Casting Pearls- Who do we listen too?

    There are many different viewpoints in this world and many different directions we may go, but to sift through the multitude of opinions and viewpoints we must face each day we have a helper, The Holy Spirit, to guide us and make sense of the many voices we hear. As is stated in The Bible in Jude 18, in the last days there will be mockers, who lead others astray in their ungodly lusts. They want to use the tests and troubles of this life to lead us astray from the true leading of The Lord Jesus in our lives. We can be led astray by things we know to be wrong, like drugs or pornography, or we can be led astray by the things we think are right, like The Bible on our Phone, or suddenly being extremely interested in something as simple as a preacher on TV.
        Needless to say,  there will be even more subtle distractions the closer to the truth we come. We are in a battle with the master of lies, the only one who knows how to use even those you love to lead you astray. I could be working on this article and be interrupted by my son and it may seem at the time to be important, but in retrospect, not as important as the subject in which I am writing.
        Even as I write this I can feel the Devil attempting to lead me from continuing on to the point I wish to make and that is to rely on The Holy Spirit of God to not only keep you from being led astray, but also to not be confused by the many voices we might hear from the world around us. As I write this, I am receiving messages and requests and other ideas that are all attempts to lead me from the focus of my topic. The closer I get the more numerous they get. Now that I have typed out the main point of my article, the messages have stopped and the requests have quit.
        We must fight a battle with satan every day and the best way to do that is to keep in touch with the one who can make the outside disturbances stop. Even if your only connection is to say, ‘Thank You for Waking me up today, and giving me this beautiful day to use for You’, then that is a good place to start. We must keep up the connection between our Creator and ourselves. It is essential to our well-being and our mental health.
        Remember to thank God for all the things you go through and learn from them. God does not make bad things happen, but He does use them to teach us something. Some times it is something as small as to lean more on God than our own understanding.

Casting Pearls- Which way do we go, which way do we go?

        One of the biggest misconceptions of the body of Christ, The Church, today is the thought that when Jesus came He did away with the law and kept all people from breaking the Law of God through Him. In Matthew 5:17-18 Jesus Himself said that He came not to condemn the Law Of God but that through Him the Law of God might be fulfilled. People think that they can do whatever they want and Jesus has redeemed or saved them from the Sin they may commit.
        My understanding of God The Father’s Scriptures is that if you are saved by Jesus, you will be filled with the Holy Spirit and be influenced by the Holy Spirit, not to break the Laws of God. Many people have quenched the Holy Spirit in their lives by repeatedly pouring water of this world on the Fire of the Holy Spirit within you. First we must understand a few things.
        First is that it is written in the book of Romans 4:10 ‘There is NONE righteous, no not one.’ The world may tell us that we are okay, we can be fine as long as our conscience is clean. Man’s conscience is the influence point of Satan. However, there is a way for all men to be cleansed of the sin stains of their souls. Second, it is written out in Romans 5:8, that states ‘God commanded His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.’ God The Father who cannot allow any sinful thing to enter His presence, gave His own Son to be the Sacrifice for us.
        Our sin keeps us totally unworthy of God’s presence, but The Father made a way for us to make it to Him and worship Him forever. It is His Son, Jesus The Christ.  The Jewish people had made, through legends and fables, a Messiah who would come and lead the Israelites to a great place of leadership, ‘in this world.’ This is why, in spite of the fulfillment of the Old Testament and the Prophets writings of Him, they would not believe in Jesus being the Messiah. It did not fit with the ideas in their own minds. We, as Christians, are doing the same thing today. We ignore the signs all around us because it doesn't fit with the mindset we have of Jesus return. We ignore things at our own peril.
        Third, we must realize that to receive this “free gift” that The Lord has for us, we must be willing to accept it. That is all, just accept it and the indwelling of The Holy Spirit that comes with it. To do so we must do as written in Romans 10:9-10, and ;confess with our mouth The Lord Jesus and believe in our hearts and souls that The Father God raised Jesus from the dead to forever stand in intercession for us with God The Father, then we will be saved.
        You see as in the parable of the prodigal son, the father of the son, who is like unto God The Father, accepted the son back with no strings attached. The son did nothing to deserve this love from his father, in fact the father had every reason, in our way of thinking, to punish the son for his bad behavior. Yet the father brought the son back in with celebration and praise. You see the same lesson in the two previous parables in Juke 15:1-32.
        The lost sheep did nothing to be found and the lost coin did nothing to be found, but in both cases, great rejoicing followed their return. Only in the Prodigal son parable do we see any remorse for their previous actions involved. Just as with these cases, great rejoicing will accompany our decision to be “found” by the Lord our God. The Lord God only asks that we be willing to, in spite of the trials put up by the world around us, openly profess to the world that we are now His and they too can be.
        You can be sure that you are safe in the Master’s arms, in 1st John 5:13, the author John, writes that ‘These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of The Son of God, Jesus Christ; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of The Son of God, Jesus Christ.” So in this we can be assured of our salvation.
        Many will also say that these things were written by men and are not the writings of God. All I have to say to that is, When you write a letter, does the pen do the writing, or do you? As you used the pen to write, so God used men to write His words, because even though God could have created the Bible without the help of Man, God wanted man to accept the Bible without it being openly revealed that God had written it. Just as Jesus did not fit what man had in his mind The Messiah was supposed to be, so The Word of God does not fit what man’s mind. Jesus fit all the prophecies written of the Messiah in the Old Testament, the Torah, and the Prophets. Just to have someone to fit eight of these prophecies would be of greater odds than to win the Lottery. Still people disbelieve that He was the Son of God, to their own detriment. Man cannot write a letter without a pen or pencil being involved, just so God would not write the Bible without man being involved.
        In the Bible it states in Isaiah 55:8, ‘The thoughts of God are not as our thoughts, and the ways of God are not as our ways’ , so what we think will work, is only what we think, not the Thoughts or Plans of God The Father. As believers in Jesus, we must be willing to stand up before the torments and hatefulness of the evil world around us and not lose or renounce our faith even though it will be dangerous to us. The Lord God will bless greatly all those who stand strong, in the hurricane of the world that is to come.
        This leads us to another point, that some people believe to be ignorant of a thing being wrong, makes it okay to be involved with it. If you were ignorant of God’s law against killing another human, would it be alright for you to kill someone?In the law of God The Father, we see in Leviticus 4:1-6 the Word of God says that if the priest of God, who is a representative of the people of God, is ignorant of his sin, he is to do several different things to exonerate himself from being guilty of sin, before he represents the people. If we are truly saved, we should at least feel the influence of the Holy Spirit telling us that something is wrong if we be ignorant to it being wrong at first.
        The Lord Jesus, covers us from all sin we have done and any we might do. The only thing we are to do is Profess Him before other men. When we do the Holy Spirit will come to live inside and help guide us down the path that leads to righteousness.
       

Casting Pearls- Allah or God The Creator, You decide.

The whole world would have us believing that the Allah of the Muslim religion is the same as the Christian God. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The translation of Allah is loosely ‘the god’ and in no way is the same as the Christian God of Creation. Allah is ‘the god of the moon’, the Christian God’s creation. If you don’t believe it, then look it up! The Christian’s in this world are being mislead.
        As in the past, in Elijah’s time as when he went up against the followers of Baal, Satan wishes to mislead people into following the Creation, instead of The Creator. The Muslim’s have already been doing this for generations but now the Christian Church is being mislead as well. They have been told over and over again that the God we worship is the same god that the other religion's worship.
        First, The ‘god’ they worship is the god of this world, not the God who Created this world. And Second, as Christian’s we should not have a religion, but instead have a relationship with the Creator of the Universe. If you were to let someone inside you to have complete control over you and your actions, would you not like to have a relationship with them? A really close relationship with them.
        The word Baal is translated ‘The Lord’ and that is what they were worshipping. God The Creator was angry over the way the priests of Baal and the King Ahab and his wife Jezebel had led so many astray from the true God and his following. Just as it was in Elijah’s day, we are seeing it happening now.
        Just recently, The Pope, leader of the largest denomination in the christian churches, called for all denominations to put aside their differences and join together and become one church. He also called for the church to be more ‘inclusive’ of those groups, like the homosexuals, who do not live by the beliefs held by those who believe in the Bible, The Word of God.
        Basically, The Pope both called for the church to do away with it’s worship practices, and to include the ones God The Creator had called an abomination in His Sight. God did not use the word abomination about many things, but the few things He felt very strongly about. in the over 788,000 words in the Bible, Abomination is only used 166 times and often is depicting the same thing when mentioned. This is less than 3 thousandths of the entire scriptures so these times must have been important.
        Both of these things had been spoken of by Jesus and others in their prophecies of the End Times and the things to come. We were to experience a time likeunto that of the times of Noah. When men were lovers of self and only made passing acknowledgment of God. The world is now in that way. The Southern United States, where I live, Is one of the last places where the true Christian Faith is practiced. In the rest of this nation and in the rest of the world the majority of people are secular or only give passing acknowledgment of God in their lives. We are living in dangerous times.

Casting Pearls- Who needs a inoculation?

        In a recent devotional from Billy Graham ministries I read something that provoked thought within me. It said that it would be wonderful if there was a shot we could give people in their arm that would make them nicer and do away with the problems that face this world, it would make them have contentment instead of being greedy and selfish make them love on another rather than hate, it would make them tell truth instead of lie.
        This led me to think of the one thing that can change someone’s heart from evil to good, that is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Most Christians receive the Holy Spirit when they are saved kind-of like an inoculation like the ones you received as a child, or for some as an adult. Just like that we all were well protected from the evil of the world when we received the inoculation, but over time  the strength of the protection has lessened and the world has helped, like a stream on a rock, it has slowly worn our protection down. Many of us are now not much different from the world around us that we say is so evil.
        If we were to stand back and look at ourselves as through another’s eyes, what would we see? Would it be someone who is a good example of what is a good Christian, or is it someone who is a poor example of what a Christian really should be. The world wants us to become closer to the evil that it is instead of the goodness that the Holy Spirit exudes. The reason is that the world wants this is that it wishes to keep us from bringing others to Christ. As a poor example of a Christian, others will say why become a Christian? If there is no difference in our lives other than we are not allowed to have the “fun” that they do, why do they want to change.
        Many of us, myself included, are guilty of allowing the world to infiltrate the loving, giving, caring person we are really and letting the world take over our witness of who and what we are. One of the best quotes i have ever heard is “you are the only Bible some people will ever see”. It is sobering to think that others lives are in your hands. The Lord has other ways to reach the people that you refuse to witness too, but your bad witness can cause someone who is on the edge to back away instead of believe in Christ and invite Him into their hearts.
        Now should you be someone who is on fire to spread his name all the time? Yes you should! God needs fervent and committed followers who are willing to give up the things of this world just to get the things of the world to come. We all need to be closer in our walk with the Lord, not because he needs us, but because we need Him to
strengthen us. You and I can do nothing to spread God’s Gospel without Him, but we cannot be stopped if God is the one in control. Ultimately God is the one in control and the one who can guide our steps.
        So the question is; do you think your inoculation is alright or do you think you need a booster? Has your witness gotten stronger or has it gotten weaker over time? Do you regularly build up your faith with reading God’s word or do you leave the Bible on a shelf and only take it down to look something up or even worse to boost a leg on a table?         Another thing we must think of, is that if someone was to look at our checkbook what would they see is important to us? Where does the majority of the money we have go to. We are fighting a mind set that has been set up by the world we live in. I just now had to change what I was writing to read ‘the money we have’ instead of ‘our money’ because it is not our money any more than this is our life we are living. EVERYTHING belongs to God. He created it and us He merely lets us have it for a time to use. We must try to change our mindset to make the things no longer important and make God important instead.

Casting Pearls- Want to go fishing?

The World says that we can do nothing to stop it from doing whatever it wants to do. The truth is seen in two places in the Bible that explain that we have all the strength we need to influence the path the world around us takes by only drawing our strength from Christ. The most obvious verse is from Phillipians 4:13 that says; ‘I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength’
        The less obvious place it is shown is in John 20:3-11 which states that Peter, upset and depressed after first denying Jesus, then seeing Him put to death, even though Peter had seen Jesus’ resurrection, he still felt sad and lost because he was unable to forgive himself for denying Jesus.  In spite of how Jesus had tried to reinstate Peter in the leadership of the Apostles Jesus had left behind at His death.
        Peter was so upset and depressed with himself that he had given up on the things he had been taught by Jesus and decided to go back to the one thing he knew how to do without question. Just like Peter, we also give up on God’s plan and go back to what we know, before giving God the chance to work in our lives.  Peter went back to what he knew best and not only went himself, but like we so often do, he took several other Apostles with him. As we take those who are lost or wish to give up on God to go away from God or the things of God.
         He and the other Apostles did what they had been trained from youths to do and began to fish again. They struggled to be successful in their own strength and fished all night, because it was the usually best time for catching fish, and ended up catching nothing. As they came in closer to shore, they saw a man on the shore cooking some food over a fire. The man called to them when they had gotten within earshot and asked if they had caught anything to eat. They had to respond NO.
        The man then instructed them to do something that went against their training as fishermen, let down the nets again where they were close to shore, and let them down on the right side of the boat that was closer to shore. They knew by their own understanding that this instruction by the stranger should do nothing to help as it went against everything they knew to work as fishermen. Peter had an idea as to who this was and it seemed confirmed by what happened next. The net that was let down by them was filled with fish so much so that they could not by their own strength pull the net back up on the ship. This was basically the same thing that had happened to Peter when Jesus had first called him to be a disciple and follow him. Jesus wanted Peter to do the same thing, let down the nets on the boat’s right side. The same thing happened, the net was filled so much with fish that Peter could not bring them all up. The first time Peter could call to other boats in the area to help him with all the fish. This time though, there were no other boats in the area to help. Rather than wait for the boat to return to shore, Peter confirmed his suspicions with John and immediately Put on some clothes, as he was necked from being out on the boat fishing and working hard so he took off his clothes as it was very warm there even at night. Peter put on his over coat and dove into the water to swim on to shore so he could be with Jesus.
        Even though Peter felt depressed and lost he knew that he was very excited to see Jesus again. The other disciples rowed on to the shore dragging the net behind them and Peter filled with the strength of the Lord, then went over to where the boat came ashore and singlehandedly pulled the net with as John said, 153 fishes, on the shore before returning to Jesus. Peter and the other disciples had been blessed beyond anything they had dreamed, again by Jesus. Despite their lack of strength to follow the teaching and direction in their depression and sadness over losing their leader, they were greatly blessed with great riches by God. Peter in himself showed the strength given by God in that he alone was able to drag on shore the net with 153 fish that the other disciples were unable to drag in the boat.
        We have a choice we must face in our life, either follow Jesus and the Holy Spirit in our lives, or follow the world and the things of this world that limit the power of Jesus and His Holy Spirit. Which one do you think you will follow? The Creator of all things, or the creation He made? That is the choice we all have to make, because we know who is the lord of this world and who is ultimately in control.

Do You Bow Your Head?

As we bow our heads to pray, how often do we find ourselves questioning, Why are we bowing our heads? Many of us are used to this practice, but few really know the reasoning behind it. I am going to reveal some of the reasons to you in this article. 

You see, for years the only place that was acceptable to pray was in a holy prayer room at the Church in the area. If we had requests for God to hear, they must be brought to our Priest and he was alone allowed to present them to God. Supposedly this was loosly based on Matthew 6:6 saying that when we pray we are to enter into our prayer closet and pray alone and in secret to others.  

The idea behind Martin Luther and other reformists in the early Roman Catholic church was to open up both the scriptures and the other things that only the priests did to the general partitioners bring before God instead of only the priest. It cut down drastically on the workload of the priest, while at the same time giving much more responsibility to the individual. 

The idea of bowing your heads came later though as each individual was urged by his church leader to devote a room in their home or somewhere to the practice of prayer and reading of the scriptures. This practice became harder and harder as the people got closer and closer to each other and the population increased.  Soon it became very hard to give up the room for God’s use and for His purposes alone. Soon afterward people were finding themselves in smaller and smaller spaces attempting to continue their practices of praying and studying God’s Word. Soon afterward, it became expedient to men to no longer leave prayer and the study of the scriptures to a special room or place and make a more open way to continue it. 

This is when the bowing part comes into play. Men began to, even though the bible says for them not to do it, pray in public places. This was a compromise made by men to save themselves the time and effort of devoting a room and place of their own to prayer and study of the scriptures. Men, and women, would bow their heads and close their eyes, to simulate to themselves being in a closet where they could be alone with their prayers to God. The Israelites do the same thing to this day by bowing their heads and pulling their prayer shawls over their heads as they pray. This is where the verse, written by Paul, that has received so much controversy about women keeping their heads covered and men not, comes from. 

This is also the reason Paul is referred to as a tent maker in the New Testament. Pulling a prayer shawl over your head to pray is making a personal prayer tent for yourself and so the making of big burly tents made of goats hair and cloth and being very cumbersome to transport, was most likely not Paul’s trade, however the making of prayer shawls out of cloth found almost everywhere he went. And containing the corners with the blue threads interwoven in them as prescribed in Exodus by Moses, was very possible. 

Let me get back to my topic as I seem to be digressing. When we bow our heads and close our eyes we have less distractions to keep us from focusing on the prayer at hand. It is done now because it has become more of a learned behavior and to show reverence to God than for any other good reason. Personally I think that if we should find ourselves not being able to focus on the prayer, perhaps some personal alone time with God is needed by us to ask God to reveal to us the real reason why we cannot stop and pray.

Casting Pearls- Are you ready for ...?

Todays world could learn a lot from the history of the Israelite nation. If we look in the Bible in Psalms 78 we see in the title that Asaph is credited with having written this particular psalm. Asaph was one of the heads of the three psalmist choirs that King David started under the leadership of the three descendants of the original three sons of Levi. Asaph was  one of these men. The psalm labeled 78 is a warning to the children of Israel to remember the trials they had been through and how God had helped them come through. Our country and the Christian people in general should remember all that we have been through, and how God has helped us through. Without God, we could have not made it.

Even when the people of Israel turned their backs on God, they were still under God’s protection for a time. It took some time before God finally gave up on the people turning back to Him and removed His hand of protection. This has happened over and over throughout history, and as a wise man one said ‘ if we don’t learn from history, we will be doomed to repeat it’. The psalm talks about several things God has done for Israel in history, from parting the Red Sea to using it to swallow up the pursuing Egyptians, to providing manna and water in the desert for the Israel to eat and drink. God not only saved the people, but fed them as well. God provided for them at every turn. It was due to their God and how He protected His people, that the nations of Canaan were afraid of them. They heard the stories of how God had protected His people and gave them triumph in battle, even under what appeared to be overwhelming odds at first glance. 

The people, still, over the years, forgot the miracles that God had worked on their behalf. This psalm was a reminder to the people to remember the things God had done, as well as a warning that if they did not turn back to God they would lose God’s protection. It would be devastating for Israel to lose God’s protection as they were on the main travel route between several large nations and they would be in  the way for any of them who wanted to attack another.Over and over through the years, Egypt, Samaria, and the other southern nations came through Israel to attack the northern nations of Assyria, Babylon, Syria and others, and vice versa. These nations would attack Israel whenever they passed through. It was not many years that passed by between attacks. About the only time the Israelites were in peace in Israel was when they were controlled by one of these nations. The people of Israel were warned to remember God and His Laws so they would be safe under His protection. Time after time they seemed to forget though. It finally culminated in their being exiled to several different nations throughout the world. 

Our Country could learn many things from the history of the Israelite people. They have a very strong religious personality that kept them remembering their homeland and religion even after their nation was split up amongst many foreign nations. Their national identity is much stronger than the USA’s so if the same thing was to happen to us, I do not think we would have much of a chance of reinstating this country. I believe that we have attempted to move away from the restraining forces that come naturally to those of us who are Christians, and become as evil and corrupt in our ways as Sodom and Gomorra of the Old Testament, so I also believe we only have a short time left before God takes away His hand of protection from this nation. 

Casting Pearls-What more do you want God to do for You?

I recently had someone who is not a Christian ask me a question, If God is a loving and all forgiving God, how come Jesus told his disciples to shake the dust off their feet and leave those who refused to believe? I told him that God did not want us wasting time on attempting to turn those who refused to hear to Him. We should ‘shake the dust off our feet’, don’t let any of their unbelief stick to us, and move on to others who would be more receptive. 

I also told him that the whole thing reminded me of a story I heard. the story goes like this; There once was a man who lived in a area that was due to be flooded by the building of a dam. Letter after letter was sent to him warning of the impending flooding. He refused to believe them as he had lived there many years and was not about to be driven out by a little water.Finally people were sent to his house to warn him of the impending flood. The man refused to leave with them. when the water began to rise the man had to move up to his second story to keep out of the water. A few men in a boat came along and tried again to get the man to leave, He refused. The water kept on rising and the man had to move out on his roof to avoid the rising water. A helicopter came by and spotted him. The men in the helicopter called to him to come with them, again the man refused to leave. The water continued to rise until the man drowned. When the man got to heaven he asked God why he never saved him from drowning in the flood. God told the man, you ignored the letters I had sent to you, and you ignored the people that tried to persuade you to leave before the flood, and you ignored the people in the boat, and you ignored the people in the helicopter, what more did you want me to do?

To often we hold on so tightly to the things of this world that we refuse to listen to the warnings about the sin that surrounds us or the eternal death that faces us if we do not listen and believe. It is a simple choice to make, but the flesh and satan attempts to keep us from listening. What more do you want God to Do for YOU?

Casting Pearls-Do you know the Ten Commandments?

Many people know what the Ten Commandments are but how many really know more than one or two of the actual commandments or can even quote correctly one of them. The answer is, not many, if you have not studied them or studied the Bible, you probably don’t know what they are. This article will discuss each of them, where they can be found, and what God was attempting to tell us in each of them.

The first of the Ten Commandments is found in Exodus 20:3, and states, ‘ Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.’ (KJV) This was especially for the Jewish people since they had just come out of Egypt, where they had gods for almost everything, where they worshipped the god of earth, god of water, god of air, god of fertility, et-cetera, et-cetera. They even fell back into that when waiting for Moses to return with these commandments. The Israelites made a calf and covered it with gold, as they had in Egypt, and worshipped it, as they had when in Egypt. By their own actions, and our actions now, we show that we need too be told ‘have no other gods’. You might say , “ I don’t have a golden calf I pray too”, but we put our job, our children, our spouse, our life, as more important than God. Anything we allow to be more important to us than God is something that is now our god in our life. 

The second commandment of God is ‘Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image’(KJV). This, as previously described with the golden calf was in part for the Israelites. You might say how does that relate to me, I don’t have a golden calf? Well, do you think money is more important than God? Do you think your car is more important than God? Do you think any of your things are more important than God? If God wanted you too give up anything you have for His use, would you gladly give it? Anything you would not give up for God is a graven image, wither it was engraved by you or someone else for you, it is a graven image.

The third commandment is ‘Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them’(KJV). Again this was in part for the Israelites due to the golden calf, but anything that we find more important than God and work to make it better for us then we bow down to it. Maybe we bow down to wash the car, or maybe we bow down to do our jobs, or maybe we metaphorically bow down to our boss, or maybe we bow down to someone we love, or something we love, or something we worship. 

The fourth commandment is ‘Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God’s name in vain’(KJV). the Bible says that the Lord will not find one who does this guiltless. You might say I don’t cuss and take the Lord’s name in vain, and maybe you don’t, but do you ever say “Oh my G**” or “Good G**” without thinking? You are guilty of using the Lord’s name in vain. 

The next one is the Fifth commandment, ‘Remember the sabbath day and keep it Holy; six days shall thou labor and do thy work; but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God’(KJV). Technically the sabbath day in Bible days before Christ was Saturday, but Jesus was raised from the tomb on the First day of the week and the disciples began to gather together to commemorate that day on Sunday, so we carry on that belief today. We keep our Sundays as the Sabbath day spoken of in this commandment. 

The Sixth Commandment is ‘thou shalt not kill’(KJV). Killing is looked upon as sin by God, but some people might argue that God calls for the Israelite people to kill the people in various places throughout the Old Testament. God had His hands tied by us and our sin nature. Adam brought death into the world with his sin and the killing goes on through history due to the continued sin of man. 

The Seventh Commandment is the one we have a lot of problem with today ‘Thou shalt not commit Adultery’(KJV). The reasoning behind this was the Lord wanted to have people to make a promise to each other and to Him to do this so as to make a difference between us and the animals we had dominion over. God also wanted to keep the marriage Holy because it was to be a shadow or type of Christ and His Church.

The Eighth Commandment is ‘Thou shalt not steal’(KJV). Theft of things is not really important to a true Christian as these are just things, but these things are God’s things and we are only given them for a short time to care for them until He returns, so we are upset at theft since it is like unto stealing from God.

The Ninth Commandment is ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. This is regularly broken by us as we try to get others to take the blame for our shortcomings. The truth is that no one here on earth can take our place for what we have done or said. We are guilty and even if man doesn’t know God does.

Finally we have the Tenth Commandment, ‘Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s’(KJV). This is the one we have the biggest problem with. Every time we see something that someone else has whither it be a car, or money, or celebrity, or even voice or ability of someone else and want it for ourself then we have coveted. I must admit even I have broken this one. 

All of these are too easy to break in one way or another. we are tempted by this fallen world to do things all the time that will cause us to break these. Luckily for us Jesus came to give Himself as a sacrifice for our sins, past and present and future, so that we can be justified and sanctified before the Lord. All we need do is accept it and begin to profess Jesus to men. Colossians 2:13-14 says ‘And you,  being dead in your sin and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.’(KJV)

Jesus took all our sins and made it as though we never sinned. Jesus made the Ten Commandments no longer condemning to us. He made us free from the burden of our sin and the Holy Spirit which now inhabits us should help us to attempt to keep those commandments, summed up in two commandments by Jesus for us ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul and love your neighbor as yourself.The first part covers the first five

commandments and the second part covers the last five. Jesus didn’t do away with the law, He only made man able to understand it and get closer to living by it.

Casting Pearls-Are YOU the follower that Jesus Loved?

The Apostle John often referred to himself as ‘the apostle (or Disciple) that Jesus loved’ . Why do you think he did so? If I was to go out to eat lunch with John Hagee and Billy Graham, I would refer to it as John Hagee, Billy Graham and the man that Jesus loved went out to eat lunch. So it was not really strange for John to refer to himself in that way. The real meaning behind that phrase is much deeper for us.

Love is what God wants us to show others and what He wants to show us as His love is unfathomable. When a High Priest presented the blood of the sacrifice for their sin to God in the Holy of Holies, God did not judge the people based on their sin or their sacrifice, He judged the High Priest who represented them. The good news for us is that we are being represented by the most perfect and Holiest High Priest it is possible to be represented by; the Lord Jesus Christ. It is His blood and His sacrifice that God judges for us.

This, by no means, is an excuse for us to sin. Jesus has already paid for everything we have done or are going to do, but this is not so that we could go on living our sinful lives, It is so we could have a second chance, a new start to get it closer to right. When we got ‘saved’ we were indwelled by the Holy Spirit that influences us to do what is right in all circumstances. We have to train ourselves to listen to the Holy Spirit and not the world around us, as it says in Romans 12:2, ‘be not conformed to the world; but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.’ 

Paul tried to explain this to the believers in Galatians 2:17-21 that they were not found to be acceptable before God due to their works in the flesh. You can’t pray, read the Bible, feed enough poor people, or heal enough sick people to make yourself acceptable to God. You have to be DEAD to the flesh and alive in Christ Resurrected with Him and letting the Holy Spirit live inside you. We are dead to being judged under the law, we are made acceptable to God by Jesus.

The Bible, God’s Word, says that Jesus is the only way to Heaven. We have to accept his forgiveness to get that forgiveness. In Luke 15:3-10, Jesus told His followers and those who listened, the parable of the lost sheep, Saying that if there was a shepherd who had a hundred sheep and just One wandered away, would the shepherd not leave the ninety nine alone to go look for the one, and having found it would he not put it on his shoulders and carry it back? The shepherd would then call all his friends together to have a big party to celebrate the one being found and returning to the group. Did the shepherd not go look for it, find it, carry it back, have a party for it’s return? What did the sheep do to get itself back to the flock? All it really did was agree to return. It did not run away from the shepherd when he came up to it. He consented to be picked up and carried back. We are the sheep and Jesus is the Good Shepherd who brings us back, all we have to do is accept that He will take us back to being able to have the relationship we want with God. The Holy Spirit indwelling  us leads us to do the good works and profess Jesus to the world.

Casting Pearls- Do you listen to your conscience?

Though it may seem as though Jesus has given us a free will to go ahead and sin, the Holy Spirit inside you when you are saved should prevent you from sinning. Some call it the prick of conscience, but the conscience can also be a bad thing. 

Conscience can lead someone to feel something about something that is God’s will to happen. If someone you know gets sick with a terminal disease, your conscience may make you feel bad for that person. God could be using that person , and their sickness to reach another. Let me give you an example; 

A pastor told me that there was a very faithful member of his Church that suddenly got sick with a terminal cancer. She asked that the pastor would come visit her at the hospital. This was relayed to him by someone who went to see her on Sunday. They had taken her a tape of his sermon to listen too. The hospital she was in was a Catholic hospital and did not normally have protestant faith literature in it for the patients. The pastor came to visit the woman in her shared hospital room on Monday morning. The woman said she listened to the sermon and wanted to have him meet the Churches newest convert, and introduced him to the woman in the other bed. The Lord had used the woman’s sickness to let her be a witness to the woman in the room with her. Later that day, the woman was tested and her cancer was suddenly gone! She was no longer dying!

We must be careful not to stop God from fulfilling His plan in whatever manner He sees fit. We can allow our feelings to get in the way of God’s will.  The most important thing we can do is to be in God's will. If we want to move mountains, we must make our wants for us the same as God's wants for us. When we are in God's Will, He can move anything out of our way.

Casting Pearls- Are we crucifying Christ again?

The people of Israel had been murmuring and complaining to Moses all along, they had ignored the miracles God had already done for them, they chose to focus on the problems of the here and now rather than think of all God had done for them up to this point. All of us are guilty of the same thing, we think only of where we are right now, not where we have been. We ignore the things God has done before in our lives and focus on where we are. 

As the old quote goes, to have a testimony, you must first go through a test. People are proud to tell others what they have gone through, they just don’t think of witnessing to others when they are going through the test. God allows us to go through troubles and tests so we will learn and so we will have a reason to be able to witness to others. The question is often asked, why does god allow these terrible things? This is often the reason why. 

In Exodus 17:1-7 The people of Israel had been in the desert for only days, when they began to run out of water for themselves and their livestock. they complained to Moses that he and God had only brought them out of Egypt and into the desert to let them die of thirst.  Moses prayed to God and he received an answer to go and take with him the Elders of Israel and go to the rock at Horeb. When you get there, ‘strike the rock’ and water will come out for you and the Children of Israel. Moses did as the Lord had told him and water did come from the rock to quench the thirst of all Israel. 

The rock is a shadow, or type, of Christ to show the Israelites and the Gentiles later, that Christ must be struck and from him living waters will flow. Christ was struck once for all men, past and present, who believe on Him. It says in 1 Corinthians 10:4, ‘and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ.’ 

For many years they wandered around that desert never allowed to enter the promised land that God had promised to them. Why did they just wander? God kept them in the desert wandering making a 11 day long trip into one that lasted 40 Years, so that God could attempt to teach them to rely on Him for the needs they had. Some years after their wandering had begun, Israel had again run out of water, Mirriam, the sister of Moses had just died, and buried in the desert there. Moses was tired and upset at the loss of his sister, yet even then the burden of leading Israel continued. The people rose up in opposition to Moses and his brother Aaron who God had appointed the High Priest of the people. They were out of water again and instead of calling out to God or asking Aaron to ask God for water, they chose to rise up against Moses. 

The people of Israel said the same things again, and murmured against God and Moses. They complained that Moses and God had brought them into the desert to leave them without water and let them die. Moses then asked God for them to provide water for them. God told Moses to bringing his rod with him , gather the congregation together along with his brother Aaron in front of the rock at that place and ‘speak to it’ and water will flow out for all the people to drink. 

Being tired and aggravated with the peoples murmuring against him God and even his brother Aaron, Moses was a bit angry when he gathered the people together there. On top of all that, he had recently experienced great loss in his sister Miriam dying. Moses said to the people, when he gathered them together, in Numbers 20: 6-13, that they were ‘rebels’ and did they want God to provide them water, well here it is, and struck the rock twice with his rod and water came out. 

The Lord then spoke to Moses and said he was  to speak to the rock, not strike it, Because of his disobedience he would lead the people to the Promised Land but would not be allowed to enter it himself. The Lord wanted Moses to let Him show His power to the Children of Israel, by just speaking to the rock and not by striking it as Moses did.

The Rock here is also a shadow of Christ. It also flows the living water for the Children of Israel, the difference here is that God wanted to show it did not need to be struck as before. Christ was struck down once for ALL sin, both what happened before, and what is yet to happen. We don’t need more forgiveness, we already have it. The Rock represents Christ's body and as the Bible says it was broken once for all men. By striking it again, he was striking the body of Christ again, and we do the same thing as WE are the body of Christ in this world. 

Whenever Christians are persecuted, whenever Christians are slandered, whenever Christians are even chastised by the supposed  preachers of the Gospel without good reason, when we beat ourselves up for a sin that has already been confessed to God, the world is crucifying Christ again. The devil takes joy in making Christ suffer again, but because God knows all things and has already forgiven all things, there is nothing Satan can do that Christ has not already paid the price for. 
                 This is not an excuse to be able to go out and sin, Christians should feel the urging of the Holy Spirit not to do anything that is a sin and if we find ourselves in a situation that is questionable, we should ask the Lord for guidance.  He will reveal to us which way we should go. Trust in the Lord, and place all your plans before Him. 

Casting pearls- Who wants to win something free!

Ever want something for nothing? Ever want to be the winner of a great lottery, or sweepstakes? God is offering that right now! He has a gift for anyone who is willing to believe on His Son, Jesus, Profess Jesus’ name before men, and that is all you must do. It is simple and it is free. It costs you nothing, only your willingness to receive.

The Christian religion is different from all the religions out there because it does not ask you to give anything to receive something. All other religions ask for something to prove yourself before you receive. The Christian religion doesn’t. It is really not fair to call Christianity a religion, it is more of a relationship. That is also one of the differences. 

  God desires a relationship with all believers, He loves them and wants them to return that love to Him. When you have a relationship with someone, you wish to spend a lot of time with them. Since there is no way to physically spend time with God, the Lord has provided the chance to spent time with His Word, The Bible. The Bible says in John 1:1 that Jesus was the Word in the beginning, He is the Word now, and the Word is God. Speaking of the Word of God which is the Bible. The Bible also says in 1 John 5:7 that there are three which bear witness in Heaven, The Father God, The Son Jesus, and The Holy Ghost.; these three are One! So, reading God’s Word is the same as spending time with Him, and Jesus, and The Holy Ghost.

  As believers in Jesus we should attempt to spend time with God every day. I personally spend time with God every morning to start my day off right. I also pray to Him every morning as God wants not only to speak to us, but to hear from us as well. We speak it in faith, knowing that the Lord already knows the things we need to pray about, we only need to show God our faith that He will move on these requests. Faith was how Abraham was able to show his righteousness, and it is how we show God our righteousness as well. It may be more to your liking to read God’s Word in the evening, It doesn't matter what time of day you spend with God, only that you do.

One of the Commandments of God is to Tithe to God a tenth of all you have. Do you give God a tenth of your time? Many people think that if they just give ten percent of their income they have given all that is required. They would be missing the real meaning. We all need to think about the time we have been given and the family we have been given, and the things we have been given, and anything we have been given by the Lord. We are required to give ten percent of it ALL. The Lord wants us to give up all control we think we have, to Him, and let Him take us where we need to go. Just as the ship that Paul was in on the way to Rome, we must not try to fight the storm, just allow it to blow us where He would have us and praise His name the whole time we are on the way there. 

You might say, well, that is asking something from me. I would tell you that if you have the Holy Ghost living inside you, you will want to do these things and more for The Lord. Spreading the Gospel to the people who need to hear will become important to you. What is truly sad is someone who has said ,well I am saved and thats enough. They have the Holy Ghost living inside but have ignored the calling of it to the point they are a detriment to God and His Church. They are so tied up in the things around them and the world that they don’t feel the urgings of the Spirit or help the Church to spread the Gospel of Jesus. 

  What all people must decide is wether they want to be in the world or to influence the world for Jesus. The world is watching you, are you wanting them to see everything about you? The programs we watch on TV are tracked, the sites you go to on the computer are tracked, the phone calls you make are tracked, the visits you make to the store are tracked, every time we do anything where a piece of electronics is involved is tracked. Our entire life can be tracked by the people, what kind of example are you? What do others see? Do they see what you want them to see? What kind of example are you setting for the world around you to follow.

The entire thing is that we are a example to the world in the life that we live. To be a good example and receive the free gift that Jesus is offering is what God desires us to do. The world says we have to give so much up to be a Christian but the truth is that you will gain so much more if you only will. 

Casting Pearls- Have you been arguing with an ass?

If we look in Numbers 22:20-36 we will see Balaam a wise seer who speaks the word of God as it comes to him. He hears the Lord speak and tells you God’s words. He had been sent for by Balak and those with him to put a curse on Isreal so they wouldn’t take over the land he was in and destroy his little kingdom. Balaam told Balak repeatedly, God will not curse them. Balak would not listen though. He thought maybe if I had Balaam right here in front of me,  he would have to go ahead and curse them. Balak then sent some of his men to have Balaam come to him.

When we get to the passage starting in verse 20, God speaks to Balaam and tells him if the men come and ask you to go with them to Balak, go with them. The men had already asked him to go, and as Balaam was willing to go with them and had permission from God, he went. God was angry with Balaam for going and Balak for asking him to come, but Balaam went anyway. God sent an angel to stand in the way of the Donkey, and it gave the angel a wide berth. It even left the road and went into a field to get away from the angel. Then the angel stood in a place where the road was walled on both sides and the donkey crushed Balaam’s foot trying to give the angel as much room as possible. Each time the donkey tried to get away from the angel, Balaam got angry because he couldn’t see the angel and he beat the donkey for disobeying. 

Finally, the angel stood in a spot in the road that was too narrow for the donkey to get around him, and the donkey just stopped and would go no farther. Balaam was very angry and began to beat the donkey with a stick. God then began talking through the donkey. The donkey[or ass] says to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you,Why have you beat me these three times?’. The ass continued, ‘ Am I not your ass, that you have ridden for a long time? Have I ever acted this way with you?, No.’ Balaam then spoke back to the ass saying, “ If I had a sword or a spear in my hand I would kill you.” Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes and he was suddenly able to see the angel, who had a sword drawn in his right hand, and he heard the angel speak, “ I was to block your way and kill you if you tried to pass, but these three times, the donkey saw me and shied away. If she had not turned away, I would have Killed you.” 

If we ever find ourselves arguing with someone that will not see the our opinion of the truth, no matter what we say, we should just stop. God may have placed them in our way to help us see ourselves and the real truth. Or they could be teaching us something we need to learn, about being humble and forgiveness. Not that they need to be forgiven because they are wrong, but we might need to be forgiven for the pride of thinking we are not wrong. We should see them as being a teaching tool that God is using to teach us the right way to act. 

Casting Pearls- Television, bad, Internet, Bad,

Television, when it first came out was said to be a evil influence on our children by many Christians.  As the devil loves it when we leave a vacuum for him to fill, he loved it when Christians left television free for him to influence. When radio became a viable thing for people to listen and be influenced by, Christians supported it fully and started many Christian radio stations that are still around today. We did not leave it to be open for the Devil to attack.

Just like back then with television, we now are dealing with another new form of information source, the internet, through computers, ipads, cell phones, etc. Again we have started out shunning this new information source. We have a choice, do we want to be a good influence on this new medium, or do we want to continue to leave it open to the devil.  By doing nothing, we make it to be open for the devil’s influence. I am  doing all I can from where I am to make it something that is a good influence on those who read what I put online for them to read. 

Ultimately, the individual user has the choice of my good information, or the bad information you can find out there. With television there is a rating system that we have started as an attempt by Christians to slow down the evil influence of television. I believe we should do the same thing on internet posts so that users could know before they go to a site if it contains something that would offend some people, or if our children should stay away. This would be simple for some people to make. Many web surfing programs can show a small preview of a site before we go to it, so how far fetched is it to think of something that would ‘broadcast’ a warning, if a site has questionable content,that the program could pick up. 

We can, right now, prevent internet surfers from going to sites that we know are bad, but we cannot block sites that are unknown to us prior to visiting them. Also some perverted people out there have took normal random misspellings of sites that children would go to and make sites that they will stumble on by misspelling their site. The evil one and the ones he controls have very much filled in the vacuum we left open for them.  As Christians we should continue to use what the devil has meant for evil for good, so that every day we get up the devil will say oh no, not him again!

Casting Pearls- Golden Rule

We all know what the Golden Rule says. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. But few have thought the same rule extends to God too. He did for us as He would have us do for Him. How many of us are willing to give our lives for our children, or our spouses? Our mothers or fathers, our granddads or grandmas? All of us can think of someone that we would try to lay our lives down to save. Why don’t we feel the same way toward the One who laid down His life for us?

The Bible says in John 13:34 Jesus said “ A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have Loved you, that you also love one another”. Jesus was telling us that as He was willing to lay down His life for us, we should be willing to lay down our lives for each other.We can all think of someone we would be willing to lay our lives down for, but we can also think of someone we wouldn’t help. Someone we wouldn’t give a bucket of water, if they were on fire. Can we love them too? Are we willing to lay our lives down for them? This command goes a lot further than we think. 

There are many different words for love in the Greek language. The one used here is Agape, meaning without reserve or reason. To love someone not because they deserve it but just because you want too. God loved all of us not because of anything we did. God loved us just because He wanted to love His children, Just because, you might say. We are God’s children because through Jesus we have been made Holy and been able to be adopted into the family of The Lord. I am unworthy, but I AM made me worthy with His Sons blood. The Lord loved us so deeply that He was willing to give up His own son for us so we would be acceptable in God’s sight.

As Christians we are called to show the same love to those around us. Now as a good Father, The Lord has to discipline His children sometimes, or show ‘tough love’ as we call it today. This is still in keeping with God’s commandment. We only need to remember the verse 2 Timothy 4:2 which exhorts us to “ preach the word; be instant in season; out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.” So we need to be ready, both when we prepare, and when we don’t, to let others know what is right, what is acceptable behavior, what is right for them to be involved in, and teach them to recognize these things themselves, but to do so in a loving and gentile manner, as in 1 Peter 3:15 where the Bible says to “ sanctify  The Lord God in your hearts; and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” 

We all should be ready to lovingly rebuke and witness the reasons why we have a hope in Jesus. “My hope lies in nothing less, than Jesus love and righteousness.” There is a reason, for us all to hope, and we are called, as Christians, to tell the world  that they can have that hope too. This fulfills the Great Commission from Jesus, to go out and tell the world about Him.

Casting Pearls - Religion or Relationship?

                          Today the people overwhelmingly claim to be Christian. Approximately 87% of Americans claim to be Christian, yet how many claim a religion and not a relationship with Christ? Most of these people are claiming they are part of the Christian religion, not that they have a personal relationship with Jesus. They believe in the lie the world tells that they only have to believe Jesus was the messiah and they will be saved. To be Saved is much more complicated than that. 

                          Satan believes that Jesus was the Messiah and is more than willing to say so, we are called to go further than that. Jesus wants us to have a relationship with Him. If you know a boy or girl that you are interested in you will strive to spend as much time with them as possible. Even missing out on things you would normally do so you can spend time with them. Well, to spend time with Jesus all you have to do is read His Word. The Bible says in John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word(Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God". So from this verse alone we know that Jesus is thew Word of the Bible and to spend time with Jesus and hear what He has to say to you, all you need do is read His Words in the Bible.

                          Most people today don't want to give up their supposedly valuable time to spend a few minutes with Jesus each day. If these people want the blessings that God promises in His Word, They will want to have s personal relationship with Jesus. Many people say, "Not yet" or "I'll get around to it, we have a lot of time" . These people are fooling themselves, there is not much time to get right with the Lord, the signs we were told by Jesus, Matthew, Mark, John, Paul, Peter, James, and all the New Testament writers, given the words to write by God Himself, are all coming true around us and the time of Jesus' return is near. With all the hints we have that Jesus is coming back soon, there is nothing that tells us the exact date of His return. 

                          God does not tell us the exact date, because if we were to know, we would just wait until the day of His return to straighten up our lives. To have a relationship with Jesus, we are commanded by God to clean up and straighten up our lives now so we will be ready at His return. We should desire to tell more people about Jesus, and convince them to be saved, so even more will make it to Heaven at Jesus' return. 

                         We are given a choice, Love this world, our life here, the things we have, and people we have relationships with, or, Love Jesus, and receive the things of this world, the People we have relationships with, and all the good things of this life. You see, you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain by giving your life and your heart to Jesus, and everything to gain.

Casting Pearls- Dribbling a Football

How often do we go through life and question if God is really interested in the things happening to us. We struggle through a family member dying or a divorce, or a injury or sickness, or something like that, and we want to ask God why are you doing this, or God why are you allowing this. Our problems are nothing new in the experience of man.  The depression we feel as we are feeling left out of the plan for our own lives  seems too great to bear. We ask Why?. 

Living for Jesus is like dribbling a football, if your lucky the ball will bounce right back up to you. Maybe it will continue too for a time or two but eventually it will bounce off in some other direction that we weren't planning for it to go. Our lives are just the same, we travel along making plans for where we will go with this education or that training, and wherever we turn, something new could influence us to head off in a completely new direction. The direction we head in may be a good one or a bad one. 

If we look in Matthew Chapter 11:2 we will see just the situation we are dreading happen to someone that we don’t think deserves it. In 11:2  we see John The Baptist in prison, being held by Herod The King of Galilee. John had heard of the works of Jesus the man he thought to be the Messiah. He had been held for some time and even though he had heard, even in prison about Jesus, he was beginning to doubt as he was not released from prison, even though he had come as a forerunner of the Messiah, Jesus. He had starved himself in fasting, had eaten only wild honey and locusts, had lived in the wilderness and never had a home as such. After all he had done for Jesus the Messiah, could he not be released from jail? Or was Jesus really the one that was the Messiah? 

John had all these doubts and wanted to make sure Jesus remembered him and his struggle. So, John sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus, ‘Are you really the Messiah, or should we look for another?’. How often in our lives do we get so caught up in ourselves and our situations that we question our own beliefs? 

Jesus simply said to the disciples to go and tell John what you have “seen” and heard, we see in verse 4. Jesus went on talking in verse 5&6, and said, “the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk,the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.”. The most important part is the last, to not be offended in Jesus.

As followers of Jesus, we are to expect troubles and trials and suffering, but whatever we have to face, we should never be offended by Jesus. The troubles of the world will come and then will go, and nothing in this world can have any lasting effect on us but the saving knowledge of Jesus. It is only through Jesus and our faith in Him that we will have eternal life. The world can have and destroy if it wants, this mortal body. Because my immortal soul will then be with Jesus in Heaven. The ultimate reward that is greater than anything we could ever receive here. That is where John the Baptist would be rewarded for his sacrifices for the Lord. Jesus went on to talk about John in 11:11&12, Jesus said that John the Baptist was a great man here on earth, but even the least important that was already in Heaven was greater than he would be here. No amount of praise by men could ever be equal to the praise that even the least worthy in Heaven would receive. 

We might have to face trials and troubles or sicknesses here in  this body, but the greatest praise will come when we are allowed to go to Heaven. There is no comparison here on earth. Whatever we have to go through, it will be for God’s glory in the end. Even the least of the people mentioned in the Bible, was alive, and lived their life so that we, as Christians, could read about them and learn from them the things which God would have us understand. 

Casting Pearls - Never Forget....

                     On this day, 9/11/2013 as Americans we remember the Sacrifice made and the price paid by the people on the planes and those we lost in the Trade Center. As Christians we should honor those who paid with their lives and have since paid with their lives in the wars stemming from this action. there is no way we can express the true regret and loss we feel. There is nothing we can do, the memorials, the statues, the ceremonies, all add up to nothing in comparison. All of those people involved have laid down their lives in one way or another for ours.
                    While we remember the sacrifices made by those people, much greater than these was the sacrifice that Jesus and the Lord our Father made for us all. Everyone knows the verse in John 3:16, but few remember the next verse, John 3:17, that says, "For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through Him might be saved." Jesus told us this to let His disciples, and us in future generations know that whatever we face, the Lord has come to save us, not to condemn us. We can never live up to Jesus' example but we don't have too. Jesus came not to condemn us but to save us.
                     As the tribulation as described in Revelation, Daniel and Jeremiah, as well as elsewhere in God's Word, draws near we will face greater troubles and persecutions. The true Christians will face great troubles for their beliefs. It will separate those who are professing Christians from those who are possessing Christians, and really have the saving grace of God in their hearts. Each of us has the choice to make if we are going to truly follow Jesus or not.
                    In Daniel 7:25-27 the saints (followers of Christ) will be persecuted and tried by the great ruler, but those who stand firm will be given to these Saints(followers of Christ) and the great ruler will be tried and judged by the court, and found guilty. No matter what we may have to face in the days to come, the Lord is with us and we can call on the Lord's strength to see us through whatever may come. In Phillipians 4:13 the Bible states that 'we can do ALL things through Christ, who strengthens us.'
                    All we need do is to call on God to grant us to face the troubles to come and no matter what, we will overcome. Wether the strength of God is needed to face a loss or a trial, God gives us the strength to overcome and be victorious. All we need do is praise Him, even in the midst of the storms of life, praise God and God will provide you the strength to face up to whatever may come. This is why we can face up to the troubles that come and remember the troubles we have come through to remind us that even at what we thought was our worst, God was with us and carried us through.

Casting Pearls- Faith or Mammon, Which do we serve?

                     In Matthew 6:24 we find that Jesus is telling us that we have a choice of serving God, or Money. EIther we serve one or the other, they are not mutually exclusive but both are very different. We must either serve one or the other. Which ever one we serve, we must HATE the other to serve the one. God's ministry must needs have money to reach out in this world, and if we love money, we HATE and shortchange God. God is the original maker of money, or mammon, and all things in this world, so you must love the maker or the thing he made. In 1Timothy 6:17 the Bible says to tell them that are rich in the things of this world, that they should not be high  minded and trust in their riches, but rather trust in God who gives us everything we have. Or James 4:4 which states that we act like a cheating spouse when we give our allegiance to the things of this world instead of Christ. To love the things of this world that you have more than God, who made them, is the same as being an enemy of God's.
                     Then we go on to Matthew 6:25-28 where Jesus says that we should not worry about the things of this life. Our food, drink, and even clothes will be provided, if we only trust in the Lord and let Him have control. Jesus gives the examples of birds, and then  later on of the flowers. neither really work or plant but both are well fed and clothed beautifully. If you think of the most finest dressed person you know, are the flowers not more beautiful than they are? Jesus gives the example of Solomon in verse 29 as he was the richest and most fancily dressed man from that time. In verse 30 Jesus says if God clothes even the grass in the field so beautifully and feeds it so well, when it will only be here for a short time then burned up or used as food for the sheep, do we not think He will not do the same for us? In Job 38:41 the Bible states that ' doesn't the Lord even feed the ravens and their young? If one of them were to cry out in hunger, God would even hear them. '
                      In verse 31, the Bible quotes Jesus as saying, that we should not take up our time even thinking on the food or clothes or drink for the day ahead, as will provide all we are in need of. Thinking and worrying about such things will not help us or anybody else, neither will it provide any of it for us. We see in  verse 32, the Bible says, the things of this world is what  the world seeks after, and we should keep our minds on God's riches and save up in our heavenly account instead  of here. The things God provides to us here, in this life, are only to be used by us in the building up of God's kingdom, not ours. That leads us to verses 33&34  where Jesus says that we are not to plan for tomorrow or worry about it, not to say planning is a bad thing altogether, but if we worry about any of it we are showing a lack of faith in God!  It is fine to plan if this and tis and this happen, then I'll do that, but don't let it become your sole focus. Let God be the one in control. Some people say I gave control of it to God and nothing great happened, well maybe you didn't give up complete control of things to God. Did you give up control of your funds, your things, yourself, Your provisions? the common theme in all these things is YOU! YOUr funds, YOUr things, YOUr provisions, YOUrself. The main problem with giving God control is YOU.
                     There was a man in England who was raised on the 'wrong side of the tracks' so to speak, named George Mueller 1805-1898, Who was not the greatest Christian to begin with, and even got in some trouble as a youth, then when he was a young man, he was sent to be trained in a Christian college by his father and try and become an evangelist, after going to college and not having enough money to pay the tuition he broke down and actually began to pray to the God who he had before just made fun of, Soon a knock came at his bedroom door and it was a servant of the proctor of the college, asking him to become a tutor and the job would pay enough to cover all his upcoming college expenses, This is when the trust in prayer to God began. Mr. Muller was known for having started over ten different orphanages with over Ten thousand children having grown up in them. He never ran an ad to hire someone or tried to get donations from people, he merely prayed for God to provide, and He did. The part in the Lord's prayer about give us this day our daily bread, was personified in his actions. For over forty years he ran the various orphanages and started almost 120, Christian schools which educated over 120,000  children. Never once asking anyone for funds or help with the exception only of God Himself. Later at the age of 70, having outlived his first wife and getting remarried, he began 17 years of missionary evangelism.
                   Mr. Muller traveled all around Europe and overseas to Canada and the United States, preaching and spreading God's Word. He paid his own fare for traveling from the unsolicited gifts given him on his travels, and even once or twice had someone pay for him to travel on to his next stop. In one well known and documented instance, Mr. Muller had the headmistress of one of the orphanages bring the some 130 children in to the dining room for breakfast, though nothing had arrived yet for them to eat. He prayed and thanked God for the food they were about to receive, and right after he finished praying, the doorbell rang, it was the local baker, who explained that he woke up a 3am feeling as though he should bake some bread and bring it to the orphanage. Soon afterwards a milk delivery man came up and said his wagon wheel had broken on his wagon and all the milk he had with him would ruin before anyone could come and fix it, so would they want five large canisters of milk which just filled 130 glasses. After breakfast each day was a time given to bible reading and prayer and every child upon leaving the orphanage, was given a small tin trunk with two changes of clothes and a Bible.
                  Would that we all had that kind of faith in God and all that He provides. If we can move YOU out of the way God is more than able to provide.