Pleasing Whom?

One of the great challenges facing Christians is peer pressure. We all want to be liked and so the tendency is to alter our lives just enough so we will be accepted by others. How many Christians have compromised values simply because they did not want to stand out and be different?

One lesson each of us must learn is how fickle those around us are. Look at two incidents in the life of Paul. When he cured the crippled man in Lystra, the city erupted in praise for he and Barnabas. “They raised their voices, saying, ‘The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men’” (Acts 14:11). Paul and Barnabas did all they could to stop this action. Luke described it in these words, “They could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them” (Acts 14:18). The very next verse shows that the city then turned against them and stoned Paul and thought they had killed him. The point is obvious. Don’t worry too much about what your peers are saying.

Several years later a similar thing happened again. On his voyage to Rome, he was shipwrecked.  While gathering sticks, a poisonous snake suddenly bit him. Now look at what his peers said. “No doubt this man is a murderer . . .” (Acts 28:4). But when God protected Paul and preserved his life the situation changed drastically. “They changed their minds and said that he was a god” (Acts 28:6). Again the point is obvious. Don’t worry too much about what your peers are saying. They are fickle.

So when you are tempted to compromise your principles remember these words of Jesus, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26). If we succeeded and had every person around us praising us, we would be a failure!

Jesus said another thing that might help us with thinking that the praises of our peers is so important. “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake” (Matt. 5:11). Contrast the words “woe” and “blessed” in the two verses we just noticed. Think about it!

So what’s your goal? Acceptance by others at all costs? Having your peers sing your praises? There is another audience which matters. It is not those around us we should seek to please. It is those who are above us! Cherish that day when you will hear these words, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” That’s all that matters.

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Devotion to God in the Midst of Trouble

The psalms are filled with the deepest longings of the hearts of the godly. There are those psalms which shout the praises of God. “O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens” (Psa. 8:1). There are those psalms which proclaim the existence of God and bring undeniable proof that He is real. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork” (Psa. 19:1). There are those psalms of comfort to which we turn in our darkest hours. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. . . . Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Psa. 23:1, 4). Where would we be without these amazing words!

I am not sure if there is any psalm which gives deeper insight into the depth of devotion of the godly than Psalm 137. The words show that this psalm was obviously not written by David, who wrote most of the psalms. It was written by the captives who had been taken to Babylon. The writer looks back to the destruction of Jerusalem when the Edomites (the descendants of Esau and therefore “cousins” of the Jews) watched from the sidelines and cheered that the holy city was being destroyed. The psalm was written as these captives sat under the (weeping?) willow trees with broken hearts. The Babylonians demanded, with no avail, that the Jews sing one of the joyful melodies from Israel.

Read the words and weep with the Jews exiled in Babylon. Then mimic their undying devotion to God!

1 “By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.

2 We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it.

3 For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, and those who plundered us requested mirth, saying, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’

4 How shall we sing the LORD’S song In a foreign land?

5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill!

6 If I do not remember you, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth-If I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.

7 Remember, O LORD, against the sons of Edom. The day of Jerusalem, who said, ‘Raze it, raze it, To its very foundation!’”

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20 Reasons to Attend Bible Class

1. To obey the command of God to study the Bible (2 Tim. 2:15; 2 Pet. 1:5).

2. To grow in knowledge (1 Pet. 2:2; 2 Pet. 3:18).

3. To grow closer to God and increase faith (Rom. 10:17).

4. To become a more effective teacher (Heb. 5:13-6:1).

5. To be with Jesus and let Jesus be your teacher (John 6:45; Eph. 4:20-21).

6. To be with and associate with the best people on earth (1 John 4:7-8; Heb. 10:24-25).

7. To become stronger (Psa. 119:165; 2 Pet. 1:5-11).

8. To feed my soul (Jer. 15:16; Psa. 119:103).

9. To find answers (Psa. 119:99; John 7:17).

10. To overcome sin (1 John 5:4; Matt. 4:4).

11. To gain wisdom (2 Tim. 3:15; Psa. 119:130).

12. To follow the example of the godly (Heb. 13:7).

13. To set a good example for others (Matt. 5:13-16; 1 Tim. 4:12).

14. To satisfy my love and desire to learn the Word of God (Psa. 1:2; 19:7-10; 119:72, 97).

15. To prepare to give an answer and defend the faith (1 Pet. 3:15; Jude 3).

16. To prepare for and quench the fiery darts of the devil (Eph. 6:10-18).

17. To become better equipped to serve others (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

18. To keep my priorities properly balanced (Matt. 6:33).

19. To follow my shepherds’ guidance (Heb. 13:17).

20. To get ready for the final test (John 12:48; Rev. 20:12).

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We Are Not in the Holy Spirit Dispensation

There is no way at all we should minimize the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, but there are so many who are being led astray by wrong teaching about the Spirit. It is imperative that we know what the Bible teaches about this matter.

The Pentecostal/Charismatic movement in our day has elevated the Holy Spirit to a place which far supersedes even the exalted position God gave to Jesus. In the Divine plan, the Spirit was never the source of truth. Jesus said, “He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak . . .” (John 16:13). The work of the Spirit was to be the means by which the Spirit delivered the truth to the apostles and prophets who spoke and wrote these heavenly words. These words from the Spirit changed the lives of men. Paul described it this way, “By revelation He made known to me the mystery . . . by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ” (Eph. 3:3-4). Our knowledge of the mystery of Christ does not come from direct operation of the Spirit “whispering” truths in our ears in the midnight hours of our meditations, but from reading the actual words of the Spirit found in a holy book!

Note also that the coming of the Spirit was never intended to result in the promotion of the Spirit. Jesus also said, “He will glorify Me . . .” (John 16:14). Yet in our day many, in their teaching on TV and in the books they sell,  exalt the Spirit and His work far above Jesus and His work! It is not enough to have the Savior of the world within our hearts. We have missed it all without the relationship with the Spirit. They have relegated Jesus to a secondary place and exalted the Spirit far above Him.

Hear the exaltation the Bible gives to Jesus both in heaven and on the earth. “God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name” (Phil. 2:9). “And He [God dj] put all things under His [Christ dj] feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church…”  (Eph. 1:22). “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers…that in all things He may have the preeminence” (Col. 1:16-18). “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18).

The point is obvious. We are not living in the age which glorifies the Spirit. We are living in the age where the Spirit Himself revealed that we must honor Jesus!

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Before the Womb and After the Tomb

There is a political philosophy which advocates that the government should dominate every aspect of one’s life from the cradle to the grave. We lived for nearly ten years in New Zealand, and the view there was described by the words, “From the womb to the tomb.” Without getting into an evaluation of this philosophy, let me tell you of another program that surpasses these.

Think of how the Bible describes heaven’s concern for us which precedes our earliest existence. Paul spoke of this when he affirmed that God “…has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (2 Tim. 1:9). Paul also wrote to Titus about the “hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began” (Tit. 1:2). Before time began! That’s when His care for us started!

His care for us even precedes the time we were placed in our first cradle. Paul told the Galatians that God “separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace” (Gal. 1:15). And God told Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jer. 1:5). Some may see these as showing a unique relationship God had with His prophets, but it does show God knows individuals when they are in the womb.

David’s words leave little doubt about God’s concern for individuals before they are born. “For you formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb… My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth” (Ps. 139:13,15).

He also cares for us in infancy. “But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts” (Ps. 22:9). He has His angels who watch for every child on this earth (Matt. 18:10).

Space does not allow us to show His presence throughout all of our lives, but He is present! His eyes are over us (1 Peter 3:12) and He never leaves or forsakes us (Heb. 13:5). He is also with us in death (Ps. 23:4).

From womb to the tomb? His care is better than that! He cares for us before the womb and after the tomb! This is not just a philosophy. It is an eternal truth from heaven!

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