Category Archives: teaching

Mark 12: 17

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You do not understand Christianity because you are not of it.  You use its basic tenets as foundation for your own law, which you freely break at will.  Therefore your own hands cover your eyes.

But you will testify that you use no such basic tenets for the law of man.  You say you are free men.  You will say that your laws are but logical sequence used to establish peace among men.  You say there is no obligation to do the things of Christ; there is only obligation toward a central strength to establish and retain peace among men.

All that you do is for the sake of the shape of the human body, and the place where we are caused to be.  Man’s desire, ability and history shape the things you love to call law.  Desire and history are sure and unbreakable (though they may be written in a variety of form).  But ability changes according to the ingenuity of man.  And so you willingly break your own law for the sake of expediency.  And corruption has therefore made you filthy.

The basic tenets of Christ are within your law because the shape of man requires it.  But your desire frustrates and explodes the law of Christ.  You nullify His law by adding to it for the sake of what you call advancement and convenience.

You cannot break the law of God.  The very shape of man demands obedience.  But you create more; and this “more” you are able to break.  Then you add to your folly by turning and blaming the law of God for your faults, which law is at the very root of your own.

Such things are not hidden now.  Such things will not be hidden then.  The law of God is established, unmovable and unbreakable.  But the work of man’s hands is futile folly; before it is written it is broken.

Return, he who has understanding, to “the laws of God undefiled”.  Leave the work of your hands.  Submit to the true law of Christ.  Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.

Serving a King

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I remember when I first came to the Lord.  I was told to revere Jesus as a King.  I said to myself, then to Him, “I do not know how to serve a king.  I have been raised a free man.  And I have no respect for the ways of those in leadership in this country.  How can I know to serve you as King?”

His reply to me has taken decades.  I am beginning to understand the concept of King.  I believe the full understanding will have to wait till heaven.  But there are two things that are worth saying in regard to this.

1.  I have heard many use affectionate names in public for the Lord Jesus and God the Father.  Names such as daddy, papa and so on.  They use names of familiarity.  But what about the holy Lord is familiar to us?

What a man does between he and God in private is of no consequence to me.  But the words he uses to describe what is holy in public is a reflection of his understanding.  And every time we use such names we give our understanding to others.

It is not my job to judge the relationship of a man to the Holy Lord God Almighty and his Holy Son.  But I have found some men of this nature in great error. 

How we refer to the “Great I am” says a lot about what we believe.  One such man did not believe that holiness was even possible in the flesh, let alone a command from the Holy Lord.  He openly used the word “papa” to describe his God.  And the doctrines he promoted were of the flesh.

What will be his end is not for me to determine.  But his view of God was obscured by wicked desire.  As quickly as was reasonable I abandoned his company.  We are not to entertain the doctrines of demons.

2. God is Holy.  What He has given us is for our reference.  To Moses he identified himself as “I am that I am”.  And Jesus said, “You call me Lord and rightly so.”  How should we presume to bring his holy name down to our level?  It is we who should rise toward Him.

Yet how shall we who are full of darkness understand what is Holy?  The Lord will teach us over time.  The longer I serve Him the more I understand, and so it will be for all who serve Him in the holy faith.
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Such men, as the first, put a stumbling block before those who are learning.  But if a man will continue in the way of God he will be taught what is good and true. 

In weakness and lack of understanding we are tiny and hopelessly tossed about by every breeze of teaching that comes along.  But the Lord knows your state of affairs. 

Read the Bible that you may know what is true and correct.  Then do the things it says.  Both of these will help you discern what is right and true and holy.  And the Holy Spirit of Jesus will teach you what is Holy.

Do not accept every man who speaks the name of Jesus.  Test the spirits.  Bring your lack to the Lord.  He is ever willing and able to guide you into what is true.  Only be diligent in your desire to understand.

We serve the Lord through the darkness of faith.  But in this faith we have more light in us then does the world or those who pervert the way.  Do not fear.  If you put your faith in the living God he will direct you to the holy path.

Millions have fallen away because of a lack of understanding.  They did not trust.  Therefore they did not receive.  This will not be so of those who apply themselves with great diligence.

Men study for years to become proficient in their trade which earns them money.  How long then is it right to persevere that we may gain a place in heaven?  Renew your efforts.  Give God more importance in your heart. 

If destruction is our natural reward, how hard should we struggle against it?  And if we fall away for a simple lack of knowledge, how shall we propose to stand on the holy day of the Lord?

What more can be said?  With what may a man convince the weak?  How can I strengthen you?  I have said enough.

God is

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It is odd to me, this ruse of enticements.  That we should be placed so firmly among all that is a lie.  Let a man ponder this.

All the while, God is.

Then we are given what is true, from He who is above all these things.  Now we are condemned if we do not choose.  Let a man ponder this.

All the while, God is.

Who should know it in this place of enticements?  How should we even know to look?  We should be satisfied with greed and death.  We are, however, anything but satisfied.  Let a man ponder this.

All the while, God is.

It is odd to a man that he should consider greater things than what he has.  He has only weeping and anger, frustration and loss.  He has only toil and trouble all his days.  How is it then that he should consider something more?  Let a man ponder this.

All the while, God is.

Man says to himself, “Why am I here?  Why are my days so filled with anxiety?  I no sooner release myself from the jaws of a lion, and the snake bites my heel.  It is senseless to live.  The only pleasure I can find is what I can take.”  So he gives himself with abandon to take all he can.  Let a man ponder this.

All the while, God is.

Let a man ponder that he desires.  Let him wonder of the source.  Why not die and be done with this place?  This world and we are hopeless and void of help.  Indeed, let him consider this quandary.

All the while, God is.

God has spoken us a place to live.  There were two trees in the garden.  Take note that the tree of life was not a consideration of temptation.  It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that caused the downfall.  And to this tree the woman was drawn.  Let a man ponder this.

All the while, God is.

Choose to do right

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A couple of decades ago I was sitting in a college classroom.  The topic of discussion must have been effects or morality.  And I remember telling my classmate that, “If a man knew the full punishment for his wicked behavior he would choose to do what is right.”

My classmate disagreed with me.  He was sure that the wickedness of man could not possibly do one good thing for the right reason.  I knew when he said that that he had not understood my statement.  But it would have been a useless argument.  For I confess I did not fully understand it myself then.

But with years behind me I have come to understand it more clearly and still agree that, “If a man knew the full punishment for his wicked behavior he would choose to do what is right.”

Isn’t that what we experience when we really give full credence to the sacrifice of Christ Jesus?  To the measure we understand we are compelled to serve Him righteously.

And I understand my classmate’s position.  Man is wicked to the core and hopelessly destined for death.  But my statement did not say the man would be righteous.  It said he would choose to do what is right.

The only resource I have to prove my statement is true is what is found within myself.  It was so with the Apostle Paul also.  We cannot look at others and divide this quandary.  For when we look at them for this reason we find ourselves judging them.

I do find that I choose to do what is right.  And my desire to choose finds the sacrifice of Christ for its engine.  So I strive all day to choose what is right.

Come nightfall however, assessment directed backward shows me I failed miserably.  Many times a holy depression encompassed my heart.  “How can I find myself so desirous to do what is good for the sake of my Lord,yet fail so horribly as if on purpose?”  Isn’t this the very question so many of us ask?

While the world will not even recognize that there is such a thing as sin, Christians come to know it as a Being.  To the Christian, who struggles so desperately to do what is right, sin is a living breathing animal within us.

What is the answer to this?  It is that the law of God is righteous.  It is that we are the ones rightfully condemned to death.  It is that the hope of the gospel is all the brighter because of this understanding.  And the glory of Christ is unsurpassed.

Only he has conquered sin.  He is the mercy of God in which we can fully trust.  We can trust no man nor even ourselves.  But we can put complete trust in the one who has overcome.

Choose to do what is right.  By all means make your choice and obsession.  But recognize that you fight against a living organism of rebellion. 

This brings up an interesting topic that I am not worthy to address.  We are commanded to be holy, as he who calls us is holy.  Yet we find ourselves living in far less. 

What shall be done, what shall be said?  I smell the answer.  I perceive there is a conclusion to this difficulty.  But I have not yet laid hold of it.  If I address this now it will not be complete any more than my statement 20 years ago. 

For now I rest, as should be for all, in the fact that Jesus is the Son of God.  I rest in his ability to save me.  I rest in His promise that there is a place where this living and breathing wickedness will be stripped away never to rise again.  All the while I will force myself to choose to do what is right.

The following is from Romans chapter 7.  I thought it would be good to include the transcript of the Apostle’s understanding.  May the Lord grant us mercy that we can understand this personally.

14 “We know that the law is spiritual, but I am not spiritual since sin rules me as if I were its slave. 15 I do not understand the things I do. I do not do what I want to do, and I do the things I hate. 16 And if I do not want to do the hated things I do, that means I agree that the law is good. 17 But I am not really the one who is doing these hated things; it is sin living in me that does them.”

Patience

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If one of the fruits of God within us is a godly patience, I find it curious how millions of people pursue patience and miss the mark horribly.  Frustration is all they get for their hard work toward peace.

Good money is spent on poor trainers.  The inept teach the inept.  Religions are built around the concept of patience.  And while the cost of impatience is high, most people figure it’s just a part of life.  “Get use to it”, they say with a great sigh.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.  The Lord asks us, “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.”  How deeply the world suffers for lack of willingness to go to God.  But that’s the way it’s going to be, isn’t it?

I can write until I am dead.  I can teach until I cannot speak.  I can display the fruit of my God until he takes me home.  But unless an individual takes the initiative to go and seek the face of God, the woeful lack of godliness will cover everything they do.  And they will find themselves willing partners in a destruction of all those around them.

Perhaps you were not aware that there is a remedy for impatience.  Well now you’re no longer ignorant.

By His Grace

Reinventing God

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payitforward

 

“Pay it forward.”  It’s a great idea isn’t it.  The Lord thinks selfless giving is a great thing too.  Let’s get sneaky, wise and stealthy.   It does only a temporary good to announce our good deeds.  But deeds done in secret last forever.

If you’re worried that others won’t pick up the lesson of “pay it forward”, teach them privately and without the use of personal examples.  Every good deed you do that has an announcement after it becomes owned by you.  Every good deed you do without being detected is owned by The Father in Heaven who is undetectable.

“Loose lips sink ships.”

2  “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 3  “But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4  so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”  (Matthew 6)

I take note that “Pay it forward” is used by secularists now.   It seems to have become popular lately as people try to “reinvent the wheel” of righteousness.  Trying to escape Christianity, people are busy building a man based “religion” without Jesus.  The problem is, all the really good ideas belong to Jesus.  They have to get a bit crafty when they present their own rendition.

This “Pay it Forward” seems to have come from a play in Athens Greece around 317 BC.  Here’s the script that has been passed to us as having come from that play.

“I do not pretend to give such a deed; I only lend it to you. When you […] meet with another honest Man in similar Distress, you must pay me by lending this Sum to him; enjoining him to discharge the Debt by a like operation, when he shall be able, and shall meet with another opportunity. I hope it may thus go thro’ many hands, before it meets with a Knave that will stop its Progress. This is a trick of mine for doing a deal of good with a little money.”

Jesus said it better by doing it with His body.  And look how many have been granted access to heaven.  It is this granting that spawns all Christian giving.

Think about it.