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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2021 6:39:01 GMT -6
Thank all for your prayers. God heard and answered in a wonderful way! What could have been quite major surgery with the loss of approximately 43% of my liver with all that entails for future health, it ended up with only a 5.6 cm golf ball-sized tumor being removed using microwave ablation, and I am even home a day or two earlier than expected. God answers prayers, and even when He doesn't - He is good . . . all the time. Still doing some narcotics though . . . man do they work! 🙂 Oh yeah, man! Good to hear, Virgil, stay well! At the present, I am told that I am cancer free. He obliterated the thing! Over the next five years there is a 43% probability that it will developed in some other regions of the liver - but I'll be seeing him every 3 months and having a CT scan - so he'll catch it right away and obliterate those too. Lord willing!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2021 0:23:05 GMT -6
“My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge” (Proverbs 5:1, 2).
“That thou mayest regard discretion,” well, think about what discretion is. A fairly good definition is found in proverbs 19:11: “The discretion of a man deferreth his anger.”
That applies strongly to what we just read in proverbs 5:2. You see, our problem is that we don't naturally care too much to regard discretion. Discretion is about temperance. It’s about moderate responses. It's about not about flying off the handle. It's not about being precarious and precipitous. What we want to do is we want to feel something and then follow up on it. If we're mad, we want to go blow up at somebody. If we're frustrated, we want to throw something.
“The discretion of a man deferreth his anger,” and so, what you attend to God's wisdom for and bow your ear to in 5:1 is “that thou mayest regard discretion,” because the natural man doesn't have much regard for discretion. The natural man does not like to have reigns over him. The natural man does not like governance. The natural man is not particularly self-governed. Now, there may be in certain areas some very disciplined people that are not saved; I understand that, but in other areas many times they are not self-disciplined, nor do they want to be.
How many times can you a number off on your fingers in the gospels that the Lord Jesus Christ flew off the handle and went after somebody on an instant. This is not to say He never got angry, because he was; but you could never say the Lord Jesus Christ lost it to some kind of temper tantrum. When the Lord Jesus Christ started to chase those folks out of the temple with whips, I don't think for a second that He lost it. If he had, those sellers and money changers would have been dead.
One of the things that you ought to get from this, and again; this is doesn't appeal to our nature much is that we attend to wisdom and bow our ear to understanding so that we may regard discretion. Hopefully, we have gotten some stuff out of proverbs so that we might regard discretion and highly esteem discretion, so that the next time something comes you respond more discreetly rather than flyoff the handle about something. This way we don't shoot somebody on the freeway with your shotgun. Or punch somebody in the mouth, or say something stupid, or fly off the handle, or yield to temptation and go back to drinking, etc.
“That thou mayest regard discretion,” that's one edge. That is why you attend to wisdom, and bow down to understanding, that you may regard discretion. “. . . and that thy lips may keep knowledge,” that’s the second edge. So, it's a two-edged thing. You read here to get something; and what you need to leave with is a greater guard for discretion. Be tempered in all things, let your moderation be known unto all men and so on, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. This is so that when God sends somebody to you, you can answer unto them “the words of truth” (Proverbs 22:21).
“That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.”
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2021 0:35:33 GMT -6
“My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman" (Proverbs 6:20-24).
Stop and think about verse 22, “When thou goest, it shall lead thee,” and when we started thinking about the things that people really need, such as, “I need money,” “I need a job,” “I need this and I need that,” and that's all true enough, and that's fine; but if you stop and consider what folks really need, they need to be led, they need leadership, they need something to guide them. They need the word of God.
Verse 22, “It shall keep thee,” they need security. Now, security in this world to most folks means insurance, a retirement savings account, and all those sorts of things; but that's not real security. If an economy is shot, that's not real security. If the insurance company goes defunct, your insurance isn't any good. If there are enough claims, your insurance isn’t any good. Your money is only insured so far in the bank, and then it's all gone. If inflation sets in, that is, serious inflation like in Germany after World War 1 and 2. They were paying $100,000 for a loaf of bread. So, people need what in verse 22? They need leadership, and they need security.
Verse 22, “When thou awakes, it shall talk with thee,” they need fellowship. People say, “Well, I'm lonely. I'm all alone.” You don't have to be. The word of God is always there.
“For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.” What we need is light if we are going to find our way in this dark world. Jesus Christ is our light, and the word of God is a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path. A Bible-believer that reads, loves, and studies his Bible need never walk in darkness.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2021 23:28:04 GMT -6
“In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart" (Proverbs 7:9-10).
“. . . and behold, there met him a woman,” we are going to be met by somebody along the way. You don't go chasing down sin and lasso it, tie it up, and engage it. Sometimes if you go down a certain path, you'll wind up being met by it. The funny thing about it that you want and need to be on the right path. When people of Israel did the right thing, the Bible says that the Lord met them there at the Tabernacle. They would show up there and He would be there in that pillar of fire and His presence would be there and He would meet with them there. There are many places like that in scriptures.
In this case; this kid is on the wrong track. He is unwise and there met him a woman, and this woman was a particular kind of woman and you could tell what kind of woman she was by the way she was dressed. She had what? She had the attire of a harlot. These days we see people all the time in the attire of a harlot. Why are you dressed like that? They say, “Well, all that matters is what's inside a person.” Yeah, and “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,” and “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” and more likely than not the reason you're dressed like that is because something on the inside is wrong and it eats its way out. If you could just understand that the outside does matter.
You know you can be a Pharisees about it. There are a lot of Pharisees in this world; but at the same time you understand that the reason some folks have gone there is because they see a degradation in the way things are, and the way things are going, and they are trying to put a stop to it. They trying to put the brakes on, and in putting the brakes on, they make these arcane rules and then hold people to rules and then they become Pharisees and they become legalists and all those things. It becomes a matter of letter and not of spirit.
Don’t lose sight of the fact that the outside does matter, and you know if you want to scream and pitch a fit and fuss and everything; you can stick as many holes in your ear and your tongue, and your nose and Lord knows what else’s that you want to. But if you're going to go witnessing or whatever, then put some of that away because what you're saying is something definite to those people out there.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2021 1:03:32 GMT -6
“Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it” (Proverbs 8:10-11).
“They are all plain to him that understandeth,” and therefore Paul said in second Corinthians 3, that “We use great plainness of speech.” There is no need to be obscure. You don't want to be unclear, right?
“They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.”
If you ever saw a verse that pits the two adversaries against one another, there it is. “My instruction” versus “silver”; “my knowledge rather than choice gold.” He said, “received my instruction and received my knowledge, rather than silver and choice gold,” okay?
When you preach that in America, people gasp and get pretty upset, because we're covetous. We are idolaters, and money is everything. After all, the more money I have the more I can give to God! And that's supposed to justify it all. And God's supposed to say, “Oh yeah! Yeah right! So you can give Me a lot of money! Yeah!”
“Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold,” folks, the time you invest in your Bible in the morning, and in prayer; and the time that you invest in your church and trying to affect the lives of young people, and people in nursing homes. The time that you spend on investing in those things is that you're going to get the riches stored up in glory. Money is not going to be the issue. It's not going to compare. It's not going to matter.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2021 1:40:03 GMT -6
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing” (Proverbs 9:10-13).
In Job 22:1, “Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, . . .” Now, we know that there's some questionable counsel here, but I believe verse 2 is true. “Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself.”
It’s a good question. How does your being wise help God? I’m wiser now than I was before, so how is God profited, right? Well, He’s not particularly. However, a lot of what wisdom does for me is it keeps me out of trouble, Amen?
Verse 12, “If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shall bear it.”
Now, we need to see what's going on here, since the Bible doesn't draw graphs and pie charts and doesn't have flowcharts and stuff and if you're not paying attention and you're just blowing through a chapter, just reading words, sometimes you miss stuff. Notice in verse 13 that “a foolish woman is clamorous,” and recall that this all started back in verse one where it tells us that “Wisdom hath builded her house.” She's a woman too, right?
Now, if you question whether these two ladies (actually, “lady” is not a fair qualification for one of them), but these two women are set side-by-side as a comparison, as a simile. Look at verse 4, “whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him . . ..” That’s the wise woman, right? Okay, now consider verse 16, “Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him . . ..” It’s the exact same quote. Got it? The exact same quote.
You have wisdom, and then you have this wicked woman, saying the exact same thing trying to attract this young guy. You need to think about that.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2021 17:27:12 GMT -6
Consider Jesus Christ
He is the Advocate, the Angel of the Covenant, the Author and Finisher of Faith. He is the Apple Tree among the trees of the wood, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beloved, the Shepherd and Bishop of Souls, the Bread of Life, the Righteous Branch, the Bridegroom, the Brightness of the Father's Glory and the Express Image of His Person. He is a Bundle of Myrrh.
To His saints He is and is owned to be Creator, Captain, Counselor, Covenant, Cornerstone, a Covert from the tempest, and the Chiefest among ten thousand. He is to them as the Dew, the Door into the fold, a Daysman, a Day-star, a Deliverer, a Diadem, the Desire of all nations, ranks and generations, born among many brethren, the First Begotten from the dead.
To His chosen He is as the most fine Gold, a Guide, a Governor, a Glorious Lord, the true God, God over all blessed forever. He is the Head of the church, the Health, the Hope, the Husband, the Heritage, the Habitation of His people. He is the Horn of their salvation. He is their Light, their Life, their Lord, their Leader, their Lawgiver, their atoning Lamb, the Lily of the Valley, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
He is the Man Christ Jesus, the Master, the Mediator, the Messenger of the Covenant, the Minister of the true sanctuary. He is the Mighty God of Isaiah, the Michael of Daniel, the Melchizedek of Abraham and of Paul, the Bright and Morning Star of John, and the Messiah of all the prophets.
He is the Peace, the Prince, the Priest, the Prophet, the Potentate, the Purifier, the Propitiation for our sins, the Physician of souls, the Plant of renown, the Power of God unto salvation, the Passover of all saints, the Polished Shaft in the quiver of God.
He is the Rock, the Refuge, the Ruler, the Ransom, the Refiner, the Redeemer, the Righteousness, the Resurrection of all that walk in white. He is the Rose of Sharon. He is the Seed of the woman, the Seed of Abraham, the Seed of David, the Stem of Jesse, the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Shield, the Strength, the Surety, the Shiloh, the Sacrifice, the Sanctuary, the Salvation, the Sanctification, the Sun of Righteousness.
- Hyman Appelman
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2021 23:07:09 GMT -6
“The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked. Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12).
The mouth of the wicked is a touched over and over again in the Bible, almost as much as the mouth of the righteous man; but back in verse 6, “Blessings are upon the head of the just: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked,” alright?
Here's the thing with Proverbs. It seems like in every phrase, even in one sentence, it is just loaded with all kinds of stuff: as though there's all these changes of direction and all this really intense stuff and you're just constantly changing gears. In most of the Bible, the narratives are like a smooth rolling road out in the country where you can put it in 5th gear and just cruise, and then you get to the proverbs and there's like this constant turning and stuff just somebody changes. Contrast that smooth country drive with a trip up and down the Ozarks on those winding roads, if you know what I am talking about. In verse 12, we see here that the man’s mouth is still an issue, as we see in verse 13, for instance, “in the lips of him that hath understanding,” so that's kind of the underlying theme. In verse 12, “Hatred stirreth up strifes.”
“He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him” (Proverbs 26:24).
He is a liar. Now, that is a fruit of hatred.
The passage continues: “When he speaketh fair, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart. Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation. Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him. A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin” (Proverbs 26:25-28).
So, again, you're still stuck with things that come out of somebody's mouth. Notice verse 12, “Hatred stirreth up strifes,” strife is one of those things you can really go into real deep, real long and in the word of God.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2021 1:50:07 GMT -6
“As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death” (Proverbs 11:19 KJV).
Here is an “as” and “so” thing. You play with the seven-headed viper and you are going to get bit. You fool with the devil and you are going to get caught. “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). People say, “Well, I think I can get away it, I know how to handle it.” They are crazy to think that. They can’t handle it—it will take them over. The strongest men, the wisest men . . . did you know that the in less than seven years after Solomon wrote his books that he went completely into apostasy and was fulling around with things that destroyed him—idols, women, and possessions—we got out of fellowship with God. He wrote this Book of Proverbs and then forsook it all for the flesh. You can put it down, if a man pursues evil, he is looking for trouble.
“The wicked worketh a deceitful work: but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward. As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.”
On one of the busiest streets of the city of Paris stands a building famous for its beauty. Over the magnificent doorway you may read these words: “Nothing to pay.” The admission is free, the entertainment within is alluring, and hundreds of young men pass through the portals, the rank and file of them taking their first or last step to Hell.
All sin is dearly bought, for it has Hell back of it. It blights the life, wrecks the character, and blasts the fondest hopes of the soul. And when that awful day comes, and situation is gone and character lost and the hearts of loved ones broken and you are cast a stranded wreck on the shores of time, you will cry out in terror, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?” and there will be no deliverance. You will be more degraded then but not more guilty than now, for the chiefest of sins is the sin of unbelief, and that was the cause of your downfall. “There is no difference.” God pity you.
“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8 KJV).
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2021 5:16:52 GMT -6
“He that is despised, and hath a servant, is better than he that honoureth himself, and lacketh bread” (Proverbs 12:9).
Now, the general lesson here is that it is better to be blessed by God then to blow your own horn. We don't need to get off in this very deep, but once again we run up on that thing, even in America. America, a nation that was conceived in the Judeo-Christian ethic of the Bible. Is it not strange that even for a country based on the Bible that one of the thorns that everybody is always niggling at is the issue of servitude. We fought a war about that.
This whole issue of servitude provides a good test to see what kind of Bible believer you are. It's not about inferiority. The fact is you can read your New Testament and you will find servitude firmly ensconced with God blessing it and still giving boundaries and direction for it.
Even if we don't enforce certain things anymore, you know it's still important that you have the right kind of heart toward God. The area of greatest discord in our country and in our churches is on social issues. There's not that many churches split over the deity of Christ, but people get ripped up over social issues. You go read your New Testament through. Go study servants and what you will find is that servitude was not done away at the cross.
In America today where it basically has no import any longer. No matter what Jesse Jackson says, there are no slaves any more in America. It's against the law. Nobody does that, and nobody wants to go back to those days.
We don’t want to own anybody. Bible believers do not consider themselves superior to anybody racially. Well, I do think Jews are superior to me. I believe I am an inferior race. I'm a Japhetite. I believe that God blessed the Jews nationally and ethnically more than he did me. So, if you want to say I'm an inferior race, that’s fine; but verses like this are really an excellent test for your mettle as a Bible believer, because it says “He that is despised, and hath a servant, is better than he that honoureth himself, and lacketh bread.”
You can't find servitude demolished there and abhorred by God. Why? Because even in the New Testament it is present and God blessed it within certain narrow lines.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2021 0:33:40 GMT -6
“A wise son heareth his father's instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke” (Proverbs 13:1 KJV).
In Chapter 13, the contrast between righteousness and wickedness continues. Again, Proverbs is highly repetitive—people get worn out with it—but it is necessary. When is the refrain going to change? When we do!
Now, a scorner hears rebuke, but he doesn’t hear it. The example of this in the nation of Israel, as we see in the book of Acts, where God starts out offering them the Kingdom—but they reject it. All throughout the book of Acts they are offered salvation. Some receive it, most reject it. And over and over again, they hear—but they don’t hear. So, when Solomon says a wise son heareth . . . they all hear . . . but the wise son does something with what they hear—and a scorner doesn’t. A scorner ridicules it. To scorn is to look down the nose at something. Some people just think they have it all figured out and they don’t need any more help.
Teenagers are often notorious for this. They come to an age where they just think they have new light that mom and dad never received and come to start thinking they are smarter than their parents (until they grow up and find they have kids of their own).
The problem is really the heart, not the ear. Your mouth is affected by your heart, your eyes are affected by your heart. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (Joh 3:36 KJV). People can “see” a church, they “see” Christians, they “see” a Bible—but they never see “life.” “Except a man be born again, he shall not “see” the kingdom of God.” They never “see” it with understanding. The same with ears. They “hear” words, they “hear” but a scorner will not yield to it or accept it.
“And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Act 28:25-27 KJV).
They hear but they don’t understand. So, when he says, “A wise son heareth his father's instruction,” he not only hears it, but he understands it, and he tries to do the best he can to apply it to his life. This is a wise son. If you want to know if you have a wise son, or not, how much attention to they pay to you and to Bible instruction. I realize they aren’t going to listen to you every minute, on every issue—but I guarantee you—if they have some wisdom, and you have dealt with them honestly and openly, they’ll listen. “but a scorner heareth not rebuke.”
Abel listened. He listened to his dad. He went and got a lamb to offer before God. Cain was a scorner. “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes.” You know, if a man won’t listen to his parents, he won’t listen to God either.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2021 3:40:51 GMT -6
“The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going” (Proverbs 14:15).
“The simple believeth every word,” here is the simple, average newspaper and magazine reader. The typical American that gets all his knowledge from the TV. You try to tell them truth and they aren’t interested, but they believe everything else they hear about sin not being so bad, it won’t hurt you, I can handle it. They believe there is not a thing wrong with what people do privately in their own homes—homosexuality and lesbianism are normal practices. They believe that sin is nothing more than a preferred lifestyle that won’t hurt anyone. It doesn’t matter what the lie they are told, so long as they reason that it sounds good—it must be good.
This is in contrast to the Christian who also believes everything, but it is in relation to the truth. He “rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things” (I Corinthians 13:6-7). His attitude is that if God said it, it is true, and that settles the issue. What is the truth? “Thy word is truth” (John 17:17).
They are simple concerning the truth. We want to be simpleminded enough to believe whatever God said, but we don’t want to be stupid to believe everything that man has said that contradicts what God has said. Some people believe every word their professor tells them. Don’t believe everything you hear.
“. . . but the prudent man looketh well to his going,” he tries the spirits: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (I John 4:1). He is prudent. He is careful. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Don’t be foolish. Don’t make rash decisions. Unwise Christians are one day going in one direction, and then a couple of days later they are going in another direction. It is not that that cannot happen, but it usually happens where prayer is neglected.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2021 23:28:41 GMT -6
“Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established” (Proverbs 15:22).
“Without counsel purposes are disappointed,” if you want to be happy, if you want to be rich, you need counsel on those issues. If you want to be married, you need to have good counsel. A young man needs to listen to his godly parents and follow their advice. We need to listen to our elders, and we need to listen to those people whom are our spiritual leaders: “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you” (Hebrews 13:17).
“Without counsel purposes are disappointed,” you’ll want happiness in life, and you’ll want success in life but if you don’t get counsel on how to get it you will make a mess out of life. There are people that will tell you that the counsel they were given in your younger years led them down the wrong road—and many times they did not pay attention to right counsel and got into trouble.
“Without counsel purposes are disappointed,” and that is why there are so many suicides among 18-19-20 year old kids. Suicide is the second-highest rated killer among young people. The reason is that they have gotten bad counsel and the purpose of their lives have been disappointing to them. They have not succeeded, they are not satisfied, they have no joy and they listened to the bad counsel of others.
They rejected the things of God, so they are disillusioned, and they wind up in despair—so they take their own lives.
“. . . but in the multitude of counsellors they [purposes] are established,” really, the counselors have to be godly, spiritual counselors and their counsel is founded in the Word of God. A person can’t just go to the physical aspect of their problems. A Christian can’t expect to just go to the physical experts and get the counsel they need because man is a spiritual being. Man has a spiritual nature and that must be fulfilled, and he has a spiritual relation with God and that must be made right.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2021 0:29:15 GMT -6
“Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right” (Proverbs 16:8).
This is not saying that when a man is righteous, he is never going to have much, that is certainly not true in America. We live in a country where God not only blesses physically but also financially. Compared to other countries, there are no impoverished people here—in fact, everyone is quite wealthy. But it is better to have little with righteousness, than to have much without righteousness. “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (Isaiah 57:21). Stuff won’t bring you peace, in fact, it’ll bring your more unrest because now you have to worry about all the stuff. In John 3, the Bible says that the “wrath of God abideth on him,” present tense, when they have not the righteousness of Christ.
Paul didn’t have a lot, but he was right with God and God used him. The Apostles had very little, but they were right with God, and God used them right up until their martyrdom. John had little, but he had a lot in his post-resurrection fellowship with Jesus Christ Himself there on the Isle of Patmos.
The rich man in Luke 16 had a whole lot, but it didn’t do him any good in prison where he couldn’t even find a drop of water to cool his tongue. The rich young rule had much, but he never got saved. The rich farmer in Luke 12 lost it all.
Money can do abominable things-people, that is, can do abominable things with it. It enslaves human beings, tortures them, drives them insane, kills them. Money can become the meanest of gods.
It has been said that where money blesses hundreds, it brings blight and ruin to thousands. The apostle Paul lamented those who taught untruth for paychecks (Titus 1:11). Those who “serve” the Lord for $100,000 a year would probably serve the Devil for $200,000.
John Wesley, through whose hands passed fortunes, said, “When I have money, l get rid of it quickly, lest it find a way into my heart.”
The chief warnings of the Word regarding wealth may be summed up briefly. It can deceive (Matthew 13:22); bring personal ruin (Proverbs 11:28); cause trouble (Proverbs 15:16); vanish (Proverbs 23:4, S); have no eternal value (Proverbs 27-24); do no good at the judgment and be a roadblock to God's kingdom (Luke 18:24).
Wealth can do wonders in the hands of those like the long-ago king who prayed (I Chronicles 29:11, 12, 14, 17).
What tests men's goodness or badness more than the possession of money. At this point is focused the whole problem of wealth. Everything is God's. He lets us have some of it. How much do we give back to Him? The answer to that question shows who we are and to whom we belong.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2021 15:08:38 GMT -6
PREACHERS OF JUDGMENT
Very significant in the pages of Scripture is the fact that the only two men of whom the actual words “walked with God” are used were Enoch and Noah. Both men, more than any others, were preachers of coming judgment.
It demands a very close walk with God, as well as a very courageous faith, to be entrusted with these dreadful secrets of coming judgment.
Furthermore, it is eminently true that in modern times those who have walked in closest fellowship with God have had more fearful visions of the wrath to come than are granted to the ordinary Christian.
Of William Bramwell it is said that the one who preached his funeral sermon had before him an audience of ten thousand weeping people. Yet this William Bramwell once wrote to a friend: You know, I have been about three months in the furnace. This mystery of God I know not, but I know He is with me. The glory I experienced is beyond any I can now relate. I was filled with mercy; I could have shouted mercy continually. Yet I never had so dear a view of the torments of the damned.
As we turn to the pages of modern history, we learn that Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, George Whitefield, Charles Finney and many others who have been mightily used of God to lead vast numbers to repentance and faith bear the same testimony as Noah regarding judgment to come.
Noah himself, “a preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5), must have had such a conviction of unseen things, such faith in the coming judgment of God, that he, “moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house” (Hebrews 11:7).
As he lived and moved in the realm of the unseen and the eternal, the conviction of the coming Flood was so overwhelming that he staggered not under the weight of shame and ridicule which must have been heaped upon him by a mocking, scoffing world.
God still speaks to those who are “foolish” enough to believe and to preach that there is a judgment to come, a Hell to escape and the wrath of the Lamb to flee.
There is a silly and popular fashion among many theologians of our day, men seeking to be wise above what is written and assuming a lofty air of superiority. They discredit fear as a motive worthy of creating faith and moving men to come to Christ. Fear is spoken of as a mere superstition or relic of the past unenlightened days. Yet it is still written that “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”
And is this fact not written everywhere on every page of Scripture? Did not the Lord Jesus use it more freely than any other motive? What was it but the Son of God's love which warned men of the quenchless flame, the undying worm, the “never” forgiveness, the body and soul plunged into Gehenna? Were not these the expressions of Him who offers a perfect escape from Hell to every human soul and who died in order to secure it?
Nothing is more easy or more difficult to preach about than coming judgment. As preachers, we can so easily plunge men into perdition, and do so without an ounce of love or grace. Yet it is difficult beyond measure to preach judgment with a heart of compassion.
We believe it was Robert Murray McCheyne who once asked a young preacher what he had preached on the Sunday before. The young man readily answered: “The wicked shall be turned into hell.” The saintly McCheyne responded: “Brother, did you preach it in tears?”
Even so Jude says, “Of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire” (vss. 22, 23).
General William Booth of the Salvation Army said:
“There is a false belief abroad that only gentle, tender, loving persuasion is in harmony with the New Testament times. It is all a mistake! Never in the world's history were fearless, resolute Christians needed more than today. Come forth, ye men of God, with brows of brass and nerves of iron and hearts big with the love of Jesus, and with the thunders of Jehovah's wrath against all unrighteousness. This age needs Jeremiah’s to tell the truth, the whole truth, please or displease, dungeon or no dungeon, mire or no mire! to speak God's judgment prophecies and God's unvarnished truth in the monarch's court and the nobleman's mansion and the poor man's cottage and to all they may concern!
Wanted: Jeremiah’s!
— L. E. Maxwell
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2021 1:04:21 GMT -6
“The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts” (Proverbs 17:3 KJV).
Websters 1828 defines “fining” as “Clarifying, refining, purifying.”
Men refine precious elements through a furnace of fire, while God refines men through various tools at His disposal.
He refines man through the Word of God: “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you” (John 15:3 KJV). “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (Ephesians 5:25-26 KJV). The daily reading of God’s Word amounts to a spiritual cleansing.
A man told his son to carry a bucket to the river, fill it up, and bring it back to him. The boy did this, but by the time he returned to his father the bucket was empty. The bucket had a leak in it. The father said, “fill it again.” After a few times of this the exasperated son asked his dad, “The bucket has a hole in it! Why do you want me to keep filling it up?” His dad told him, “Son, I need a clean bucket, and that bucket is a picture of our Christian life. We too have a leak where God’s blessings and cleanness spill out as we are buffeted by the world, so we need to constantly have God’s spirit fill us with His presence to keep us clean.”
God refines man through chastening: “Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10 KJV). Israel was too stubborn than to learn in any other ways. “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Hebrews 12:11 KJV). New Testament Bible-believers are too stubborn than to learn in any other way.
God refines man through testing: “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 1:5-7 KJV). “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience” (James 1:2-3 KJV).
God refines man through the indwelling Holy Spirit: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (II Corinthians 3:18 KJV).
Jesus Christ spoke of His future church and predicted much of what we see today, even God’s refining, or purifying, of the church during the Christian dispensation: “But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness” (Malachi 3:2-3 KJV).
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2021 2:10:38 GMT -6
“It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment” (Proverbs 18:5).
“It is not good to accept the person of the wicked,” is a great reminder. The idea there is on a practical basis, maybe your friend is wicked. Maybe your friend caused some trouble in school and when you were asked about it you knew the truth; but you honored the person of your friend and overthrew the righteous in judgment. You allowed the righteous man to be blamed. Why? Because your buddy is the one that was the guilty party. Right? You wanted to protect your buddy. You wanted to protect your friendship with your buddy. So, it's like that only there is a lot more to it. Right?
“These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. (Jude 1:16).
I think that is what makes Washington D.C. go around, what makes the capital of every state in the United States go round and round and round is this very thing. Right? “Having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.” The question, “What can I get out of it,” is a huge determinator in whether a man does the right things or now. We are not supposed to accept the person of the wicked. This is related to the fear of man, “the fear of man bringing a snare.” Right?
“How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” (John 5:44)
This passage from John 5 is a great verse. It is well worth contemplating with regard to the Bible issue, to your friends that are saved but are resilient against right doctrine. Why? When you seek to find some answer to some scripture, some dilemma, such as the “Baptist brider” thing or whatever, what is it you really care about? Do you want the honor that comes from God only, and if you are the only one in the world that is right, you're willing to be the only one in the world that's right? You prefer God approval of you, or would you rather stick with your friends?
It has long been a tragedy that some of pastors are more concerned with what their pastor friends believe then what the Bible says. There are some things among some fellowships of pastors that those pastors would not budge off something no matter how many verses that were shown them to the contrary, until some of their friends budged first. Usually the unofficial bishop of the pack.
Now, you can go too far. You can become a free agent where you say that all you want to do is be right and you do not care what anybody else thinks, and mainly what you're trying to do there is just to be different and just stick out and kind of draw attention to yourself. That's not right.
“I will speak, that I may be refreshed: I will open my lips and answer. Let me not, I pray you, accept any man's person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man” (Job 32:20-21).
What say you? God’s approval or mans? Which will you seek?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2021 0:37:15 GMT -6
“Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools” (Proverbs 19:29).
Scorners are those that look down their noses at judgment, they scoff at it. Hell is a judgment that is prepared for a sinner, just as heaven is a place prepared for the believer. Sadly, Hell was prepared for the Devil and his angels, but by man’s own choice—they go to a place that was never intended for them. They reject God’s only provision for life, so He has no other choice but to remain eternally separated from them.
In Matthew 25, God has prepared a judgment for the nations that do wrong. God has prepared the Great White Throne as a place where the books will ultimately be opened, and the wicked will be found guilty. People do not grasp the fact that Hell is only the temporary abode of the damned. It is like a county jail where people are incarcerated while waiting for their day in court. The Great White Throne is their day in court, and when found guilty, just as the guilty prisoners are remanded to the penitentiary, the damned are cast into the Lake of Fire where they will be forever and ever.
God brought a watery judgment to the wicked of Noah’s day, and they all died in the universal flood. Then God brought a judgment to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah that scoffed at His standard of righteousness, and turned to homosexuality. God judged His own nation by turning them over first to Nebuchadnezzar, and then to Titus. He has another judgment planned for the nation in the seven-year “Time of Jacob’s Trouble” that is still future. “Judgments are prepared!” It is not “judgment” in the singular sense, but it is plural. There are more than one.
Scorners “shot out the lip” at Jesus Christ when He was being crucified. They made fun of Him. So, it is a true fact that they will go to Hell over the dead body of Jesus Christ Who did all that He could do to purchase their salvation. He told them that He was the Son of God, and in essence, He told them that they would regret the day that they rejected Him. He said that they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and a great than Jonah is here. He said that it would be worse in the day of judgment for them.
If you ever get an opportunity to read Josephus’ account of Titus’ invasion of Jerusalem, do it. Jerusalem was first invaded by Pompeii, Titus’ dad. Nero died in Rome and Pompeii was recalled to Rome to take over as Caesar. Before leaving, he gave the command of the army to his son, Titus. And Titus did the job. He besieged Jerusalem and leveled it. Judgment was brought upon a people that said, “We have no king but Caesar.”
“An ungodly witness scorneth judgment: and the mouth of the wicked devoureth iniquity”
“But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (Romans 2:5)
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2021 0:39:21 GMT -6
“Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out” (Proverbs 20:5).
“Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water,” it is just hard to fathom. To get clear counseling from some people, it is like deep water. It takes a man of understanding to draw it out. Sometimes it is hard to understand, and even harder to apply. Bible study can be like that sometimes and that may be because we jump into it without acknowledging our need for spiritual help from the Author of the Book. It is the Holy Spirit’s ministry to shed light on the Word of God. What a unique opportunity we have to be able to go the Author of a Book and ask Him to help us understand what He has written. Some books are easy to understand, but we must ever recall that the Bible is “spiritually discerned.”
Maybe a man’s counsel is to do wrong, and a man of understanding will draw it out, or expose it to the light of day as we read in Revelation 2: “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars” (Revelation 2:2). There are plenty of false apostles and preachers in the world today and sometimes the counsel from their heart is murky and dark in the sense that you cannot see what was going on and what their motives are. When they are tested by a “man of understanding” they are found to be untrue and their lies are exposed.
Indeed, the Catholic Church teaches that faith alone is not sufficient for salvation and that to be saved, a person must also receive the sacraments, primarily the sacrament of baptism.
The sacraments, according to Catholic theology, are channels that convey sanctifying grace to the recipient; and they confer that grace “ex opere operate” (i.e., by the work done). This means that “by the work done” by the priest, for example, in pouring water upon a person's forehead and uttering the words, “I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” that person automatically receives grace which saves him and makes him a child of God and heir of Heaven.
Because of this false doctrine of sacramental salvation, millions of Catholics are deceived, believing they were saved at their baptism. Also, they vainly believe that they actually receive Christ when they receive the “Blessed Sacrament,” that is, the wafer of bread at Holy Communion.
To be saved, a Catholic, like everyone else, must receive Christ in the Bible way, which is by simple faith in Him alone.
“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12).
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2021 0:31:06 GMT -6
“The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will” (Proverbs 21:1 KJV).
The Lord controlled the heart of Ahasuerus in the life of Esther “And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti” (Esther 2:17 KJV), and God turned it to accomplish His own purposes. God establishes the kingdoms, and the rulers, God establishes them and ordains the powers that be. Rulers are to be a terror to evil, not good works. When a man is evil, God directs the heart of the king to bring punishment upon that evildoer.
“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation” (Romans 13:1-2 KJV).
God moved in the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia to allow God’s people to return to their land after their seventy years of captivity were completed. And you can mark it down, God still moves in the hearts of people.
“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:1-4 KJV).
If a king is wicked, and rebels against the authority of God, since the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord, the Lord will deal with him. If that heart rebels against God, or rejects the revelation of God, or the will of God—the Lord will harden that heart—just as He did to Pharaoh in Exodus 4:21. God will use that man for His own purpose to bring judgment, and then bring judgment upon that man as He did with the Assyrian (typifies the coming Antichrist):
“O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation [He uses Assyria to bring judgment upon a rebellious Israel], and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few” (Isaiah 10:5-7 KJV).
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