The Christian and the Bible

“Listen to the statutes… teach them to your children and your grandchildren.” – Deuteronomy 4:1, 9

Jesus said the love of many would grow cold in the End Times. Despite our profession of faith, the facts speak loudly about the general level of spirituality among believers. The only true source of spiritual sustenance is the Inspired Word of God and neglect is causing many Christians to suffer from Spirtual Malnutrition.

Recently comedian Jay Leno asked his television audience to name one of the Ten Commandments. One person ventured: “God helps those who help themselves.” Leno asked if anyone could name the four Gospels. No one could; but responding to another question, almost everyone in the audience could name the four Beatles.

As biblical instruction wanes, large numbers of young people are biblically illiterate. Our society is developing a profound ignorance of Jesus. Many don’t understand the term “Good Friday” or the meaning of our basic Christian vocabulary–grace, sin, redemption, and salvation.

The number of people who read the Bible “occasionally” has declined from 79 percent in the 1980s to 59 percent. Only 16 percent of Christians say they read the Bible daily. (Clayton Hardiman, Bible Literacy Slipping, Experts Say, at Religious News Service, posted at home.snu.edu/~HCULBERT/literacy.htm)

Read your Bible every day. Teach it to your children. Don’t depend on others to do it. Offer to lead Bible classes at your church, and volunteer to work in the children’s ministry. Reversing the tide of biblical illiteracy is going to take all of us doing our part.

“Many Christians expect the world to respect the book they neglect.” -E.C. McKenzie

Source: David Jeremiah

His Eye Is On The Sparrow
365-Day Devotional

A Very Important Message That Speaks To My Heart And, I trust, To Yours..

By: Andrew W Roebert

Email: andrew@alivetogod.com

Website: www.alivetogod.com

INTRODUCTION

God has a unique purpose and destiny for each one of us. Within each one of us HE has placed something of great value. Something that was designed and breathed into us, which was meant to be used by God to touch and reach others. At the same time God is at work within us, so that what He has placed and planted within us can grow, develop and bloom into all He intended it to be. Our greatest happiness can be discovered when we do what God has called us to do. When we are fulfilling the destiny and purpose that He has placed within us, we can discover a place of fulfillment and happiness. We should not become restless, discontent or dissatisfied. When we pursue what is not part of what God has placed within us, it can destroy us and those around us. We should remain faithful to what God has called us to do. Be what God meant you to be!

TESTIMONY

I have always known that God has placed within me the desire to encourage other people. I am an encourager at heart. In fact, I do not enjoy confrontation. I prefer to encourage and inspire people, even though sometimes confrontation is an essential part of life. If I operate in this God-given gift, it brings the greatest joy and fulfillment to my life. If I decided that I would rather correct or admonish people, I would soon run out of steam and get discouraged. When I operate in what God has called me to do, I thrive, I make progress and I take ground. When I do what comes naturally to me, because of what God has placed within me, it is easy. It is not a battle or a struggle.

I have discovered that the best thing to do is to be faithful to what God has called me to do and to operate in line with what He has placed within me. If I do this, I am strong. But when I try to be what God has not called me to be, it saps the very life out of me! When we try to be what we were not meant to be, it is usually destructive. If we take what was not intended for us, we usually have to spend our lives fighting to keep it!

SCRIPTURE READING

Judges 9:7-13 When Jotham heard about this, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted, “Listen to me, citizens of Shechem! Listen to me if you want God to listen to you! Once upon a time the trees decided to choose a king. First they said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king!’ But the olive tree refused, saying, ‘Should I quit producing the olive oil that blesses both God and people, just to wave back and forth over the trees?’ Then they said to the fig tree, ‘You be our king!’ But the fig tree also refused, saying, ‘Should I quit producing my sweet fruit just to wave back and forth over the trees?’ “Then they said to the grapevine, ‘You be our king!’ But the grapevine also refused, saying, ‘Should I quit producing the wine that cheers both God and people, just to wave back and forth over the trees?’

In this story Jotham was speaking to a group of people who wanted to be something they were not intended to be. They wanted to take something for themselves that was not intended for them.

1. DON’T TRY TO BE SOMETHING YOU ARE NOT

In this parable we see a story about not trying to be something we are not. How often we wish we were more like someone else. Perhaps we even wish we had another person’s anointing or calling. Maybe you wish you could just be more like someone else and we end up striving in our own strength to lift ourselves up and elevate ourselves. In this parable the olive tree was asked to be king. The fig tree was asked to be king and the grapevine was asked to be king. They were not designed to be kings! They were designed to be an OLIVE tree, a FIG tree and a GRAPEVINE! Trees were never designed to be kings. Trees were designed to be trees.

Years ago there was a Pastor whom our family knew. He was a good Pastor who enjoyed Pastoring. But his wife felt he could be so much more. She wanted her husband to be in the ‘big-league’! She pushed and pushed and pushed for her husband to be something he was not. It eventually destroyed them, their ministry and their marriage. Be comfortable in your own skin, in your own anointing, in your own gifting and in your own special purpose in God! Develop what God has placed in you and don’t try to be something you are not.

2. NOT EVERY OPPORTUNITY SHOULD BE TAKEN

In the parable above, each tree has the opportunity to respond. In each case the tree asks the question: ‘Should I?’ When we get offered opportunities, we should ask ourselves if this opportunity or promotion is in line with the peculiar and unique gifts God has given us. We should ask ourselves if this is what we are actually called to do! A better position or more recognition may seem like something very attractive, but would it be the right thing and what would the costs be? Can we expect God’s blessing when we operate outside of the unique and special calling God has placed on us? Often the deciding factors are things like power, wealth and honour. Perhaps we should also ask the question: ‘Should I?’ Perhaps we need to carefully examine our hearts and our own secret motivations and intentions of our hearts. We may be risking more than we could gain.

Judges 9:9 They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king!’ But the olive tree refused, saying, ‘Should I……’

Also note that the Olive Tree REFUSED the opportunity to be something it was not, even though being the king would have been something more than just a tree.

3. DON’T UNDERESTIMATE YOUR NATURAL, GOD-GIVEN TREASURES

God has placed treasure within you. This treasure is something unique and special. It is exactly what those around you need and are longing for. The greatest joy and blessing in life is to be useful to God and useful to others.

Judges 9:9 First they said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king!’ But the olive tree refused, saying, ‘Should I quit producing the olive oil that blesses both God and people, just to wave back and forth over the trees?’

‘Should I quit producing the olive oil that blesses both God and people?’ Why would we give up the very thing that was placed within us that would be a source of blessing to both God and man? What God has placed within you was designed to be a blessing. Don’t underestimate what God has placed within you.

The King James Version of this scripture says is more insightfully:

‘But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?’

There is something rich and ‘fat’ about what God has placed within you. It is of great value. It would be unnatural for the olive tree to give up this great asset. In the same way it should be unnatural for us as Children of God to give up that special dimension that God has placed in us. God knows best about what He has placed within you and I.

4. DON’T BE TEMPTED TO LOOK OUTSIDE OF WHAT GOD HAS PLACED WITHIN YOU

There is often a temptation to look outside of what God has placed within us. Perhaps this is just one of those human traits. We always think that the grass is greener on the other side and so we are tempted to look outside of what God has placed within us, assuming that something else would be better. There was once a story told about a man who worked with scorpions. He loved to work with these dangerous little creatures and he would always try to save them. Often he would get bitten by the very creatures he was caring for. One day someone came to him and said: ‘Why do you continue working with scorpions when they bite you?’ He responded and said: ‘Why should I stop doing what comes naturally to me just because the scorpion does what comes naturally to it?’

Don’t look for reasons to stop doing what comes naturally to you. What God has placed within you is a part of His very character and personality. What God has placed in you will reveal something of God’s nature and personality to others. We must deal with the temptation when it comes. We will be tempted to look outside of what God has placed within us, but when we are tempted we should even hold our calling tighter.

5. WHEN WE STAY WITHIN OUR GOD-GIVEN GIFTING, GOD HEARS US!

Judges 9:7-13 Jotham climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted, “Listen to me, citizens of Shechem! Listen to me if you want God to listen to you!”

The lesson is that we should be faithful to what God has called us to do. The reward is that when we do this, HE will be faithful to listen to us. If however we will pursue and take that which does not belong to us, we can get to a place where God does not hear, listen or harken to us. This is for me such a serious warning. Don’t try to be something you are not or were not intended by God to be and in this way you will stay connected to God. Be something that you were not called to be and there is a very real chance that you will experience a disconnect with God and this can lead to destruction.

I once heard someone say: ‘If you take something that does not belong to you, you will have to fight for that thing for the rest of your life!’ and then on top of that is the real likelihood that you will NOT enjoy closeness with God! BUT, if we will stay within our God-given calling and gifting, we can know real fulfillment and a sense that we do not need to fight to hold onto what we have and we can enjoy the knowledge that God is with us and that He hears us when we call!

(These notes may be shared with others)

His Eye Is On The Sparrow
365-Day Devotional

The Palestinians have announced that they have the support of eight members of the UN Security Council—only one short of the nine required for the measure to be approved. This news comes as a great disappointment to Israeli leaders who had lobbied heavily to keep Nigeria and Gabon from voting for the creation of a Palestinian state.Sources in Israel expected those nations to at least abstain if not vote against the measure.

Though the US has promised to veto the measure if it passes, the fear is that such an action would unleash a torrent of terrorist activity against Israel…and possibly the United States as well. Bosnia and Herzgovina along with Columbia are the two remaining undecided members of the Security Council. If either of them chooses to vote for the resolution, a harvest of death and destruction will almost certainly result.

Now is the time for urgent prayer for the peace of Jerusalem and the protection of Israel. Our support of God’s Chosen People has never been more important than it is at this present moment.

Source: Jerusalem Prayer Team

Val

His Eye Is On The Sparrow
365-Day Devotional

THE MOTHER OF ALL SINS

by the late David Wilkerson

I could list a whole catalog of sins that believing Christians practice, but none of them would come near to the sin that I want to talk about. The mother of all sins—the one that gives birth to all others—is the sin of unbelief!

I am not speaking of the unbelief of a hardened sinner. The unbelief of reprobates, agnostics and atheists does not move God at all. No, what angers God more than anything else is the unbelief and troubling doubts of those who call themselves by His name! His children who say, “I am of Jesus,” and hold doubt, fear and unbelief in their hearts grieve Him more than all others!

How seriously does God take this sin of unbelief! Jude warned the church with these words: “But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe” (Jude 5).

Jude is reminding believers of God’s attitude toward unbelief! He is saying, “I am bringing to your remembrance God’s utter hatred for unbelief among His saved people. Having saved the people, afterward He destroyed the ones who did not believe!”

Beloved, I believe that God has called me to put His church in remembrance of this same thing! “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). God may no longer destroy His people physically as He did in the Old Testament but His judgments on our unbelief today are spiritual and they are just as severe.

Unbelief is just as destructive today as it ever was. We may not turn into a pillar of salt, but we do become stiff-necked and bitter! The ground does not open up to swallow us but we are swallowed by troubles, stress and family problems. Fire does not come down and consume us but our spiritual life is destroyed.

Many of us are guilty of the mother of all sins and we do not fear it. We do not take our unbelief seriously; in fact, we live as though God winks at it.

And yet it is the one sin that opens our body and spirit to every other sin known to man.

Source: Pulpit Series Newsletters

Note from Val: Absolutely true! May the Lord increase our faith daily.

His Eye Is On The Sparrow
365-Day Devotional

You Will Know The Real Jesus Christ When He Comes!

“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.” — Matthew 24:23-25.

I have just watched a YouTube video of a man(iac) who professes to be Jesus Christ. The sad thing about this is that he has a growing band of followers – intelligent, educated Australians – who believe him.

Only believe the Living Word and what He says in His Written Word. These are dangerous times we are living in as the Return of Christ comes closer.

Here’s the link if you are interested. It should make every genuine follower of the Real Jesus Christ weep.

Sunday Night: Inside Australia’s Chilling New Cult (A.J. Miller)

I believe we are living in the end of the End Times.

Val

His Eye Is On The Sparrow
365-Day Devotional