Are You Following Orders?

  "In the same way, the Lord gave orders (directed) that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it."  (1 Corinthians 9:14--NLT)

 

Do you benefit "from it?"  My life, now, and in the life to come depends on this lifesaving Gospel of Jesus Christ.  So does yours.  Remember when you were lost, headed to the fires of Hell, and that person led you to Jesus?  And what about all of those "Fivefold" ministries who have fed and sustained you in pastoral care, teaching, and represented you in the nations over the years?  Are you supporting such "benefit?" 

 

In a factory-assembly line-"workers" (which usually means people with dirt under their finger nails and calloused hands) culture, people who do not earn their living "by the sweat of your brow" are not really considered workers; hence, they don't deserve the money they receive.  I can still remember the uproar in the labor unions at Iacocca's receiving an $800,000 bonus.  To me it was a small price to pay for the man who saved Chrysler----------------------------------- and all those labor union jobs! 

 

Just watch the money trail in your life, and you will discover what your values are, and what you really value.  Don't follow the "worship," the praying, the Bible reading, or "my ministry" trail.  That trail many times can reveal just your preferences, not your convictions.  Isn't it, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also?!?"  And could we dare say, "Where your heart is, there your treasure is?!?" 

 

Be encouraged-- the next time you pay your tithes and offerings, remember that you are obeying our Lord Jesus Christ, Who "gave the orders that those who preach the Gospel should be supported by those who benefit from it." 

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, Holy Spirit, show me my true values today.  Amen. 

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News and Commentary:        www.antipasprayerforce.blogspot.com

Devotional Archive:               http://apfdevotionals.blogspot.com

 

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Fire, Hammer, Rock, Everlasting Love, Lovingkindness-- I Need All

"'Is not My word like a fire?' says the LORD, 'And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?...Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.'" (Jeremiah 23:29; 31:3)

 

Both texts are from the same prophet, the same Bible, the same Jesus.  Some people like devotionals that are all affirming, feel good, and "smooth things;" some just like "tell-it-like-it-is," fire and brimstone.  Well, perhaps I could accommodate, but that is not the Bible.  The Word of the Lord is all of the above--- and more.  He is a Good, Wise, Wonderful Father. 

 

Yesterday a friend of mine sent me a video of Oprah, which referred to her new "church."  It is some program where apparently she just rants on about how there are no absolutes, no "one way" with Jesus, or just anything which comes to her goddess mind.  Her audience went from 300,000 to over 2,000,000 between programs.  The formula for success in today's world is: Just please as many people as you can, have a pleasing personality, provide that which is in demand, flatter man's independence and rebellion against Jesus Christ, and, voila!--------- 2,000,000 worshippers.  I'll stay with the "formula" for pleasing God: Submission to the ABSOLUTE reign and Word of our Father, Jesus Christ.

 

If you and I are in Jesus and He in us, if His Word is in us and we in His Word, we will be kept from the Oprah's and the charlatan ministries in life, and, I might add, our own.  If Jesus, not Oprah, anyone, nor anything else is your God, you will walk in the "whole counsel of God,"-------------------the "fire," the "hammer," the "rock," the "everlasting love" and "lovingkindness," and, the ABSOLUTE, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life," of Jesus Christ. With this I will try to accommodate.

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, keep releasing Your "whole counsel" in my life.  I need You, everything You Are and Give.  Amen. 

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Preaching Schedule with the CCE Congregation:  April 19 & 20

News and Commentary:    www.antipasprayerforce.blogspot.com

 

 

 

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"Here am I! Send Me"

"If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it.  But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you....Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves." (Matthew 10:13&16)

 

Jesus did not send us into the world to be "third party candidates."  He did not send us to be one religion among many.  He did not send us to tell people to, "go to the church of your choice," or, "It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere."  Jesus did not "send you out as" citizens of a democracy.  He sent us out as citizens of a Kingdom.  He sent us out to bring people into His Kingdom, into relationship with Himself, to tell the world, in affect, that all religions of man will take you to Judgment and the fires of Hell.  This may be radical to many, but in reality, the church, particularly in the West, has become an organization of diplomats rather than disciples, crowd pleasers rather than prophets, salesmen rather than evangelists. 

 

The Holy Spirit is convicting the Church today to lose our false sense of fairness.  Live as though Jesus is the Only Way, the Only Truth, and the Only Life------------- because He is.  Don't live apologetically.  Don't let people at the water cooler intimidate you with the attitude, "Well, that's just your opinion," or, "We have to be open to all religions."  Search the Scriptures, and I guarantee you that you will not find such attitudes. 

 

This is not a call to be obnoxious in the flesh, to go on a sort of Christian "jihad," force conversions, throw all unbelievers in prison, and burn mosques. This is a call to live what we claim we believe, and demonstrate to a lost and dying world that there is only one cure for their death sentence------------ Repent of their opinions, their religions, and philosophies, and embrace Jesus Christ, His Words, and His Kingdom.  He is our Life--- Life Eternal.   

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, "Here am I!  Send me."  Amen. 

 

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"In the Beginning," Now, and Forever

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  (Genesis 1:1)

 

Today is the start of the next quarter; hence, our text.  "In the beginning God...."  The History Channel, Discovery Channel, and the Science Channel were not there.  Darwin was not there.  The humanist professors poisoning young people were not there.  The Living Triune God, all alone, nothingness, eternity------------ just He.  Then:  "Let there be," and behold, there was.  Hey, Allah, try that!

 

My dear, dear fellow Believer in Jesus Christ.  This is all you really need to know today.  "In the beginning God, and, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same [Jesus Christ] was in the beginning"-------- with you, watching over you, caring for you, even when you did not acknowledge His Existence, or were aware that at a point in human history He died a horrible, painful, bloody, abandoned death on a cross.  And nothing has changed.  The same love, mercy, forgiveness, resurrection, creative power, the same willingness and ability to save, keep, and receive you into Glory is still at work----------for you, for the whole world.

 

"Therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light," because Jesus Christ, the God of Creation, the God of Light, our "Armor of Light," cast off the darkness of the universe.  And since He did that, I know He can cast off any darkness in your life today.  You and I have no reason for discouragement, no reason for defeat, no reason to walk in darkness.  So don't!

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, I thank You that "I am, that I am" is sending me today.  Amen.

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