Honest: December 11, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015.


HONEST

DEFINITION:

Having a sense of honor; upright; sincere; truthful; genuine; not deceptive or fraudulent; having integrity

SCRIPTURE:

Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God. Acts 5:4.

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are His delight. Proverbs 12:22.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

In the book of Acts (above) God gives us a sobering example of how He views dishonesty. God was moving in the hearts of many of the members of the church. Together some believers agreed to sell their land and give all of the profits to the church to meet the needs of the poor. Both Ananias and Sapphira also sold their land and were expecting commendation for their generous giving to the church. But the couple kept some of the money while dishonestly declaring that they had given the whole amount to the church.

The apostle Peter knew what they had done and asked Ananias, “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?” Peter went on to rebuke them by saying that they had not lied to men but to God. We need to note that God responded not because they did not give all the profits to the church but because they were dishonest in saying they gave all to the church. God’s judgement was immediate and they fell down dead.

One of the Ten Commandments simply and clearly says that we are not to bear false witness (lie). There are no degrees of honesty You are either an honest person or a dishonest person.

An understanding of honesty begins when we recognize that God, who is our ultimate example, is truth and that He cannot lie. God hates falsehoods and makes it clear in the scriptures that Satan is the originator of all lies. Peter knew immediately that the source of Ananias’s and Sapphire’s lie was Satan.

In Proverbs 13:5 we read that a righteous man hates lying. In 1 Corinthians 13:6 we read that love rejoices in truth. God expects people who trust the Word of God should be people whose word can be trusted.

A life of dishonesty and deceit leads to disaster and takes us out of God’s will for our life. We put great emphasis on teaching our children to always be honest and never to lie. The punishment for lying was always more for lying about something than their act of wrongdoing.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in I Thessalonians 5:17.

Pray continually.

PRAYER:

Help me and my family to be honest and true in all of our activities both in word and deed. Give us the courage to do what is right and always tell the truth so that we can bring to the world we live in a glimpse of Your light and glory.

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Greed: December 10, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR THURSDAY DECEMBER 10, 2015.


GREED

DEFINITION:

Excessive or extreme desire for wealth and possessions; covetousness.

SCRIPTURE:

Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes and perverted justice. I Samuel 8: 1, 3.

His watchmen are blind, they are ignorant, and they are all dumb dogs. Yes they are greedy dogs which never have enough. Isaiah 56:10-11.

They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. They have forsaken the right way and gone astray. II Peter 2:14.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

How many times have you watched children who are being offered a cookie on a plate of many cookies? They will always look the plate over and pick the largest one. If they think no one is looking they will take two and possibly three. You may say that this is just what children do but the real facts are is that the adults do the same thing and the children watch. This is the beginning of teaching greed to our children.

All of us see greed surrounding us today. Friends and even family members are driven by greed. They always want more “things” and are never happy with what they have. Politicians, government leaders, work place owners, supervisors on down to the workers are driven by wanting more money and more things. They are never satisfied with what they have. This is greed.

Greed prevails not only in our worldly society but also in our churches. The three verses we have put above give us three illustrations about how greed affected people in biblical times. The first verse deals with Samuel and his two sons. The second verse deals with Israel and how they lost their way acting like greedy dogs and the third verse deals with false prophets in the early church.

Samuel was about 60 years old when he appointed his two sons as judges. There is no reference to be found in the scriptures that Samuel asked God for wisdom and guidance on whom to appoint. Although Samuel was a Godly man, his sons allowed greed to corrupt them and they began to accept bribes and pervert justice. Soon it was apparent that they were spiritually not ready for the responsibility. Greed happens in the best of families.

In the second verse the watchmen were the preachers of the day and their spiritual leadership was corrupted by greed. Isaiah called them dumb dogs that could not bark, which means they did not preach the truth or warn the children of Israel about the false doctrine. Most false teaching is based in greed and appeals to our sinful nature’s desire for riches and pleasures of this world. Even preachers can succumb to greed.

These false teachers that Peter referred to took their eyes off the message of the cross and preached what people wanted to hear distorting all that Jesus is and all that Jesus taught. They were only interested in making money rather than teaching truth. These false teachers were very deceptive and spoke appealing and seductive thoughts, just as false teachers do today. They are motivated by greed.

These examples have been given to us as a reminder to stay true to the biblical message we know is truth and not let greed entice us to follow the teaching of false teachers that are all around us.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in I Thessalonians 5:17.

Pray continually.

PRAYER:

Help me and my family to keep our eyes open to the message of the cross and not to fall to the temptations of the world. Keep us alert to false teachers that want to lead us away from You. Help us to keep our greedy desires in check and put our total trust in You to supply our every need.

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Inerrancy: December 9, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 9, 2015.


INERRANCY

DEFINITION:

Inerrancy as it relates to God’s Word means free of mistakes. In this context the Bible is also infallible and inspired.

SCRIPTURE:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. II Timothy 3:16.

The law of the Lord is perfect, the testimony of the Lord is sure, the precepts of the Lord are right; the commandment of the Lord is pure. Psalm 19:7-8.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

For over eighteen centuries most Christians accepted the Scriptures as the Holy Bible and believed it to be God’s revealed message to all mankind. They believed that the Bible was free of mistakes and it could not be wrong on any subject and that the words came directly from God through chosen prophets.

Evangelical Christians today believe that God spoke to men through the Holy Spirit as it reads in II Peter 20-21: “No prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of men, but Holy men of God through chosen prophets spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

The meaning of Peter’s statement that the scriptures were not of any private interpretation is that scripture did not originate on its own, nor did it come from the minds of men. The Bible is God’s Words not men’s words.

In the verse above the Psalmist declares that God’s Word is perfect, sure, right and pure. God’s Word thus is inerrant, infallible and inspired as it was originally written. God does not lie nor does He err.

But now over the last two centuries men and women have risen up to attack the inerrancy of the Bible. They have rejected the creation account, the miracles of Jesus, the deity of Jesus and many other great and eternal truths found in the Bible. This began in graduate institutions of learning and today is fully accepted in our public school systems.

How can people living today who never met Jesus or saw Him know better than those that were with Him daily? People can develop their own opinions but their opinions are not necessarily based on facts.

The fact is that God’s Word never changes but people do change. People are fallible and their opinions are easily influenced. People today seem to have a hard time accepting what seems to be impossible, like Noah and the Ark and the flood, and Jonah and the whale.

Jesus, nor any of the Bible writers, ever questioned a single passage of scripture. Jesus and Peter both affirmed that Noah was a real person and that the flood was a historical event (Matthew 24:37-39 and II Peter 2:5). Jesus also affirmed that Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the whale (Matthew 12:40).

Unbelievers just do not understand that with God all things are possible and we cannot limit God by our minute thinking and our limited wisdom and power.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in I Thessalonians 5:17.

Pray continually.

PRAYER:

Thank You, Lord, for giving me Your Holy Bible that I can use daily as my guide book for living. May I never question the accuracy of the scriptures and may I allow the power of Your infallible Word correct me and instruct me in righteousness.

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Holy Spirit: December 8, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR TUESDAY DECEMBER 8, 2015.

HOLY SPIRIT

DEFINITION:

The third person of the trinity also called the Holy Ghost.

SCRIPTURE:

Do you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God. I Corinthians 6:19.

And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever. The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. John 14: 16-17.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

One of the gifts that God gave us with the birth of His Son Jesus was given to believer’s years later after Jesus was resurrected back to heaven to be with His Father. God knew that we would need a helper so He gave us the Holy Spirit (Note the verse above from John).

Most people have a pretty good understanding of who God, the Father and God the Son (Jesus) are, but there are three persons that make up the Godhead known as the trinity. The third person is the Holy Spirit.

When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, God sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. The Holy Spirit is what sets apart believer’s from the rest of the world. When you accept Jesus as your Savior, your body becomes a temple where the Holy Spirit will live.

There are seven specific things that the Holy Spirit does for us:

•    The Holy Spirit convicts. It is the convicting power of the Holy Spirit that brings us to repent of our sins (John 16:8).

•    The Holy Spirit controls our mind. The Holy Spirit keeps our mind set on pleasing God and keeping His commandments rather than pleasing our sinful desires. The mind that is controlled by the Holy Spirit leads to peace and life (Romans 8:6).

•    The Holy Spirit guides. The Holy Spirit works within us to enable us to determine truth from false doctrine. He guides us in the understanding of all truth (John 16:13).

•    The Holy Spirit gives us assurance that we have been redeemed and we are the children of God and have an inheritance of life eternal in heaven with our Lord and Savior (Romans 8:16).

•    The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. God knows our weaknesses and that is why He sent the Holy Spirit so that we do not have to rely on our own strength (Romans 8:26).

•    The Holy Spirit prays for us. Every believer has the comfort of knowing that the Holy Spirit who is wiser than we are is interceding before God for us (Romans 8:26b).

•    The Holy Spirit sanctifies us, blesses us and purifies us by working in us to make us desire to become more like Christ and to live pure and holy lives (II Thessalonians 2:13).

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in I Thessalonians 5:17.

Pray continually.

PRAYER:

Thank You Almighty God for giving me the Holy Spirit to convict me of my sins, to guide me into truth and to keep my mind focused on pleasing You.

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Indifference: December 7, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR MONDAY DECEMBER 7, 2015.

INDIFFERENCE

DEFINITION:

Feeling no interest or concern, apathetic; not caring.

SCRIPTURE:

Those who have turned back from following the Lord, and have not sought the Lord, nor inquired of Him. Zephaniah 1:6

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

This verse from Zephaniah (above) gives us an excellent definition of spiritual indifference. The people of Judah had become indifferent to God and turned back from worshipping Him and turned to idol worship. The prophet Zephaniah was warning the people of Judah of God’s coming judgement and the consequential retribution for the people’s sin.

They were indifferent to Zephaniah’s warning and refused to repent and return to following the Lord. They showed their contempt for God and ignored His commands. God is not indifferent to sin and does not ignore sin. Zephaniah’s warning was fulfilled. God brought judgement and a great slaughter occurred during the people’s lifetime when God allowed Babylon to invade Judah.

This warning to repent and seek the Lord is also for today. There are many professing believers in Christ that have turned away from the Lord and are living a worldly life. They do not spend time daily reading the Bible, praying and meditating on what the scripture has for them that day. Have you fallen into that trap?

In Mark 14: 32-41 we read about Jesus taking time from His busy schedule going into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray the night before He was betrayed and arrested. He told the disciples that were with Him to “sit here while I pray.” Jesus was agonizing over the terrible suffering He knew was coming and needed to spend time with His Father in prayer.

When He returned to where He left His disciples to wait for Him they were sound asleep. The disciples in this situation showed indifference. Jesus asked His disciples “could you not watch for one hour?” You would think this would be a wakeup call for the disciples but it was not. Jesus went away two more times and each time when He returned the disciples were sound asleep.  After the third time Jesus said to the disciples, “This is enough.” In Jesus darkest hour, His disciples were not there for Him. They were indifferent to His needs.

Another example of indifference comes from the life of Jonah. When Jonah was running away from God and in the storm at sea, the crew was afraid and everyone was working hard to save the ship. But Jonah showed indifference and went down to the lowest part of the ship and went fast asleep (Jonah 1:4-9).

Jonah was a prophet of God and should have been praying for God’s protection. The crew had to wake him up and ask him to pray, knowing he was a prophet of God. Jonah admitted to the crew that he was the cause of the storm because he had disobeyed God. He was very indifferent about the situation but finally told the crew to throw him overboard and they would be safe.

They threw him overboard and God calmed the storm and saved Jonah by having him swallowed by a whale.

We are living in a day of indifference and it will be fatal to our existence if we do not ask God to forgive us and get back to the biblical principles God expects us to live by.

Historian Arnold Toynbee found in his studies that nineteen of twenty-one civilizations have died from within from indifference and not from outside conquest. Another Historian, Dr. Lawrence Gould said that he was certain that our greatest threat was not bombs and missiles but people as a whole who are indifferent and do not care. When people are indifferent they will not act.

Edmund Burke said in 1795 that “nothing is so fatal to religion as indifference.” If that was true in 1795 it is certainly truer today. Many today have an “I just do not care” attitude and that leads to inaction and indifference. Our greatest concern is the Christians that profess living for Christ are showing indifference to the things of Christ.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in I Thessalonians 5:17.

Pray continually.

PRAYER:

Help me today not to be indifferent to Your leading in my life. May my heart be open to what You are telling me to do. Help me to surrender fully and completely to You. Give me the leadership with my family and friends to instill a new interest in their hearts for You.

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