Hear! Speak! Do!

This is going to be short and to the point!

Mark 4:3-25 is the parable (or story) that Jesus told about the sower and the seed. The upshot is this:

• The “sower” is someone who spreads the word of God around (like a preacher or chaplain);
  
• The “seed” are the actual words that are given (spoken or read); and
  
• The “ground” is the heart of the person who hears the Word.
  

There are four types of “ground:”

• The “wayside” is where the word dies because Satan or a family member or a friend kills it through their own opinion or lies;
  
• The “stony” ground is where the seed can't take root because even though someone is happy to hear it, they don’t do anything (like read the Bible or go to church) to help the seed take root and so it dies at the first sign of trouble;
  
• The “thorny” ground is where the word is choked to death by all of life's worries because people can't see past their own problems; and
  
• The “good” ground where the word actually accomplishes something in a person’s life because the person chooses to act on what they've heard.
  

So?
So…the thing that makes your heart “good ground” is when you repeat out loud the scriptural words you hear and then perform them. Love your neighbor. Speak kindly. Behave like you believe that God’s word will do what He says it will do.

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t short…but it certainly was to the point, eh?

They're All Hypocrites!

Wiktionary defines a “hypocrite” as someone who pretends to hold beliefs or whose actions are not consistent with their claimed beliefs. It further defines “hypocrisy” as “the claim or pretense of holding beliefs, feelings, standards, qualities, opinions or virtues that one does not actually possess; or applying criticism to others that one does not apply equally to oneself.”

Let’s see if we can break that down a little bit. If I believe something but don’t act like it, then I’m a hypocrite, right?

So if I believe that it’s important to record my golf score correctly, but put down an eagle when it should have been a bogey, I’m a hypocrite, right? What if I believe it’s important to not drive drunk, but have just one too many and get behind the wheel of my car anyway, then I’m a hypocrite, right? What if I believe that the Bible is true but choose not to act like it is, then I’m a hypocrite, right? And finally, what if I admit I’m a sinner and go to church, am I the hypocrite?

Hypocrisy never keeps people off the golf course, it never keeps people out of the bars, and it never deters people from driving sober. But when someone has his or her own opinion about what hypocrisy is and they apply it to everyone but themselves, then who’s the hypocrite?

Why is a church-going hypocrite any different from a golf-playing hypocrite? Churches are not supposed to be full of perfect, godly, Christ-like, un-sinning saints. Churches are supposed to be full of sinners who are trying desperately to lead better lives…and failing on a daily basis. Churches are filled with people who claim to love the Lord and know that they can’t love Him or anyone else without God’s help, and the only place that help is available is in church.

Hypocrites…really?

Bless The Lord!

How do you bless the Lord? Do you bless the Lord? When was the last time you blessed Him?

Pslam 103 says this, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy Name!”

Blessing the Lord isn’t exactly something a lot of folks are used to. Mostly they pray, “Bless me, Lord, bless me…now!” Prayer often becomes more like a journey through a catalog: “I want this, and I want that, and I want this other stuff, too.” But that’s not what the psalmist meant when he declared that his soul blessed the Lord. The next words he penned were, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.”

That should be an indication to us that blessing Him has something to do with remembering what He has done for us. The psalm goes on to remind of us some of those benefits. But let me ask you this, don’t you love it when someone remembers you? Don’t you love it when someone thanks you for what you’ve done for them? Well, Beloved, God is no different. He loves to hear us praise Him and thank Him for who He is and what He has done. So take time today, thank Him over and over for the big things and the little things.

Take time today to bless the Lord with a soul that is thankful.

Whose Terms?

Am I the only one who tries to get God to do things on my own terms? Probably not. I’ll bet you’ve attempted to bargain with Him, too…how’s that been workin’ for ya?

One of the (many) things I truly love and cherish about the Bible is that it doesn’t change. And it doesn't change because God doesn’t change. Hebrews 13:8 tells us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. That means that when God has said something through the Word that He meant it when He said it and that He’s not going to change His mind.

As our society evolves for the worse, more people seem to want God to change to fit their idea of who He is so that they don’t have to change. It’s sort of opposite of the way it’s intended to be. Adam and Eve’s big sin was not the eating of the apple, it was deciding to live apart from God and to do things their own way.

Beloved, the Bible is full of good advice that will continue to be good advice as the years roll on. Read it from cover to cover. Let it wash you clean, let it comfort you, let it be the guidance you need to live your best life.

Accept God on His terms…after all, He accepted you and sent His son to die for you anyway!

No Shame

Don’t let the enemy make you think you’re not forgiven!

The devil is a liar and he often speaks in the first person as he tries to get you to question what God has said. He’ll fill your mind with thoughts that begin with the word “I”: (“I” need a drink, “I” need a cigarette, “I” deserve to have one more piece of cake, “I” never get ahead, and “I” probably haven’t really been forgiven.)

But like I said, it’s a bunch of lies. In the moments before you became a Christian, you did one very important thing: you repented of your sins. You confessed the fact that you are a sinner to the Lord and you asked Him to forgive you. 1 John 1:9 tells us that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

That’s not a “sometimes” statement. It’s a statement in which we can have confidence. Look at 1 John 5:14 which tells us that “this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”

So there you have it, beloved, once you acknowledge your sins and confess to the Lord the fact that you are a sinner, He hears and forgives. How can there be any shame after that?

The “shame” comes when the enemy reminds you of all the stupid and unGodly stuff you’ve done in your life. The devil remembers…you remember…but after you repent, God Himself forgets your sins. Read that for yourself in Jeremiah 31:34. The next step is to realize that when the enemy comes along, you have to say the same thing Jesus did in John 14:30: “…for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.”

Ya' Gotta Love Those Pharisees

You’d think that if you’d spent your entire life studying the word of God and learning about Who the Messiah is and what His mission is, that you’d be able to recognize Him when He stood right in front of you! Not so with the Pharisees.

When they looked at Jesus, all they could see was a threat to their established system of religion. They lived like the fat cats they were and commanded others to walk in ways they could never hope to follow.

The establishment tends to always want to set itself a little above those it is supposed to serve. Does that sound like your boss? Your church leader? Your local politician? Your co-workers? Of course it does.

And it sounded like that to Jesus, too! And He called them on it! I love the words in Matthew 23:3 when He tells His disciples to “obey what they (the Pharisees) tell you”, but “don’t do according to their works.”

In other words, obey the word of God as you know it to be true. That means that when someone tells you something and says it’s scriptural, find out for yourself…and if it is, and if it’s in the Bible, obey the word! But just because a leader in your church or workplace claims to be a Christian and they’re living an unholy lifestyle doesn’t mean you get to!

Jesus could spot a phony and if you think about it, so can you! That’s one of the reasons He tells us in verse 8-10 not to call religious leaders by any particular title…it might (and usually does) swell their heads.

Jesus said there is only one Rabbi, one Teacher, one Father…the God Who created the Heavens and the Earth.

Be a good employee, obey your boss; be a good citizen, obey the laws of the land; and be a good Christian, obey the word of God and DO only what the word commands, not what the world commands.

The Red Words

You know, I’m always amazed when I read the words in red ink! Over the years, I’ve read and re-read the Bible countless times, and the depth of the spiritual awareness of the writers astonishes me. But…

No one, absolutely no one, has the depth of our Lord Jesus Christ. I’m a little intimidated, I’ve got to admit, because I so want to understand Him at a deeper level and yet it’s a struggle for me. How about you?

Jesus Himself tells us that His words are “hard sayings” that are difficult to understand, and that we’re to “have ears to hear” but, huh? I want to be a strong spiritual person, I want to quote scripture, I want to walk in abiding wisdom, and I want to exercise the power of life that is in my tongue.

So how can I get to “there” from “here”? Read the red words! Read them out loud, and then let the Holy Spirit minister to you. You know, Beloved, prayer time is not just a time when we approach God and tell Him what’s in our hearts. It has to be a time when we approach God and listen to what’s in His heart.

His words are in red. Search them out. Learn them. Meditate on them. Live them. Make them a part of who you are and soon you will realize that you’ve built an awareness of God in everything you do. And because you’ve listened to Him, you'll understand Him a little better.