Saturday. We need not agree to having liquor sold on Sunday (or any other day), but protesting it isn't going to do anything of any lasting value; all it's going to do is garner this preacher a little more notoriety and influence. Why not protest on the other days? Because the truth is, drinkers are not going to stop drinking, the ordinance is not going to be rescinded, and more importantly, no one will likely be saved because the protesting of such an ordinance is NOT the Gospel! So nothing eternal or edifying to the Body of Christ will take place.

If preachers are going to do anything in the streets, why don't they just preach the Gospel? Paul said he wasn't ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation. The Bible tells us that it is by the foolishness of preaching that God will save them that believe. Righteousness cannot be legislated by the laws of men; it can only come through the saving, heart-changing power of God. It is the Gospel that brings this power. Preachers who substitute social issues for the Gospel or who seek recognition from news media through demonstrations packing around poorly-written signs and candles instead of just preaching the Gospel are blind.

You give a drug addict the saving power of God and he won't need a rehab center nor a protest against the local drug dealer or against police who are powerless to stop that dealer. Give prostitues the power of the Gospel and there will be no need to protest in front of adult entertainment establishments. Introduce a homeless person to Christ's saving glory and you won't have to worry about him tapping on your car window begging for change. All these worldly activities, for what good they might have done in the past, are now ineffective and too little attention ios paid to them to be as effective as say, when M. L. King was doing them. Many preachers today are just profiting from what King did. The Gospel never gets old, it never loses it's power; it just needs to be brought out of the closet and preached with the conviction of those who have really experienced it's power for themselves, and not just have been taught about it in Seminary School.

If we long for righteousness, let us put the Gospel to work and watch the nation become exalted by the righteousness of God.

Holiness or Hell

2005-08-08T15:22:00.000-04:00

I believe in holiness. Now, a lot of people don't really understand holiness. First of all, they tend to associate holiness with Pentecostalism. While most "holiness" churches do tend to be Pentecostal in their worship and beliefs, the two terms don't really mean the same thing. Pentecostals are simply those who believe that the manifestations of the Holy Ghost, as described in the Book of Acts are still in effect today. So they believe in being filled with the Holy Ghost (as on the Day of Pentecost), speaking in tongues, spiritual gifts, divine healing and such like. Many modern Christians tend to think of these things as superstitious and seem to prefer to serve God on a more intellectual level. Having both witnessed and experienced miraculous workings of God through the Holy Ghost, I feel that those who cannot accept God moving this way are missing out on a level of understanding of God and His power that provides strength, firms up faith and bring the idea of holiness into the realm of possible reality. Pentecostals also are usually very expressive and emotional in their worship, but being Pentecostal is more a matter of what one believes and allows for God to be able to do than it is a form of worship.
What, then, is holiness? Holiness is a lifestyle, it is not a form of worship. Again, holiness churches do tend to have pentecostal beliefs and to have more emotional worship styles, but holiness refers to how a person calling his or her self a child of God, actually lives. Many people criticize holiness believers as being "perfectionists" who believe that Saints are supposed to be perfect like Jesus, which they say isn't possible. Holiness believers are also criticized for being too prone to claiming direct revelations from God. These and other criticisms are based, in part, on a lack of understanding of what holiness really is.
First of all, the Bible neither teaches nor indicates that any particular denomination established by man has any special favor with Him. You aren't going to be saved just because you are Catholic, Methodist, Church of God in Christ or any other denomination. You also are not going to be lost just because you happen to worship under one of these, or other, denominations. However, the Bible says directly that, without holiness, no man shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). It therefore behooves anyone who hopes to stand justified before God, to know what holiness is. Now trying to explain this, while trying to show that it has nothing to do with how one worships or or what denomination one embraces to is not very easy. It's also inexpedient to start listing specifics. So, the best explanation, from a practical aspect (meaning how you actually live day by day) is to sum it up by stating it this way:

Holiness means living as if God means what He says, and as if the Bible means what it says.

It is not possible to, for example, be a married person involved in an adulterous relationship and consider yourself a child of God, unless you believe God didn't really mean it when He said you should not commit adultery. You cannot constantly steal and call yourself saved unless you believe the Bible is mistaken when it says that no thief will inherit the Kingdom of God. If you are a sinner (a person who commits sin), then you must repent and receive forgiveness from God. If you are a child of God then you must stop sinning. Saying you "can't help it" not only denies the power of God to keep you from falling, but it assumes the Bible doesn't really mean it when it says that those who commit sin are not of God, but are of the devil.
Saying "nobody's perfect" or that "only Jesus was perfect" has two problems; one, it calls God a liar, because God said Job was perfect (Job 1:8), and He also said Noah was perfect (Genesis 6:9). Second, this idea assumes that perfection, in the sense that Jesus was perfect, means something other than just living an obedient life in the sight of God. Of course no person can be perfect in the same sense that Jesus was perfect, because He is divine and we are not. But the Bible says that if we say we know God, but do not keep His commandments, then we are liars (read 1 John, chapter 3). Jesus also taught that the only criteria by which God measures our love for Him is our obedience. (John 14:21-24) It's very simple, if we love Him we will keep His word; if we don't love Him, we will not keep His word. Perfect in this sense simply means doing what God said, and resisting doing what God said not to do. It doesn't need to mean anything more than that. If we love Him, we will not only strive to do this, but we will seek Him for the strength it takes to do it, because we cannot do it of ourselves. Paul recognized this, but he also recognized that, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4:13) "All things" must include living a holy life before God, or else Paul was either lying or exaggerating. Fornication is sin; if you don't believe that God can deliver you from fornication, then you make fornication more powerful than God, and to consider anything greater than God is a form of idolatry, and no idolater has any part with God (nor does a fornicator).

So, before you reject holiness on the grounds of it's worship style, or the hypocrisies of some who claim to espouse holiness, you are encouraged to do two things:
One, make sure you really understand what holiness really is (and is not), and remember that the Bible says that without it, you will not see God.
Two, pray, as sincerely as you can, to God, and ask Him to show you what holiness is and what you must do. Say to Him, "Lord, if holiness is right, put me in it." You can still be a member of the Church of God in Christ, but you'd better be holy. You can still be a Presbyterian, but you'd better be a holy Presbyterian. You can connect yourself to any group you want, but your beliefs about holiness and righteousness had better conform to the Word of God. This may mean you will have to leave the comfort of your denomination, but any denomination that is not teaching you the truth about something God says you will not see Him in peace without is not doing your eternal sould any good at all. Whatever it takes, you will need to be certain that you are what God calls you to be. Otherwise you will be lost!

Rightly Dividing The Word

2005-07-25T08:33:00.000-04:00

When Paul said to Timothy, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15), what did he mean by the phrase "rightly dividing"? The statement has to do with two things; one, it is a proper understanding of the Word of truth, and two, it is appropriately expounding on that word to others. These things are largely missing today, as too many Saints are not diligently searching the Bible for God's relevant truths. By relevant, I mean those things as they apply to us under the new covenant.

We all need help from time to time in understanding many of the terms and statements made in the Bible, and most of the modern "translations" of the Bible are not actually translations, they are interpretations. What's the difference? The difference is in the fact that a translation does not attempt to provide what the translators understood as the message contained in the Scriptures, they were simply converting the Scriptures from one language into another. Interpretation, on the other hand, is done from the standpoint of trying to convey to the reader the underlying message behind the words, perhaps with more modern implications. The problem with interpretations is that they look at the ancient, but unchanging, Word of God and try to make a determination as to how it should be used in today's morality. For example, the bible says (1 John 3:9), "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God." We could translate this verse from Middle English (the languade in which the King James version was written) in to modern American English this way: Whoever is born of God does not commit sin, because His seed remains in him and he can not sin, because he is born of God. However, many other Bible versions do not translate this verse; they interpret it instead, saying something like this: "Whoever is born of God does not practice sin..." The use of the word "practice" insted of "commit" changes how this verse applies. Today, many Saints will say that everybody sins, but those who are saved don't practice sin, or don't make sinning a habit. But this is not what the Scripture said or meant. What John was saying was that if the seed (which is the Word) remains in a person that person has the ability to not sin! A person still walking in sin has not been born of God. That verse is interpreted in such a way as to excuse the weakness of many Saints in these modern times. This is not proper, because whatever God meant 3500 years ago, He still means today, in exactly the same context. We can modernize the language of the Bible, but we cannot modernize the message. What was wrong is still wrong, what was determined to be righteous is still righteous, things that were holy and unholy are still holy and unholy. The desire men have to serve and please and obey God has changed, but neither God nor His message have changed.

Rightly dividing the Word of Truth means we use the Word properly, not deceitfully or as weaponry to hurt, nor do we reinterpret it in order to make it fit us (we must be transformed, not the Bible). It means we seek to learn and understand what we must do as God's people, and we do not allow contemprary morality and values to alter how we apply the Word to our actual lives.

God Knows My Heart

2005-07-08T17:39:00.000-04:00

How many times have you (Saint or not) heard a supposedly born-again believer using the statement "God knows my heart" as a justification for disobeying God? People will do things that they ought to know are sin (fornication, lying, stealing, envying, et. al.) or they will refuse or neglect doing something they know they ought to do (show real love, help the poor, pray, forgive others, et. al.) and when they are challenged in these things, or asked how they can do or not do these things and still consider themselves to be children of God, they respond with "God knows my heart", or something equally meaningless. It is as if saying God knows their hearts is the same as saying God doesn't think they did anything wrong, or that somehow, God knowing their hearts makes them exceptions to the standard of holiness to which God calls those who are born again.
Does "God knows my heart" means the same as "God doesn't care if I sin"? Certainly not! The problem with this whole heart thing is that the human heart, without having been renewed by the power of God, is a vastly untrustworthy thing! The Bible says that a person who trusts his own heart is a fool (Proverbs 28:26) and also that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). Jesus also taught that "...out of the heart proceed evil thoughts...", etc. (Matthew 15:19). We must come to understand that when we walk in open disobedience to God, we are simply following the dictates of our hearts. So, a man who wallows in adultery, and seeks to excuse himself by saying God knows his heart is actually telling the truth; God indeed knows his heart, and what God knows is that there is adultery in it! If adultery were not in his heart, he would not walk in it.
God is not not a fool and He will not be befuddled by our vain words. We will indeed be judged according to our works, and if our works are evil, there will be consequences. God promises, and wants, to give us new hearts, upon which His laws are written. Once renewed, then and only then can we begin the slow process of learning to trust our hearts, as our hearts are transformed into a place in which God's word abides richly. Then we can say along with David, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, than I might not sin against thee." (Psalm 119:11)

On Loving God

2005-07-05T16:30:00.000-04:00

I don't want to go to hell, no Saint wants to go to hell. In fact, even a sinner, who believes in neither God nor hell, doesn't want to go there either; he just may not believe he will have to. Hell is a terrible place to spend eternity. On the other hand, God wants all of us to spend eternity with Him. The problem is, too many people have been fooled into thinking that just because they don't believe any of this, then it's not going to come to pass. But judgment is coming.

There are of course Saints who serve God, but not because they love Him, They serve Him because they don't want to go to hell. I can't say if God accepts this or not, since I don't know the mind of God. But I would encourage every person who tries to live a Christian life to do so, not to keep from going to hell, but because you love God. Seek God, read the Bible about Him, seek Him the more, develop a deep and effective prayer life and seek Him even more. The more you come to know and understand about God, the more you recognize His greatness, His mercy, His grace, and the wonderful, powerful love He has for you, the more you will love Him. This is how you serve God with gladness, because you are not serving under threat of punishment, but willingly and freely giving over your will to Him.

Saints all over the world who have not come to this understanding often have a very hard time living righteously, because they are not serving God willingly and out of love, but out of terror of God's wrath. This is not what God wants; He wants our willing, freely-given obedience. He doesn't want to "strong-arm" us into service, because He knows that such service will be half-hearted. It's very hard to be faithful to someone you don't love, a fact to which many adulterers can attest. It's the same concept when we apply it to spiritual things; the less one loves God, the harder it is to obey Him in faithful service. This accounts for the rampant sins and the myriad, weak excuses for such constant sinning among those who call themselves Christians. The Bible teaches that those who love God keep His commandments, and that those who don't love Him don't keep His commandments. The Bible also teaches that, even if we love God, there is yet a possibility (though not a certainty) that we might fall, and we have an advocate in such situations, but that is no license to willfully walk in sin with no sense guilt.

When the Bible talks about "fearing" God, it means having extreme respect for the awesomeness of God; it doesn't mean being terrified of God in the sense being talked about here. Loving God means not only doing what He says (obedience) and it also means that our service, and whatever sacrifice we make to serve Him, is done willingly and with pleasure. If we delight ourselves in the Lord (serve him because we are happy to do so), then He promises to give us the desires of our hearts. If you serve God because you are terrified of the fires of hell, then there is torment in that fear, and that is not of God. It means your love has not been made perfect, because the Bible says that there is no fear in love, for perfect love casteth out fear (1 John 4:18). Serve God because you love Him; love Him because you know Him; know Him because you have sought Him, and seek Him, while He may be found, because you want to know the joy of delightful service to God.

Because He Lives

2005-07-01T11:49:00.000-04:00

Jesus lives. Of this there is no doubt. Those of us who believe on Him (or claim to) ought to walk in newness of life, and not after the old life of the flesh. Scripture says that we are to reckon (consider) ourselves dead to sin (Romans 6:11). How then can we, who are dead to sin, continue to live in sin? When we are dead (as far as this life), we are no longer expected to be walking around, otherwise it is evident that we are not dead! Likewise, if we continue to walk in sin, then evidence shows we are not dead to it, and the Bible admonishes us to die to sin.

Ah, but is it possible to live a life without sin? If it is possible, what does that mean to those who either don't live free from sin or who don't even believe it's possible? If it's not possible, then has God failed and been forced to yield to sin, allowing it to rule over us and merely forgiving it because of the symbolic ritual of Jesus' death? Was Jesus' victory a victory over sin, or just a victory over the guilt of sin? Does the Spirit of God lead those who believe and trust in God to sin? If not, then how can we say we are led of the Spirit (Romans 8:14) and yet still walk in sin? If we are now permitted by God to sin without guilt, what does that mean or say about the holiness of God? Must the Almighty bow to sin? Is God really no stronger than we are when it comes to battling against sin? These are serious and tough questions that require honest, self-searching answers. What do YOU believe about sin?

Paul expressed some of the most powerful teachings about the sin nature (in Saints and in sinners) in his letter to the Romans. Consider that when Paul wrote, he didn't break his letter down into chapters and verses (we have done this in order to better organize the material in the Bible). When he wrote, he just wrote one long letter, although he dealt with several specific topics. For this reason, to get the fullest understanding of what Paul was teaching, we will have to carefully, prayerfully, without preconceiving our own ideas, read the letter to the Romans from 5:6 through 8:15.

Many Saints, unwilling to mortify the deeds of the flesh, will take a choice few verses from Chapter 7 and use them to provide a false sense of righteousness by reasoning that Paul is proving that one cannot not sin. But if we summarize all that Paul said on this matter, we can see three things: (1) There is no excuse to sin, ever. (2) There is yet a sin nature that exists in man even after being saved. (3) We can attain and maintain victory over our sin nature. Paul wrote these things to the Romans to explain these concepts, not to provide his readers with the fuel they needed to continue to sin without guilt or repentance.

Because Jesus lives, we are assured of victory over death and sin. Because He lives, I have access to His power (as was said to the Phlippians, "I can do ALL things through Christ...", which must include living a holy life, unless Paul was wrong). His life gives me a measaure of strength I don't have without Him, to live in a way that is pleasing to God, through the Spirit that dwells in me and leads me into truth and righteousness. But the most important thing, is that I want to live a holy life that God finds pleasing, I do not want to sin, and I am persuaded that if I keep my desire for a pure heart and a righteous life presented before God in prayer and consecration, God will keep me from falling.

Those who do not want to be kept...they'll have their excuses.

It Refers To Life!

2005-06-28T22:50:00.000-04:00

Jesus said, in John 10:10 "...I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Abundant life. That sounds great when we get to thinking about the multiple cars, the spacious homes on sprawling property, the very comfortably full bank account, favor with people, clothes, travel and all that the world has to offer. However, if you think this is what Jesus meant by that statement then you have made a mistake.

The reason it is an incorrect interpretation to think that John 10:10 means that the purpose of God (as it is preached by many manipulative, charlatan preachers) is to provide an "abundance" of material things is because that idea first of all contradicts the overall tone of the Gospel. Jesus Christ came to save man from sin, not to save man from poverty and lack of material possessions, and there is no Scripture that indicates otherwise. Second, to think Jesus meant to refer to an abundance of "things" would cause Him to have contradicted His own words when He said, in Luke 12:15, "...Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." It is contradictory to think Jesus meant to promise an abubdance of things when He talked about abundant life, and then for Him to say that life does not consist of an abundance of things. We can accept (or ignore) this contradiction if it allows us to find comfort in our greed and selfishness (realize that covetousness is selfish greed), but if we are seeking to take on the nature of a godly Saint, then we have to be transformed in such a way as to yield to the truth.

This is not to say that there is an inherent sin in being prosperous, but to preach a gospel that focuses on such things is not only unholy, but it is a deception that plays upon the greed that is in the flesh for the personal gain of the preacher! It is wrong to make merchandise of the Gospel and of the people of God this way, and anyone who does so will face God's wrath in full measure unless they will repent and cease from such trickery.

When Jesus made that statement in John 10:10, He was referring, not to a wealth of earthly, material, perisable goods, but He was referring to eternal life! If someone gives you an "abundance" of water, what does that mean? Doesn't it simply mean that you are given a large amount of water? It does not mean that you are given water with an abundance of additional ingredients. When Jesus said He came to provide life abundantly, He was also not referring to life with an abundance of things in it, but an abundance of life itself. Jesus promised abundant life. Jesus said life does not consist of the abundance of things. We therefore fool ourselves if we believe that Jesus has promised, or declared the purpose of His coming to be, to provide all who believe with an abundance of worldly goods.

Let us as Saints of the most high, learn to be content with such things as God will provide, with the full realization that the abundant life of which Jesus speaks is yet before us, in the life that follows after we join our Lord in victory over death and the grave. Let us not seek earthly riches and comfort at the expense of a humble, sanctified life of holiness before a holy God. When Jesus said "...and that they might have it more abundantly", "IT" refers to life!

The Morality Of Fairness

2005-06-25T17:20:00.000-04:00

I'm going to quote a verse from Deuteronomy. Now, many Saints these days balk at such things, saying that we are no longer under the law, but under grace. But make no mistake, things that were wrong did not become wrong because of the law; they were already wrong. The law simply made man aware of their wrongdoing and established a framework of righteousness by which God judged His people. The point is, just because we are no longer under the law, we are not excused from doing things that are morally wrong. Things that were morally sinful are still sinful, and unless repented of, will cause those who commit them to miss the glory of heaven. We are no longer bound to the ceremonial aspect of the law (concerning the priesthood) , and we are no longer under the sacrificial aspect of the law (concerning atonement), because these were fulfilled in Jesus' work. However, the moral code of the law is still in effect. It is by that code that the conditions of the hearts of men are made manifest, and those who lack purity of heart will not see the Kingdom of God. The Scripture in Deuteronomy says:

Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers measures, a great and a small. But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination to the LORD thy God [Deuteronomy 25:13~16]

To understand this, consider how things sold by weight were measured in those days. Basically, an weighing object was put onto one side of a scale (let's say the object weighed one pound). On the other side of the scale was placed whatever you were buying. When the scale balanced out, then you knew you had a pound of whatever you were buying. However, if the weighing object actually weighed less than a pound, then you would have been getting cheated. Apparently, some merchants in those days carried objects of divers (different) weights, and by using these they would sometimes not give a buyer all he or she was paying for. God considered this to be an abomination!

It is not at all different today, a business or business person who cheats or otherwise deals with customers in ways that are not in accordance with fairness are abominable to God, even if they call themselves "Christians". Many industries have lobbied Congress to pass laws that permit businesses to carry out unfair consumer practices just to maximize their profits. Consumers and their satisfaction take a back seat to the potential for windfall profits going into the hands of people who, while they are not wrong for accumulating the money, they don't really need it to the extent that such trickery is justified. Everything from misrepresentation to cryptic "fine print" to heavily slanted and one-sided policies, to outright lying are employed for the sole purpose of goading the gullible masses, and they seek to rationalize this by declaring that the masses should take it upon themselves to see through the haze of deception. Such an attitude is not the way of God, and should not be the way of those who call upon His name.

Deception, or shading, hiding and twisting the truth, or knowingly leading, causing or allowing a person to believe something one knows is not true, just to make money, are not the works of a godly person, but of a person who is in league (wittingly or unwittingly) with the devil! The fact that these things exist in the world is neither surprising nor cause for alarm, for the Lord knew (and warned us) that these things would come to pass. But when these things creep (and they have) into the Church, it is all the more abominable. Many charlatan preachers heap loads of promises and high-sounding talk upon the ears of Saints for little other reason than to justify receiving substantial monetary offerings. They make merchandise of the Gospel and those who would be faithful to it by twisting its teachings and traditions into something that too often boils down to extracting money from the Body of Christ, and this with little or no true compassion for the human condition of our fellow men, nor for the souls of those to whom they preach their corrupted gospel.

There is no wrong in being in business and selling a product or service for whatever value it has to the majority of one's customers; neither is there any wrong in a preacher receiving monetary offerings for the spiritual blessings and edifying he might bring to those for whose souls he labors. But in both cases, when there is not a fair and honest measure (of service or product) given for the amount of money received, then an abominable condition exists which causes God to turn away His face from those who practice such things. They might claim to be blessed (and to their spiritually blind eyes their riches are proof of their blessings ), but they are not blessed by God, but rather they have fallen into the deceivableness of riches granted them for their ultimate destruction by their father the devil.

Welcome to the PreacherBlog!

2005-06-21T19:00:00.000-04:00

God will be praised, Jesus will be lifted up (in praise), the Bible will be exalted as the Word of God and the power of salvation, and holiness will be declared as God's standard of living for those who call on His name.

You will not be judged, you will not be condemned, you will not be rejected or belittled because your beliefs may be different (especially concerning some trivial point of doctrine), but you will be challenged to consult the Word of God and rightly divide the truth of it through sincere, diligent seeking of God without regard for what you may have "always believed". And you will be told, in direct, plain language, what is and what is not right in God's eyes, according to His Word. You will be given the truth, and if by chance anything you read is not the truth, then it is strongly believed (and prayed) that if you will seek God, He will show you that what you saw here was wrong, and He will give you the truth.

At the end of the day, it is as the Bible says, "...what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true but every man a liar..." (Romans 3:3~4). It doesn't matter what any of us thinks or believes or think we know; only God's truth will prevail in the end, and if we are not walking in His truth, then we will be lost. Therefore our endeavor here is to always promote, seek and deliver the truth. However, we are not the source of truth, only God is. You are strongly encouraged to seek God, whether you read this blog or not, because He and He alone is the source of truth. As for us, we are mere instruments, hoping to be used to His purpose.