Casting Pearls- Are you paying attention?

The more and more I look at the social sites of today the more I see the example of what growing up in a modern society has done for the people of today. They are caught up with little bits and bites of cute little sayings that seem to express their feelings, but never actually put across any important points. Their minds are even stretched by reading a blog like mine. I have found that the books I was brought up reading, are totally inappropriate to todays mindset. We are conditioned by TV and being able to receive an entire message about whatever we need to think about something in a 30 second spot. If it takes more than 30 seconds, it must be very important or it must be entertaining.
        Our attention span has been shortened by the instant and throw away lives we live. We spend our moments in front of a TV or a computer screen and are conditioned ny these things to be inspired by small sound bites and bits of information we receive. When we get only a small part of the information about something, we are left to assume the rest of the information regarding it.No one gives us all the information because we no longer can keep the attention span required to read through all the information about something. As Christians, we are left with the situation of attempting to reach people trapped in this lifestyle with only a few short words to catch their attention. If we can catch their attention, we can then go on to tell them in more detail about Jesus’ plan for their lives.
        Once we get someone’s attention we can begin teaching them in more detail about the plan God has for their lives and how Jesus plans to use them to spread His message of salvation to the world.The world is lost, not because it is evil, but because we are as mankind inherently evil. It has been passed on to us from Adam and Eve, who brought sin into this perfect world God made for us. If it were not for this we would not need a sacrifice or intercessor to make us worthy in God’s sight. With Jesus as our advocate, when God looks at us He sees Jesus kiving in us instead of our sinful selves. It is Only through Jesus that we are made worthy to be in God’s presence. We have an eternal home in Heaven because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us.
        Without some way of reaching people to bring them into the group listening to our teaching about Jesus, we cannot get them to hear the Gospel. God has given us the quotes we need and the interesting quips we need to reach out to the lost world. All that is left is for us to bring to them the Gospel message.

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- Are there false teachers or false followers?

There are many different divisions in both the Churches and the Scriptures of God. It is estimated that a new version of the Bible is brought out about every six months. As of the last count, there are over 3000 different denominations of the Christian Church. All of this is prophesied to come about by Jesus and was already a problem in the time of Paul in the Early Church.
        If we look in 1st Corinthians 1:11-15 the same problem was beginning in the Church in Corinth. Some of the people had begun to say they were right in the way they believed since they were followers of different ones, like Apollos, or Cephas(peter), or Paul. Paul warns them that he has received reports of them being divided in their following of Jesus and claiming they were followers of different ones who in and of themselves were believers in Jesus, but none of them was greater than another.
        It is the same today with people who follow the teachings of DL Moody, or Oswald Chambers, or even Billy Graham. None of these men are any better than the others. They were all men and sinful in their nature. As Paul said in 1st Corinthians 1:13, was Dr. Moody Crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Billy Graham? Is Christ divided so?It is not important who our teachers are, it is only important that we believe correctly in Jesus and what the Scriptures say about Him.
        If we don’t believe in the Scriptures, then how then can we believe in Jesus’ Crucifixion, or Resurrection, Much less His Salvation. It is pivotal to our belief in Jesus that we are able to believe in The Word of God. If we continue on in this vein of thought, we must beware of those who will teach us falsely in the Word’s of God.
        In the Bible book of 2nd Peter 3:17 we are warned that we should know the Bible so we can know when we are being led astray by the ‘wicked’. The word here refers to a candle wick that is twisted to be used in a candle. Just like a wick, many verses in the Bible are ‘Twisted’ from their original meanings to be made to represent the false teachings of those who would lead the very elect astray. The term here is also used to refer to witchcraft.
        We are told in the next verse 2nd Peter 3:18 that knowledge of the Scriptures will help us to grow in the Grace of the Knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord. We should beware in these days following to closely any one man as no man is good, no not one. The only one who was ever Good in all ways and lived a sinless life, was Crucified for our sins, was buried in a borrowed tomb, and rose again on the third day to show His triumph over death and the cross. Again, as God has over and over again, He took what the Devil meant for evil and used it for good, to make a way to heaven for all mankind.
        Now this in no way means to imply that any of the ministers mentioned here are false prophets or misleading people. The people themselves are making these men mislead them from following the teachings of Jesus and the Word of God. The men themselves have done nothing wrong.   When the world begins to follow the man instead of God, it makes the problem only true faith in God can solve.

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- Are you Merry This Christmas?

        Everybody tells other people ‘Merry’ Christmas’ but how many people know exactly what is meant by the words they say. The meaning of Christmas is pretty much self explanatory but I’ll explain it anyway. Christ-mas is actually a two part word, it is about why the day is special, it is when we celebrate the birth of Christ. and the second part of the word is mas which is short for mass or church service.
        The part that is confusing to some is the word Merry. There have been many explanations, including that it is meant to represent the mother of Christ, Mary. The most common explanation is that Merry means Joyful or Happy. It means so much more though. If we understand the Old English meaning of Merry it becomes much more evident.
        In the Old English it was used to represent both Happy or Joyful, and also to represent Mighty or Strong. It is most commonly seen used that way in the song ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ in which it refers to the Mighty or Very Influential Gentlemen. The world today has tried to change the meaning to be more acceptable to the current definition by placing a comma between Merry and Gentlemen. You will not find this in the older versions of the song.
        The other thing about Christmas is the short way it is said, Xmas.  Many people believe it is only a short way to say it and leave Christ out of Christmas. Most people do not understand that the Greek word for Christ is Χριστός and the letter X is a short way to say Χριστός. Saying Xmas is not leaving Christ out, it is only a short way of saying Christ in Greek and was started by the Roman Catholics when they began to use English commonly and were still using Greek for some of their Bible editions. They Simply used the X to hold the place of Christ in some words that were still written in the Greek and the X was an abbreviation for the greek word for Christ, just like JC is commonly used for abbreviating Jesus Christ today.

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.