God and government...

"Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.  It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God."--Deuteronomy 17:18-19.  This verse is looking forward to the time when Israel would decide they would want an earthly  king.  When this time comes, one of the first regulations is that the king should retain a copy of God's law and read it so that he may learn to fear God.  This verse is dealing with God and government.

God and government.  It is definitely no secret that as we read through the Old Testament, specifically through the books of Kings and Chronicles we see that the majority of kings neglected God's law and brought problems to the nations of Israel and Judah.  This reminds me of Proverbs 14:34 which states "Righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a disgrace to any people."

God and government.  As Christians, this concept of problems being caused in a nation due to the neglect of God's law should not be foreign to us.  Unless we have been hiding under a rock somewhere, it is clear that God's law is being neglected  in our government.  Attempts are being made left and right to remove any and all evidence of God from our courtrooms and our classrooms.  I am not here this morning to make a political statement because the real question we need to ask ourselves as Christians is what can we do about it?

Many of us would probably be tempted to say things like go and vote for such and such a cause.  This is all well and good and it is definitely wise.  However, I am here to make another suggestion.  As Christians, it is going to take more than just going to the voting booth to make a difference in our nation today.  There is another area where Satan has made his typical back door entrance into our nation and that is in the classroom.  You might be asking what the classroom has to do with this concept of God and government but please bear with me.

We all know that the classroom is the training ground for the America of tomorrow.  The classroom has become a pulpit for those trying to plant seeds of doubt in our children's mind about our God.  We would be naive to believe that our own children are immune to this.  I recently heard a stat that said it takes 4 Christian adults to get one faithful child of God into the next generation.  But again, how does this relate to the concept of God and government?

This relates to the concept of God and government because making a difference in our nation becomes a little more practical when we make that difference through our children.  Parents or not, us older Christians have a responsibility towards the next generation to do everything we can to equip them so that their faith stands up to the test when our government does everything they can to remove God from national life.  If you are a teacher, especially in the public school system, with wisdom you have a prime opportunity to make a difference for God's kingdom and in our nation through the pulpit that you occupy in the classroom.  Of course we won't see a difference over night but if we plant the seeds and water them God will give the increase.  We can start this battle small by simply sharing a Bible verse or having a Bible study with our children.  My prayer is that Christians everywhere do all they can to make a difference when it comes to God and government.

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!

The heart...

"Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the Lord has said to you, 'You shall never again return that way.'  He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself."-- Deuteronomy  18:16-17.  Moses, warning against the accumulation of things as it can cause the heart to turn away.

The heart.  This particular issue of course is a very broad topic because the Scriptures speak everywhere about how easily the heart can turn away from the Lord.  In this particular passage, we see that the accumulation of goods can cause the heart to turn away from the Lord.

The heart.  Needless to say when we are talking about the heart, we are not talking about the organ that pumps blood through our system.  When we speak of the heart, we are talking about the very seat of our emotions and our will.   So how does the accumulation of material goods impact our heart, the seat of our emotions and our will?  Also, before I go any further my intent here is not to suggest that wealth is a bad thing.  My point here is simply to show how the accumulation of material goods can cause our heart to turn from the Lord.

So the question is how, how does the accumulation of material goods cause our heart to turn from the Lord?  This last Sunday when we were praying for the offering at Sunday services, the person saying the prayer said that with blessings come great responsibility.  That really got me to thinking because it is so true.  We do not by any means deserve the blessings that God has given us, material or otherwise.  That being said, when God gives us said blessings, He expects us to treat those blessings with the utmost care and that includes our money.  God has lined out in Scripture how we ought to use our money including instructing us to give a portion back to Him in 1 Corinthians 16:1-2.  But our blessings our not isolated to material goods.

Recently, I have received one of the greatest blessings I could ever ask for but it is not a material object, she is a person.  She is the girl that stole my heart.  However, what I constantly remind myself of is the fact that she is a blessing from God Himself and with that comes the responsibility to treat her with the utmost care.

The heart.  I bring up people in this discussion as well because Deuteronomy 18:16-17 also touches on the accumulation of wives causing the heart to turn away.  Of course, in today's society the accumulation of wives is not a major issue but the principle still applies.  If we find ourselves trying to please people left and right and then forget about pleasing God, our heart can turn away from the Lord.  When God places on us the blessing of the responsibility to care for another person, be it a boy/girlfriend, spouse, child or even just a friend, it is our responsibility to care for that person as the Lord would have us to care for that person. Ephesians 5:21-6:9 is a great passage on how to do this practically.  This may involve patience, humility, and not to mention self control among so many other things.

These are all issues of the heart.  Again, the heart is a very broad topic.  In this case, we have looked at how the accumulation of blessings can ironically turn the heart away from the Lord.  My encouragement to you this morning is simply this.  Go back to the Scriptures to find ways that you can use your blessings to the glory of God.  I have given a couple of examples in this blog.

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!


 

Enemies...

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."--Matthew 5:43-44.  Jesus, taking people's relationship with their enemies to a whole new level.  Here, Jesus tells us a familiar command which is in two parts, to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us.

Enemies.  Whether we choose to realize it, we all have enemies.  We might not call them that but we all have those people in our lives that we just seem to constantly be at odds with for whatever reason.  It might be something as simple as a personality difference or you just don't get along for any given reason. The question we need to ask ourselves in light of Matthew 5:43-44 is what do we do when we encounter our "enemies"?

Enemies.  Well we already know Jesus tells us to love our enemies but how do we do that?  Or more to the point, why should we do it?  I will attempt to answer these two questions and we will also look also at why we should pray for those who persecute us as our enemies may be these very people.

Love your enemies.  When I have looked at the concept of loving our enemies in the past, I thought it meant not much more beyond simply turning the other cheek.  However, while taking another look at this verse, there is more to loving our enemy than simply tolerating them.  Loving our enemies is more practical in nature than that.  Proverbs 25:21-22 tells us that if we are kind to our enemy we will heap burning coals on his head.  Every time I read this verse I am reminded of the old adage "Kill them with kindness."  The beautiful thing about loving our enemies is that if we put forth enough effort, we may quickly find that our enemy soon becomes our friend.  While this may be true this still begs the question, why?  Why should we love our enemies? Well aside from the command, our motivation should also be the fact that you and I were also enemies of God.  If we have  obeyed the gospel, we have gone from being enemies of God to being children of God.  God loved His "enemies" enough to send His Son to die for their (our) sins.  If nothing else, that should be our primary motivation to love our enemies.  But what about praying for those who persecute us?

Those who persecute us.  As faithful Christians, persecution in some form or fashion is a guarantee (2 Timothy 3:12).  While I can't claim I have suffered persecution anywhere near to the extent the early Christians did, I have had to put up with more minor forms.  What I mean for example is being ridiculed for standing up for what God says to us through His Word.  But I still choose to pray for these people.  Do not be discouraged if you are ever persecuted for your faith.  Pray for those who persecute you.  When we face discouragement from persecution, remember that Paul was one of the greatest persecutors of the church and if he could be converted, there is a chance for everyone.

In conclusion, my encouragement to you is this.  If there is someone you consider your enemy, I challenge you to go out of your way to perform some random act of kindness for them such as going out to lunch with them or offering to help them in some way.  This can go a long way.  Furthermore, continue to pray for those who persecute you because you never know, they might convert through your efforts or those of another.

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!

Investigation...

Image courtesy of Simon Howden

"If there is found in your midst, in any of your towns, which the Lord your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, by transgressing His covenant, and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them...and if it is told you and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire thoroughly."--Deuteronomy 17:2-4.  Here Moses tells the people how they ought to handle it if the situation arises when someone is said to have been unfaithful to the Lord.  They ought to conduct an investigation.

Investigation.  So yesterday we had our first day of classes at the Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver.  Prior to the beginning of class I posted something on Facebook regarding the beginning of classes.  It was nothing bad.  However, a comment was made in response to this post that I thought was serious and I thought this person thought I meant something negative by what was said.  Therefore, I had to go to this person to clear the air.  Turns out said person was actually only joking.  Although I was kind of frustrated the situation happened, in the end I was glad I took care of it because it clarified my misunderstanding.  Furthermore, I was encouraged in this aspect by my wonderful girlfriend because she also thought it was good that I cleared the air regarding the situation instead of letting that misunderstanding sit there.  

So why do I bring this up and how does it fit in to Deuteronomy 17:2-4?  As already stated. Moses is commanding the people to investigate the matter if someone is said to have been unfaithful to God.  Now there was nothing of this nature involved in the situation I just described but the principle still applies, I had to conduct an investigation to clear a misunderstanding regarding what I heard because there was a chance I had misconstrued what was said.  Obviously, even among the Lord's church, this can still happen today where something will be said or heard and get entirely misconstrued and left hanging without an investigation. 

Investigation.  So why investigate?  Oftentimes when we take a matter at face value and fail to investigate, it creates a bigger problem.  What happens is that we will talk to everyone else about what we think is true and never go to the person.  This leads to gossip and slander and the person involved is none the wiser about why all of a sudden people are acting differently towards him or her.  In Matthew 18:15-20, the instructions are clear that we ought to go directly to our brother (or sister) before we go to anyone else if he or she has sinned.  What has been heard may be true but on the flipside, it may not be true at all.  If we fail to investigate matters in a more thorough manner, then we fail to please God and furthermore, we fail at restoring what could be a soul in danger of hell fire.  

So what does this all mean to us?  My encouragement to you in this aspect is simply this.  If you know of a situation or have heard of a situation that has not yet been handled, encourage those involved to look deeper into the matter to get it resolved.  We can't let these kinds of situations fester as this only causes them to get worse. 

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS! 

Junk...

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici

"But if it has any defect, such as lameness or blindness, or any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God."--Deuteronomy 15:21.  Moses, regarding animal sacrifices, reminding the people that whatever they offer is to be the very best.  God does not want junk.  

Junk.  In the last blog that I wrote we looked at the fact that God wants to be first in everything, including in our material gains.  God does not want junk.  As a disclaimer, I just want to say up front, this particular blog might step on some toes and make some people uncomfortable but I think this is something we all need to be reminded of, myself included.  

Junk.  Consider for a moment the image above.  It's a pretty disgusting sight isn't it?  This is an image from a scrap metal yard taken by the gentleman acknowledged above.  The image above is not something we would probably want to look at for an exorbitant amount of time.  But let me ask you this, have we ever taken time to step back and ask ourselves if what if God sees our sacrifices, financial in this case in the same way we look at the image above, with disgust.  What if God sees our "sacrifices" as junk? 

Junk.  I was reminded of the fact that God wants our very best in a couple of different ways over this last weekend alone.  First, it was Sunday morning during the prayer for our offering at services where the person praying recognized that with blessings come great responsibility.  Second, last night during the sermon, our preacher at the Bear Valley Church of Christ reminded us of Luke 12:48 which says that to him whom much has been given, much will be required.  So this begs the question how much has God given us? As a result, how much is He requiring of us?  

The fact that God has given us much. Nay, I would go so far as to say He has given us everything due to the fact that He gave His Son to die for our sins thereby meeting our greatest need.  However, it is no secret that God stopped there.  God continues to shower us with blessings day in and day out, whether we recognize it or not.  Even after meeting our greatest need through the gospel message,  God continues to bless us.  Simply put, this is all because of how much He loves us.  So if this is the case, how can we even think to give Him nothing more than our "scrap metal" or simply what is left over, our junk???  

So what does this all mean to us?  Well God wants the first of everything we have.  God wants the best of everything we have.  Of course, we are no longer required to sacrifice animals but God still expects us to give back and yes that includes with our money.   My encouragement to you this morning is this.  With the next paycheck you get, instead of thinking of all the bills you have to pay, first decide how much to give back to God and then figure out your bills second.  After all, isn't it God that has given you the means to be able to make your bills in the first place???  If you are already of this mindset, my encouragement is to try to give more.  After all,  God wants more than just junk.  

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!  

The first...

"You shall consecrate to the Lord your God all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock; you shall not work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock."--Deuteronomy 15:19. Moses, telling the Israelite people that the first of everything they have belongs to God.

The first.  As a society, we are living in a "me first" kind of world.  In the corporate world, people are trying to get to the top.  In schools, many students are vying to be the top of their class.  On any given game show and/or reality show, people are trying to get in a position of being first.  Also in any given sports competition, people are trying to get first place such as in the most recent Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees series for the American League Divisional Series.  The Yankees and Tigers were vying to be in first place but as most of us know, the Tigers won out and were first.  Sorry to all you Yankees fans.  This is simply the kind of society we live in.

The first.  Given that we live in a world with a "me first" mindset, we have all but forgotten what God has to say on the subject and that is that God wants us to have a "me second and God first" kind of mindset.  God wants to be the first in everything we do.  And I do mean EVERYTHING.  Just this week I spoke with my best friend Kenny and my other friend Rachel about the direction we are headed with our lives.  These were two entirely separate conversations but what they both had in common was that both Kenny and Rachel talked about ending up where God wants us to end up even if it doesn't match up with where we want to end up.  Keep that mindset Kenny and Rachel!!!  This attitude is a great example of a "me second and God first" mindset.  God wants to be the first every time whether it's in our career choices, the decisions we make on a daily basis and as we learn from Deuteronomy 15:19, God also wants to be the first in our life events and material gains.

The first.  In Deuteronomy 15:19 Moses instructs the people to consecrate or to sanctify the first of all the Israelite people had whether it was their children or their animals.  The first of anything is what we give the most attention to because of the value it carries.  Think about it.  How excited were you when you got your first car? How excited were you when you got your first job and that first paycheck? How about your first apartment or your first house?  Or in the case of Deuteronomy 15:19, how about your first child?  There is just something special about that first anything and it is that first anything for which God should be especially thanked.

The first.  Now while today we are no longer required to take our first fruits to a temple to show it to some priest, God still expects us to give the first of everything back to Him.  And He does expect the FIRST, not what is left over.  Yes, at this point I am talking about our money.  Too often we will get that paycheck and decide what bills we need to pay and how much we can play with before it even crosses our mind how much we need to give back to the Lord.  We need to first think of how much we can give to the Lord and then think about our other things because the Lord comes first ALWAYS.  Something I am still getting better at myself.

So my encouragement to you this morning is this.  Whether it's with your life decisions or with your money, put God first by going to Him in prayer but also by taking a look at your budget.  See if there is somewhere you can cut some corners so that you can give more to the Lord in your contribution this coming Sunday.  My prayer is that we keep the "me second and God first" kind of attitude.  If we do, everything else will begin to fall into place.

PRAY ABOUT IT! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!
         

The Extra Mile...

"Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two."--Matthew 5:41.  Here Jesus is beginning a discourse on how to deal with our enemies.  It is here in this context that we learn that we are to love our enemies.  More specifically in this verse we are told to go the extra mile.

The extra mile.  Going the extra mile is a familiar saying to all of us.  What this means is doing more than expected.  Doing more than just the bare minimum.

The extra mile.  A lot of times we are going to be asked to do something we do not necessarily want to do.  The question becomes what do we do then?  Go the extra mile.

The extra mile.  More often than not, when we do more than is expected of us, it makes an impression on people.  It shows people that despite the fact that we might not want to do whatever it is we are asked to do, we are still making a choice to put our best foot forward.  This makes an impression on people when you go the extra mile.

The extra mile.  So how can we apply this to our Christianity?  We know that there are people out there that we don't necessarily like.  Furthermore, these people might ask us to do something for them.  What do we do then?  Again, go the extra mile.

The extra mile.  The funny thing about people we don't like, "enemies" if you will is that if we make a choice to serve them and even if they don't ask us to, the relationship can slowly begin to change.  This is one major benefit of going the extra mile with our enemies or those people we might not necessarily like.  There are other passages that speak about doing good to our enemies but tonight we are looking at what Jesus says about the situation.  The fact that the relationship can change is one of the major benefits of going the extra mile.

The extra mile.  So my encouragement to you tonight is this.  GO THE EXTRA MILE!  This will take swallowing and maybe even chewing some of our pride.  We all have one or more people we don't necessarily like.  My encouragement or even my challenge to you tonight is to go that person you probably can't stand and do some kind of act of service for him or her.  Easier said than done I know but that's just the point when we go THE EXTRA MILE!

PRAY ABOUT IT! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!