Indebtedness

Posted by Staff on Nov 23, 2008
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Brethren, the Bible states, “ ..... the borrower is servant to the lender,” (Prov. 22:76). In other words, indebtedness equals bondage. 
So, I do all I can to exhort people to get out of debt and to stay out of debt. While some may argue its allowance,
more should argue the wisdom of its removal. Further, it is a present-day fallacy to say one must have debt to live. 
Consider four things I have tried to teach my children about money. If followed from youth, debt will not be necessary.
First, you must earn some money. There is nothing better than for a child to begin this while he’s young.
It is not the responsibility of the church or the state to do this.
The state especially has no Bible business to be in the money distribution business. Rather, plan on earning it yourself.
Second, you must give of your earnings. Honor the Lord with the first-fruits.
Take the first part of all your earnings and give to the Lord and His work.
Purpose in your heart how much and give.
Third, you must save some of your earnings. Save before spending. Have a short-term and long-term savings.
Save at least five or ten percent.  “A wise man treasures up oil.”
Fourth, you then spend the remaining amount, that is, you live on it. Do so by no borrowing and much budgeting.
Let this remaining amount, after giving and saving, dictate your lifestyle.
There! Follow this fourfold procedure and you will not need debt. I know the world around us and even professing Christianity will argue this,
but at least I said it. In the name of providence and opportunity, many cover up poor management and covetous.
Rather, be content with what God has given and not given you. Don’t borrow and God will bless.
If we can help you in any way to work out of your indebtedness, let us know. It is very possible, even in this age, to live within your means,
have no debt, and be free from the money masters!

Soul Winning:  A Challenge

Posted by Staff on Nov 16, 2008
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On a Sunday last winter in the 10:30 a.m. sermon, I introduced with the four fold ingredients that make up the life of the church. The source of that life, of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ. The nature of that life is teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and praying. And it is as these four things are being practiced that we are grown up in Christ as He intended. What then is the result of this? Many things. Holy lives seen in our homes, the work place and the neighborhood. Opposition to wickedness in the world in which we live. Happiness and joyfulness from the indwelling work of the Lord and His Word.
Among all the results of the church’s practice and growth is winning the lost. An inevitable by-product of true growth in the church is we become men and women who are soul winners. Granted we vary in many degrees in our ability and success. Yet in other ways we all become part of the Lord’s converting work.  A Puritan writer has said, “God never gives any one man a whole soul.” So we plant and water and God gives the increase.
But we do plant and water, all of us, in our own way and circumstances. Having said that, allow a challenge to all of you. It is to do something. 
It is to prayerfully reach out to a lost man or woman (or child) by doing the following. Sit with that individual soul, open your Bible and show him/her in the Bible how they can have eternal life. Read the verses to them and have them read them. Be specific with God’s Word and pray the Lord will use it. Having shown them in the Scripture, then ask them if they want eternal life. If so, challenge them to go to Christ for His salvation. Tell me, have you ever opened a Bible and shown someone the way to Christ? Maybe this would be the first time. Regardless, it is my challenge to you to endeavor to do this. Phillip was reading the Bible (Acts 8) too as a lost man, who had to be shown in the Scriptures. Few things are more satisfying and it is obvious the Lord uses then this method.  Make this attempt. For some of you, make it once a week. God will bless it. We will sow where we do not reap, but we will reap where we do not sow. 
And when you have taken me up on the challenge, let us know how it goes. All about us are lost souls, and one of the great fruits of the life of the church is to see conversions.  And this is one good way to have assurance the Lord is in it and to see the power of God in the salvation of souls.

The Necessity of Daily Being in God’s Word and Prayer

Posted by Staff on Nov 09, 2008
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It does not seem necessary for me to quote several texts to support what I see as a great need in all of our lives. That is the need to daily be in God’s Word coupled with prayer as a result. That it is needed is established with several reasons. 
1.  It is the means whereby we can commune with the Lord - John 15:3,7
2. It is the means whereby we are kept from sin - Psalm 119:9-11, John 15:3. 
3. It is the means of our lives being greatly blessed - Psalm 1:1-3. 
4. It is the means to keep us diligent and mindful of the Lord and eternal things - I Peter 1:12. 
5. It is the means to finding direction for our lives - Psalm 119:105.
6. It is the means whereby we can have profitable fellowship and friendship - Malachi 3:16.
The list goes on. No believer argues with the supreme importance to be daily reading, mediating, memorizing and studying God’s Word. Yet it seems for many of the Lord’s people (you?) this is not an established thing. They listen to sermons when gathering, and even listen when others talk about God and what He has to say. But there is not a discipline in their daily lives that puts in their minds and hearts God’s Word. Brethren, His word is wonderful words of life! They put life in our hearts. So the Psalmist prayed many times “quicken me according to thy word.” I would like to challenge all of us to do what is necessary to daily read and think about the Lord’s word. Then let it become the stimulus in our lives to pray unto the Lord. Will you? 
Young person, nothing is more needed in your life to know God’s will and find direction for your life. Likewise nothing more needed is this for we who have been on the road a long time. It often reminds us of what we know but have not applied in a long time or at all. Meditate in His law daily, brethren.  Read it daily. Pray out of it daily. Study it daily. Talk about it daily. O how I love thy law, the Psalmist prayed. O to be daily immersed in a thoughtful and profitable way in the Lord’s Word! O to abide in Him and for His Word to abide in us! O to learn how to have His Spirit integrate His Word into our lives daily in a way that refreshes and exhorts our spirit, causing us to walk and not be weary, to run and not faint. Yes, to cause us to have a heart for the Lord and His work. To cause us to feel the strength that comes from the enlivening power of the Word of God

The Nature or Object of Hope

Posted by Staff on Nov 02, 2008
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Brethren, our lives are full of things that are far less than good.  Bad things do happen to good people, as we have heard said. Man is born unto trouble.  Therefore, on every hand we find disappointing and depressing events in our lives.  Divorce, financial hardship, dashed dreams, losses of opportunity, and a host of other things beset our lives. We get our hopes up or find delight in certain objects, then suddenly (or not so suddenly) they are dashed to the ground.  We are taken back with the news. We wonder what life is all about. We feel little or no desire to go forward with our lives. He/she was not what we thought.  They no longer want me in their lives. We are left without what we thought was the very essence of life. Let me say a word to all of us with this in mind. Hope is the expectation of future things happening in our lives, especially things that are good and delightful. In the Bible the proper object of hope is the Lord.  “Hope thou in God,” the Psalmist wrote. Find your expectation/your future in the Lord. Find your delight and dependence for daily joy and satisfaction in the Lord.  Herein lies the key to this. I said recently to a woman whose husband left her that life does not end with that. Yes, he was wrong to abandon his wife.  Yes, he should seek reconciliation. But he left her.  Of course, she is heart broken. Her world is turned upside down. Yet in the midst of this I am able to say to her (and it seems I am saying this to several as many occasions arise) that life is not her husband.  Life is not a wife, or husband, or a job, or a house, or a position, or a child. Life is not good health, or plenty of money or playing games. Life is knowing God - John 17:1-3 and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  For you see, all these other objects pass away through time, death, providence and sin. But the Lord is our dwelling place from everlasting to everlasting.  He is always there when we come home! Amen and praise the Lord! Let me go further, not only does life not end because that woman’s husband left her,
but it is for the believer a door that will open the way to a much brighter future in the Lord. Whatever the outcome, if she continues to do God’s will, she is in for better days spiritually. Do you and I think God is limited is such a way? Can He not work through such disappointments to bring much good out of them? “Is there anything too hard for me,” said the Lord? No, there is not. I say for the believer that no matter what bad thing is happening in their/your/my life, it is not life. Rather, it is often the very thing that gets us back to the Source of life- God Himself. So take heart. Center your attention of the proper Object. Get up and go forward, regardless of your circumstances.  Look to the Lord. Hope thou in God.  And know that if you will, all will be well.  It will be better!  It will be a life that shines more and more until that perfect day. “For the path of the just is as the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day.”