Good morning and good Monday. I trust each of you had a great weekend full of family, fellowship and Worship to our loving, caring and generous Heavenly Father. You know, speaking of that, I frequently notice some people that seem to constantly be looking at the glass half full. They can seem to find the grain of bad on a beach of good. But if you just really pause, take a deep breath and introspect your life and the life of those around you, you can see and feel God’s love for us. Just look. It radiates. God is so good to us. And be careful to not misunderstand me, I’m not talking about cars, houses and junk that you can buy. God does indeed provide all that stuff but it’s not what really matters. Look at relationships. Look at your family, look at your friends, look at your beautiful spouse. God’s blessings are abundant, look for them, and look for them in people. They’re not hard to find if you heart is looking for them.
Marge and I had a great Sunday morning full of worship and fellowship yesterday. One of our friends at church needed some help and asked me to lead his Sunday school class yesterday. I of course happily agreed and the lesson was centered on the book of Job. It was a lesson to discuss the fact that God is present in the midst of all of our pain and suffering. One of the fascinating statements that came up was how we view pain and suffering in our lives and where it comes from. Unfortunately, the world will want you to believe that when pain enters your life it’s because God put it there. It’s punishment. Not so much according to God’s Word. You see if you read the 1st chapter of Job you will see the suffering in Job’s life was not caused by God at all, but Satan.
We tend to look at God as a Cosmic Traffic cop. He’s always hiding out behind a billboard with a radar gun just waiting for us to speed by, so he can catch us red-handed and slap us with a big fat ticket. He’s just ready to punish us really good for what we’re doing down here. Folks that’s just not the case. Sometimes there is just suffering in this world. That’s just the way it is. You can’t blame God for everything in your life that you deem to be bad. I think back on some of the most painful moments in my life and look at them today and realize how they turned out to be transformational moments that just happened to be shrouded with turmoil, psychological pain and lack of understanding. Did you catch that last word?
Understanding. That’s what its really all about. We want to understand our pain. Why is it happening? Who is causing this? When will it end? What did I do to deserve this? How can God let this happen to me? All valid questions but none of them will get answers. You see life has pain and we’re in this life. Eventually they are going to collide. Its just how it works.
The good new? God is always by our side. He was always near Job even though Job felt alone. Continue to call out to your Heavenly Father, He is always there and always listening. He will never leave you or forsake you. If you are experiencing the pain of Job today, my prayer is that God will reach out to you with comfort and you will humbly accept what He offers. You will look back one day and see that the pain had a purpose. You see, pain is the pathway to trust.
Well, today is the last book of Romans, chapter 16. Paul has shared some of the most beautiful and heartfelt truths about the gospel of Jesus Christ in the first 15 chapters of what some consider to the be the most important book in the entire Bible. But today in Romans 16 we will see by far the most personal part of the letter from Paul. (by the way, if you missed a few posts, you can find every chapter under the Romans tab)
Paul closes his letter with many personal mentions. Paul mentions 35 people in chapter 16 as he closes. It’s fascinating to be transported back to 58AD as Paul talks of all the people that have impacted his life. Paul was real, this letter to the church at Rome was real and all of these people are real. God’s Word is real, and my prayer is that it’s real to you. That when you read it you don’t see it as an out of date history book full of stories that make no sense but instead see it as the God Breathed Word’s of our Heavenly Father. I pray that the Holy Spirit is making His Words come alive in your heart as you spend daily time in it.
Throughout this benediction its important to note that at the very last Paul has a warning for us. This warning is a major secondary theme of the New Testament that is mentioned not only by Paul but by Peter, James, Judas, Luke and Matthew. The warning? False doctrine and false teachers. If it’s mentioned this many times in scripture my friends, you’d better believe that God wants us to be very, very cautious about doctrine that does not align with exactly what is in His Holy Bible. Let’s look at exactly what Paul says.
“I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them, for such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naïve.” Romans 16:17-18.
I think it’s fascinating that people that refuse the Gospel of Jesus can’t just sit still, keep it to themselves and let well enough alone. Nope, look at what will happen. They will cause “division” and “create obstacles”. They will not just disagree, they will oppose. They will do the work of Satan which is to either slow or completely halt the work of God. In order to do this Paul tells us they will use “smooth talk” and “flattery”. You know these are skilled people that know what they’re doing. They sound good, they look good, and they will rub you the right way. But they serve themselves not Jesus Christ and in so doing they will be able to lead some naïve believers away.
My friends EVRYTHING that you EVER hear about God, Jesus Christ, the Cross, the resurrection, the virgin birth or any other detail of God has ONE AND ONLY ONE measuring stick to be compared to….THE WORD OF GOD. It doesn’t matter what a slick TV preacher says, it doesn’t matter what I say and with all due respect, it doesn’t even matter what your local preacher says. Listen to this next sentence carefully, IF IT DOES NOT AGREE WITH GOD’S WORD 100% THEN ITS NOT THE TRUE DOCTRINE OF GOD. If you find yourself under this type of teaching, preaching or counsel, Paul tells us to avoid it. Avoid is defined as “to keep away from or to stop oneself from doing something.” If you can’t verify the doctrine you are hearing, avoid it, flee from it, run away from it.
There is only one true doctrine and it’s written clearly in God’s Word. I hope that you are spending 5 minutes every day in God’s Word to commit it to your heart personally, so that when the day arises and you are presented with a smooth talking flatterer that presents something differently, you can spot it quickly and not be deceived and led astray. You see the naïve that are deceived in this verse didn’t know God’s Word, they didn’t know the truth of His Word and they believed what they were told. Learn more of Gods Word today and learn to protect your spirit from false teachers.
God bless your personal time reading His Word today.
댓글