The Aftermath
“casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ….” II Corinthians 10: 5
This instruction is given to Christians. Therefore, it must be Christians as susceptible to carnal thoughts and fleshly allurements. They are vulnerable to worldly schemes by deceiving individuals. Naivety plays a large role in the deception of Christians.
Hoodwinked people had rather stay wrong than to admit they have been so naive as to have been duped. If wrong about a matter, admit it and get on the right side of the issue. That is a sure way to demonstrate integrity.
Here is a pertinent adage, Mark Twain is reputed to have said. “It is easier to fool somebody than it is to convince them they have been fooled.”
It has been noted that we are not helpless victims or recipients of our thoughts. We can choose to stop our thoughts and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Thoughts of lust, thoughts of anger, thoughts of fear, thoughts of greed, bitter thoughts, evil thoughts – they are part of every thought that may be and must be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
What are the steps in doing this? By being inquisitive regarding our thoughts and actions. Employ the interrogative by asking: who, whom, what, when, where, why, and sometimes how. What will be the aftermath?
Adhere to the wise counsel often employed by that great philosopher Barney Fife, “Nip it! Just nip it in the bud.” That is, stop it while logic and reason prevail and before emotions take over. Figuratively, if you are not going on the flight, stay off the plane.
Know that in every issue there are two factions, one good and one evil. To be discerning remember: “….walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other….” (Galatians 5: 16, 17)
There is no neutral ground. The median ground between traffic in New Orleans is called the “Neutral Ground.” Allegedly it was the ground between two warring armies, not occupied by either. In the spiritual realm there is no neutral ground.
Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” (Matthew 12: 30) He also said He had rather we be hot or cold, but not sickening lukewarm, that is, lacking convictions, half-hearted, fit for nothing.
Keep in mind, every thought has a consequence. Think right to do right.
Numerous sources have been credited with saying, “You can’t keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building their nests in your hair. Shoo off improper thoughts before they nest in your will.
Happy Valentine’s Day
For whom the day bears the name is uncertain. Nonetheless, African, Roman or Umbrian all have a saint for whom they lay claim. None of them were romantic.
A Roman priest named Valentinus seems to be the most logical. He was arrested during the reign of Emperor Gothicus and put into the custody of an aristocrat named Asterius.
Valentinus talked incessantly about Jesus leading pagans out of the shadow of darkness and into the light of truth and salvation. Asterius made a bargain with Valentinus: If the Christian could cure Asterius’s foster-daughter of blindness, he would convert. Valentinus put his hands over the girl’s eyes and chanted:
“Lord Jesus Christ, en-lighten your handmaid, because you are God, the True Light.”
Immediately the child could see, according to the medieval legend. Asterius and his whole family were baptized. Reacting when Emperor Gothicus heard the news, he ordered them all to be executed. Valentine was beheaded.
The Christian concept of love was expressed by the Apostle John:
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (I John 4: 7, 8)
John did not use the Greek word “Eros,” which means romantic love. Eros is the Greek name for their god Eros, also known by the Roman name Cupid, the god of love. Around Valentine’s Day Cupid is depicted as a chubby, cherub-like figure, who shoots persons with love arrows. The type of love of which John spoke doesn’t come from an arrow out of Cupid’s quiver. It comes from God.
For clarity John identifies the source of Agape by saying “God is love.”
(I John 4: 8 & 16) Selfless, self-giving love describes the character and heart of God. He adds “love is of God.” It is to be reciprocal between God and man, and between persons. Got it, selfless and self giving.
Near every home is an electric transformer. It changes the type of electricity coming from the source to a form that is usable in the home. Love coming from God is to be transformed in our lives and made usable as John says by loving one another. “….everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”
Sing this little chorus:
“Let Your love flow through me
O Lord make me a blessing wherever, I may be
Keep me pure, keep me clean so that You might be seen
O let Your Love, let Your love flow through me.”
Now go out and show people you have been born of God and know God by loving one another.
Be My Valentine
There are many moving Valentine stories. This is one of the best.
Little Chad was a quiet, shy child. One day he told his mother he wanted to make a Valentine for every boy and girl in his class. Her heart sank. To herself she said, “Oh, I wish he wouldn’t do this.” She had seen how the other children ignored and mistreated him. Walking home from school Chad was always a few steps behind “the gang.” They laughed, talked, and hung on each other, but ignored Chad. He was never included.
His mother decided to go along with him. As he requested she bought the paper, glue, and crayons. For three whole weeks Chad worked every night until he completed the 35 Valentines.
On the big day Chad was excited as he left home with his 35 hand-made Valentines.
His mom knew what to expect so in order to be prepared to cheer him up when he came home she baked him his favorite cookies. This would help ease the pain of his disappointment.
That afternoon she waited with the warm cookies and cold milk. Hearing the children coming from schools she looked out the window. Sure enough, same scene. The group laughing, talking, and hanging on each other with Chad a few steps behind.
As he walked in the house his hands were empty. She choked back the tears.
“Mommy has some warm cookies and cold milk for you Chad,” she said.
He hardly heard a word as he marched by with his face aglow, and all he could say was “Not a one … not a single one.”
And then he added, “I didn’t forget a one, not a single one!”
This is the kind of self-sacrificing love in Christ’s name that can reach hardened hearts and win them to Christ.
Jesus didn’t overlook one of us. The “whosoever” in John 3:16 confirms this.
Agostino d’ Antonio, a sculptor from Florence, Italy, worked diligently on a piece of cairina marble. In frustration over his failure to do anything constructive with it, he discarded it. Other sculptors tried in vain to work with its obstinate composition. Michelangelo saw the massive discarded marble and had it brought to his studio. Painstakingly he began to work on it. Slowly his skilled hands began to release the hidden beauty in it. Eventually his efforts resulted in the classical work of “David” being freed.
The secret of the success was not the stone, but Michelangelo. Look at your life! Is it incomplete, perhaps you even have a feeling of being discarded. You are a potential masterpiece. In the hands of Christ He produces nothing but His best from your worst. In love, commit yourself to Him.
God Is Calling With a Message for You 10/26/03
James 4: 7-10
JESUS CHRIST, the resurrected Lord of new life, said to the church in Philadelphia, in ancient Greece, that which is applicable to our church today: “I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it…” (Revelation 3:8).
Together, we the redeemed of the Lord who constitute the membership of this fellowship are called “the church”. What is applicable to the church is related to the individual.
First, a word about us. Then a word about you. For how you respond affects all of us, the church.
The Lord is swinging wide the door of opportunity for us to take bold dramatic steps of ministry and service. In His wisdom He is choosing to challenge our faith. In His love He is granting us an opportunity to think big and act bold. No person can shut the door. We can with cowering and timid spirit fail to go through it. Our negative nature can cause us to question and quibble. We alone can cause what the Lord has in mind to fail. We are often our own worst enemies.
God is setting before this church an open door of opportunity. Months ago this church prayed and sought God’s will in selecting a Pastor Search Team. Thus, this process was begun in prayer. It should be concluded that the Lord composed this team in answer to the prayers of all who sought His will.
For months they have prayed, researched, traveled, and interviewed many people seeking God’s will. This church assigned them the task of finding the person they believe to be His minister for this hour. In light of their prayerful search it is reasonable to conclude they have found the will of the Father in this process. For a ?? person team to reach unanimity is a miracle in itself. They now in one accord with great enthusiasm are ready to recommend the person they are convinced is God’s man to lead this beloved church.
If you believe in prayer you have to trust the process and product.
Opportunity will be provided for persons to meet him and his wife and hear him.
The church on September 17 by unanimous vote gave the Pastor Search Team the authority to set the date and time for a special conference to hear and vote on their recommendation. That decision has been entrusted to them and they have exercised there responsibility to the church by setting the date and time.
I want to appeal to every member to focus on what we are doing and not become divided by how we do it. It is being done by the responsible group in the way they are responsible for doing it. Opinions might well differ on how it should be done. Let’s support those responsible for the decision and their decision.
If we are going to be ready to consider moving as a body through the open door we need to be ready spiritually.
James 4: 7-10 lists some steps of preparation we each need to take. Therefore, now comes the practical personal part of this new year’s challenge.
To be ready to go through the open door of opportunity there must be:
I. COMMITMENT (Verse 7)
A. First, positively. You must “Submit yourselves therefore to God.”
This calls for a conscious willful action on your behalf. It requires you making a choice. Some persons arrogantly refuse to submit themselves. Each of us must respond to the self asked question: “Whom shall I serve, God or myself? Shall I make it my chief concern to do the will of my Heavenly Father, or shall I demand and assert my own way?”
It is said that when Aaron Burr, one of the most controversial personalities in early American life, reached the age of 21, he squarely faced the issue of whom to serve. Resolutely he decided to turn his back on the God of his fathers. As a disgraced murderer, tried for treason and executed his body was laid to rest at the foot of the grave of his grandfather, Jonathan Edwards. Edwards was one of the most revered clergy/statesman of his era. The graves of the two illustrate the difference between one who seeks first the kingdom of God and who chooses slavery to self.
B. Second, negatively. “Resist the devil…”
The devil and his allies, the world and the flesh, have designed and do desire your spiritual destruction.
Resist the devil: Through prayer, Bible study, Regular public worship, Association with friends who are committed Christians
II. CLEANSING (Verse 8)
A. “Cleanse your hands” = outward actions
B. “Purify your hearts” = inward attitudes.
Medical science had not progressed in that day. A common concept was that blood carried in it ideas. They became conscious thoughts when the blood flowed through the brain. It was known that the heart pumped the blood. Therefore, it was thought that the heart was the point of origin of all creative thoughts. Hence, an appeal to cleanse the heart was a directive to change the thought pattern. Don’t let your mind dwell on evil ideas. Purify your thoughts by driving out the wrong concepts and ideas with Bible oriented ideas.
A critical negative spirit needs to be purified. If you are going to think the Christ thoughts the mind must be purified of negativism.
A study shows that for every one negative input eleven positive inputs are necessary to counteract it.
There is a new book entitled “The Theory of Twenty-One.” The author shows as a result of research that out of every 21 people, 20 think negatively about everything. Only one is a positive person.
In another book by a different author entitled “Hide-N-Seek”, persons are urged to inventory their 16 closest relatives. Be objective who among them was negative and who are positive. Most persons will conclude they were reared in a negative environment.
Pray to be the “one” among 21.
III. CONTRIBUTION “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep…” (v. 9)
These are 3 evidences of repentance. Don’t waste your pain. Let it be used of the Lord to draw you to Him.
Kuhino Diamond
IV. COVENANT “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord”(Vs 10)
The word “covenant” means an agreement or testimony. Actually, our Bible is divided into a new and old testament, literally, new and old covenants. A covenant is an agreement. Therefore, agree with the Lord that you are going to “humble yourself.”
It can result in a new beginning. “The Land of Beginning Again” by Louise Fletcher Tarkington:
So I wish that there were some wonderful place
Called the Land of Beginning Again
Where all out mistakes and all our heartaches,
And all our poor selfish grief
Could be dropped like a shabby old cost at the door
And never put on again.
A renewed covenant will result in guidance.
King George VI of England during World War II made the following words vital in his new year’s address: “I said to a man who stood at the gate of the year – ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ And he replied: ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way.'”
The Lord will guide persons who made a covenant with Him.
Again I say this calls for a willful personal commitment from you. You are called on to make a choice.
George Beverly Shea, a name well known in Christian music, had to make such a decision as a young man. He was offered a significant secular recording contract and a major media job. During the time he was wrestling with this decision the Lord used his Godly mother to help make the decision. She copies 2 verses of Scripture and placed them on the piano. Shea came in and found them and sat for a time meditating on them. Slowly his fingers began to wander across the keyboard as ever so gradually his commitment as expressed in his newly emerging song beloved by millions. He wrote and sang:
I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands;
I’d rather be led by His nail-scared hand.
Than to be the king of a vast domain
And be held in sin’s dread sway;
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.
Beverly Shea made a covenant with God. He decided to follow Jesus and that decision has influenced every other decision he has made.
Make your decision today. “Boast not thyself of tomorrow” (Proverbs 27).
God has set before us an open door in ’01. No person can shut it. You can refuse to go through it, however. Likewise, you can choose to go through it.
The Root of the Fruit
“As a man thinks so he is.” (Proverbs 23: 7)
We translate into reality our attitude of mind. What you think, you become.
Attitudes, like pipelines, can get clogged and need cleaning out. Ephesians 4: 30 – 32 notes some of the most common clogs preventing the free flow of an attitude pleasing to the Lord and profitable for the person. Let’s survey them and if at all applicable ask our Lord’s help to remove them.
“Bitterness” refers to a settled hostility that poisons the whole inner person. It develops when a person does something we don’t like and we harbor ill will toward them. This root of bitterness may grow for years before sprouting. However, if the root is allowed to remain it will inevitably sprout. There is a horticultural law which states: “The shoot is proportional to the root.” If you see a little bitterness expressed by a person there is a little bitterness in life. If you see a lot of bitterness expressed, there is a big root of bitterness in life.
The text notes the next sequential step. Bitterness leads to “wrath.” Wrath is an outward explosion of inward feelings.
Anger results from wrath. Anger is an emotional arousal caused by something that displeases us. Most major cities and increasingly smaller towns, have experienced an epidemic of murders. Many of these involve family members or friends. They are called “crimes of passion.”
Horace, the Latin lyric poet, was right when he wrote: “Anger is momentary insanity.”
A person trying to defend a bad temper said, “I explode and then it is all over with.”
“Yes,” replied a friend, “just like a shotgun — but look at the damage that’s left behind.”
Solomon wisely wrote: “A soft answer turns away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.” (Prov. 15: 1)
Carol Travis in “Anger – The Misunderstood Emotion” observes: “The psychological rationale for venting anger does not stand up under scrutiny. The weight of the evidence indicates precisely the opposite. Expressing anger makes you angrier, solidifies an angry attitude, and establishes a hostile habit.
If you keep quiet about momentary irritations and distract yourself with pleasant activities until your fury simmers down, chances are you will feel better, and feel better faster, than if you let yourself go in a shouting match. A ‘ventilationist’ society pays no attention to the social glue of kindness and empathy — and is in danger of disintegrating from within.”
In Ephesians 4: 31 anger is shown to lead to “clamor.” That is a good Bible word for brawling. It means “a tumult of controversy.” It means all pandemonium breaks out. What causes it? Anger. What causes anger? Wrath. What causes wrath? Bitterness. There, exposed, is the root.
No person can ever have the attitude approved by Christ with any stage of that progression alive in his or her life.
Ephesians 4: 32 is the verse that follows and offers a solution: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.