Targeting

Targeting

Over the past couple of years, professional and college football have adapted rules to include a penalty for “targeting.” Targeting is defined as forcible contact with the crown of the helmet to the head or neck area of another player. This kind of contact is dangerous both to the player being hit and the one delivering the blow. In fact, the rules committees decided that this is such a dangerous way to engage an opponent that the person found guilty of such is to be disqualified (ejected) from the game. While controversial, the rule is designed to protect the players from themselves as serious head and neck injuries have resulted from these kinds of hits. When players observe the rules, it makes for better game play; when they don’t follow the rules, serious problems ensue.

This reminds me of what God told His people in Deuteronomy 30:19: “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.” God gives us instructions to follow, and when we do, we enjoy life; when we don’t, we risk the consequences. Jesus said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). Not only are there consequences in this life, but there will be eternal consequences. It is imperative, therefore, that we walk by faith and obey the Lord’s commands that He gives us for the reason He gives them to us. Will we enjoy life by following God’s word? Or will we be disqualified?

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Counsel in the Heart of Man

Counsel in the Heart of Man

“Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out.” (Proverbs 20:5 KJV)Wise Counsel

Wise counsel comes from a place deep within the heart. A man who possesses great wisdom has obtained that wisdom because he has dug for himself a deep well of knowledge of God’s Word and has truly lived by that knowledge. A man like this would be a wise counselor. A man of understanding would want to benefit from this wise man’s counsel. In order to do so, the man of understanding will seek to draw out that wisdom even as a thirsty man will seek to draw water from a well. Drawing water from a well requires effort on the part of the thirsty drinker. Likewise, to gain wisdom from wise counsel, the one who “thirsts” for it will seek out the counselor and ask advice or even submit to becoming his disciple.

Paul on several occasions urged his readers to follow his example in the faith and to seek out others who also walk in faith and to imitate them. We can learn from the wisdom of others by a careful examination of their example and by simply listening to their teachings. The ultimate deep well of wisdom, though, is God’s Word, wherein we must be diligent in drawing out that wisdom.

Read Matthew 11:28-30; 1 Corinthians 4:6; 11:1; Philippians 3:17; 2 Timothy 2:15

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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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