Am I the Audience?

Am I the Audience?

Following up on our video “Understanding Like the Audience“, this video goes a little bit further in presenting the concept that sometimes, we aren’t the direct audience to some words God has imparted.  Some commands were meant for the direct audience and not us.  When we have this understanding, we will be better prepared to interpret and apply scripture where necessary and intended.  Most importantly, we will not try to make application where God has not intended.

Thought:  Were the commands to Adam, Moses, Noah, Israel, the apostles and others meant for you?  Or should they be left where they were given… in the hands of the men and women they were delivered to at the time.  The audience to which a command is given matters.

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It Had to Be His Garment

It Had to be His Garment

Last week we focused on the faith of the woman who pushed her way through the crowd which surrounded the Savior as He traveled to heal Jairus’ twelve-year-old daughter. She had spent all she had and the only hope she had could only be found in Jesus. The instant she touched His garment her health was restored. This week we focus on the garment.

There was nothing special about the garment He wore. It was like all other garments, but this one belonged to Jesus and that changed everything. It is not true that one garment is as good as another!

Look at parallel applications of the truth that any ordinary thing associated with Jesus is elevated above all other items.

Have you ever considered how many books are printed each year? It is estimated that 2.2 million new titles are published worldwide each year. That’s not how many books are published but how many titles. If you stacked the new books being published next to each other, at the present rate of production you would have to move at ninety miles an hour just to keep up the end line. The words of Solomon are so true. “Of making many books there is no end” (Ecc. 12:12).

It depends of what standard of judgment you use, but all books have a value. It may be said that “One book is as good as another” until you included the Bible. It alone is written by the Creator of the world. One garment may be as good as another, but when you add the garment of Jesus to this number, such simply is not true. In the same way, one book may be as good as another, but when you add the Bible to this number, such simply is not true.

There are over 45,000 distinct Christian denominations in the world.  It is likely true that one of them is just about as good as another, until you add the church Jesus built to this number, then it all changes.

Jesus promised to build His church (Matt. 16:18). He never gave any mortal the right to change it (Gal. 1:8-9; Rev. 22:18-19). It was designed to be eternally unchangeable (Eph. 3:21). It began on Pentecost, and in the two millenniums since that, mortals have created 45,000 churches. Every one of these churches begun by man may be as good as any other church until you add His church to this group.

The woman knew it had to be His garment. How our world would be changed if we believed it has to be His book! How our world would be changed if we believed it has to be His church!

Take this concept and apply it to every aspect of our Christians lives: His garment; His book; His church; His way; His truth. Oh, how it would change our world. Let it change yours!

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Instruction that Causeth to Err

Instruction that Causeth to Err

“Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.” (Proverbs 19:27 KJV)bad instruction

Don’t listen to bad advice! That is easy to say, but how can we know if the advice is good or bad? Solomon gives us a simple “rule of thumb” on this. If it would cause you to go against what you know to be right or true, then it is not good advice. This proverb demands that one cease from hearing such instruction.

At first the unwise counsel may seem good, but once you put it into practice you may see that it is taking you down the wrong path. If you determine this is the case, then stop following. If you continue to walk according to ungodly counsel it will lead you into sin. You must strive to know God’s word so that you will have the ability to discern between wise counsel and errant instruction.

Read Psalms 1:1-6; 2 Timothy 3:16-17

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Count Your Blessings

Count Your Blessings

Count Your Blessings

Count Your Blessings

One of my all-time favorite hymns is “Count Your Blessings.” The song urges us to look at the good that we have in our life instead of the bad, especially in times of difficulty. More than one psychologist has noted that those who maintain such an attitude have an appreciably better quality of life even when experiencing personal grief as the result of the death of a loved one. This does not mean that those who so live, put their head in the sand and ignore their “problems”; rather, it means that those “problems” are not assigned the undue place of personal identity formation. In other words, “I may have problems, but my problems don’t define me.”

What does define such an individual is the constant recognition of God’s blessing in his life. It is a choice to focus on the positive and not allow the negative to overwhelm the soul. God made our bodies to respond to such focus too. When we think about good things, a completely different set of physiological responses occurs in the body. We just interpret this as “feeling better,” but it is much deeper than that. It is the supersession of the spirit over the flesh (Galatians 5:22-26). It is God working in us (Philippians 2:13). And with that we receive wonderful peace that defies explanation (Philippians 4:7).

There is much we can do to help ourselves live well. Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Thieves come in many shapes and sizes, and the worst one is the one that we let in the front door. Let’s resolve to trust in God and not in self.

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