Fighting Temptation

Copyright 2009 by John A. Buttrick

Contents

Chapter One: Sin Vs Temptation

Chapter Two: Our Influence On the World

Chapter Three: Every Idle Word

Chapter Four: Our Character & Reputation

Chapter Five: Marriage

Chapter Six: Holding Grudges

Chapter Seven: Love

Chapter Eight: Charitable Giving

Chapter Nine: Prayer

Chapter Ten: Overcoming Anxiety

Chapter Eleven: Judging Others

Chapter Twelve: The Narrow Way

Chapter Thirteen: Change Without Notice

Chapter Fourteen: Trusting God

Chapter Fifteen: Sin Removal

Chapter One: Sin Vs Temptation

The world we live in is beautiful, filled with plants and birds and all kinds of wonders. Birds enjoy the freedom of the skies and yet even for them there are hazards. The challenge we face as Christians is to live godly in a world full of temptations, which can lead us to sin. We receive this challenge from the word of God, the bible. In the Apostle Paul’s letter to Titus, chapter two, verses eleven through fourteen, the scripture teaches us how the grace of God appears for the purpose of bringing salvation to all men. This grace teaches us to deny all ungodliness and the lusts of the world. We’re also taught in this passage to live godly in this present age and do so while looking forward to Christ’s glorious return. This is the same Jesus who died on the cross to redeem us and arose from the dead in order to purify for Himself a people who will work hard at doing good.

We are challenged by the Holy Spirit, who inspired the Apostle Paul, to live godly in this present age. The age meaning: The Christian age. The bible is divided into three dispensations. The first is the Patriarchal, when God spoke to heads of families like Abraham and everyone lived under the law of conscience. The second age, dispensation, is the Mosaic, which started when Moses delivered the ten commandment law with all of the various statutes to the children of Israel. The third and final dispensation is the Christian age, which began when Jesus of Nazareth arose from the dead and established His church.

Many of the concepts in the New Testament are easy to understand but difficult to apply in our daily lives, living godly in this present age is one of them. Being godly does not mean we have super natural powers or that we are all-knowing or incapable of making mistakes. To live godly means we are to be God fearing and reverent, saintly, moral, and virtuous. We are to be respectful and faithful to God.

Simple right? Hardly.

The Apostle Paul warns us in his second letter to Timothy, chapter three, verse twelve, that all who would live godly will suffer persecution.

Jesus made known in Matthew, chapter five, verses eleven and twelve, how blessed we are when we are reviled and persecuted. We are blessed when evil things are being said falsely about us for His name sake, for following His teachings. We should be happy because the prophets of old were similarly persecuted in their time and we share that experience with them. We should not be discouraged when while striving to walk in a godly manner, people say bad things about us; just trust in the Lord and keep on walking.

God has given us the right to choose good or evil, to do what is right or to do what is wrong. We learn from the third chapter of Genesis how Adam and Eve had a choice. They could eat of the fruit from all of the trees in the Garden of Eden except one; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They chose to eat of that tree and as a result sin and death entered the world.

The fourth chapter of Genesis reveals how Able offered to God an acceptable sacrifice while Cain offered one that was un-acceptable to the Lord. Cain was upset and God let him know that if he did well he would be accepted, otherwise sin lay at the door desiring him. Sin won out and Cain murdered his brother. Cain had a choice, we have a choice. He decided to get rid of the one who did right, made him look bad in comparison, rather than make a change in himself and do well.

Just like Adam and Eve, just like Cain and Able, every person from every generation from then till now has a choice. To sin or not to sin, to do what is right in the sight of God or ignore His word and go against Him. Each new day is a challenge for us to live godly, a lofty goal taking commitment to achieve. But, in order to fight temptation and avoid sin, we must gain an understanding of what sin is.

A sin against God is doing something in His word He has told us not to do or failing to do something He has commanded us to do. Stealing, for example: the Apostle Paul in Ephesians the fourth chapter, verse twenty-eight, taught that a person who steals should not steal anymore. The thief should work with his hands so he can have enough to share with someone who is in need. God condemns stealing and a person who perpetrates this offense is sinning against God.

Some people have a tendency to set their own standards and expectations and confuse those with God’s standard. We should be careful not to accuse anyone of sinning against God when all they have done is fail to meet our own idea of what they should be or how they should conduct themselves. God’s standard of right and wrong, written in the bible, is what should be used to determine what a sin against Him is.

We can read how Peter denied knowing Jesus in Luke, chapter twenty-two, verses fifty-four through sixty-two. Peter had followed the mob who had taken the Lord all the way to the house of the high priest. A girl recognized Peter as having been with Jesus and the disciple denied knowing Him. A while later a man came accusing Peter of having been with Jesus, again the denial came. Another man came and confidently identified Peter has having been with Jesus because of the disciple’s Galilean accent. Peter swore and cursed and for the third time denied knowing Jesus.

The Lord taught in Matthew the tenth chapter, verses thirty-two and thirty-three, that whoever confessed Him before men, He would confess before His Father in heaven. But whoever denied Him before men, Jesus would deny that person before His Father in heaven.

Peter committed a sin when he denied knowing Jesus. Yes, Peter was afraid and confused. He was not the first person to sin out of fear and confusion and definitely not the last. Any one of us, under certain circumstances, can be tempted to sin. The best thing we can do when caught in sin is to follow Peter’s example and repent.

The sin of failing to do what God has commanded can have dire consequences. In the Apostle Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians, chapter one, verses six through nine, he taught about what was going to happen when the  Lord is revealed with  His angels in flaming fire. Vengeance will be taken upon those who don’t know God and have not obeyed the gospel of Jesus. Those people will be punished with everlasting destruction away from the presence of God because they did not know Him and did not heed the gospel call.

We can see from the scriptures that sin of any kind against God is a serious matter and should be dealt with before we have to stand before the Lord in judgment. A wise person will repent like Peter and have their sins forgiven while he or she still draws breath.

The devout believer and the devout atheist will both kneel before Jesus. Paul reveals this to us in Philippians, chapter two, verses ten and eleven. Every knee is going to bow at the name of Jesus, on earth and in heaven, and every tongue confess Him as Lord

Walking godly in this present world does not mean we will never sin. Jesus is the only man who has the distinction of having never sinned. The rest of us are guilty and need to fight sin to the best of our ability. The way to avoid sin is to understand the nature of temptation and where it originates.

We are tempted by things we desire or find appealing in some way. It could be to steal food because we are hungry or to strike back at someone we feel has done us wrong. The apostle Paul taught in Ephesians, chapter four, verse twenty-eight, that thieves should steal no more and labor with their hands so they can give to people who are in need. Hunger can tempt a person to steal. Jesus teaches in Matthew, chapter five, verse forty-four, to do good to those who hate us and pray for those who are spiteful and who persecute us.

A person who is being treated spitefully can be tempted to lash out in kind. Anyone at any time can be tempted to sin, especially while being tormented by others.

We are blessed for enduring temptation, according to James, chapter one, verses twelve through fifteen. The one who endures temptation will receive the crown of life, which has been promised to everyone who loves the Lord. None of us should blame God when we are tempted because He cannot be tempted by evil and does not tempt anyone. Each person is tempted by his own desires and that is what does the enticing. Desire originates in the mind and gives birth to sin, which brings forth death, spiritually and sometimes even physically.

Nobody would be tempted to sin if there was not at least some pleasure or momentary satisfaction involved. Temptation is personal in many ways. The things that tempt me may not be desirable to you and the things that tempt you may not be enticing to me.

The forgiveness of sins extended to Christians by God is a wonderful blessing but it does not give one a license to sin. Paul makes this point clear in First Corinthians, chapter ten, verses one through twelve. The ancient Israelites were led out of Egypt by God through Moses and they spiritually ate and drank from the same source, the spiritual Rock that is Christ. They were all God’s chosen people and yet most of them died in the desert, never seeing the Promised Land because of sin. Their example was recorded for our learning so we would take heed and not lust and worship idols. We are not to commit fornication like many of them did and died as punishment. Anyone who believes God will not punish sin has not read the Old or New Testaments very carefully or is ignoring the fact. We are all flesh and blood and therefore susceptible to temptation. It is dangerous to flirt with temptation, to be over confident in our ability to resist, and to believe ourselves to be so strong that we cannot fall into sin.

God is merciful and sets a limit to the kinds of temptations we must fight, according to First Corinthians, chapter ten, and verse thirteen. The temptations we encounter will be common to man, nothing requiring super human strength to withstand. The Lord will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to hold up against and will provide a way of escaping the enticement. This scripture is a two-edged sword. It provides comfort in that we know God will provide a way of escape from whatever the current temptation is and it also makes it our own fault if we fail to look for the way of escape the Lord has provided.

There can be many reasons why we give in to temptation. Sometimes the desire is so strong we put the consequences out of our minds and just go ahead and do what we know is wrong, which is part of what makes us human. This is why God sent His Son into the world to die for our sins and raised Him from the dead. This is why Hebrews, chapter four, verse fifteen, teaches us that Jesus is the perfect high priest. He had been tempted in all points just like us, except He did not give in to temptation. He did not sin. There’s always a reason why we sin but never an excuse.

Jesus showed us how to handle temptation in Matthew, chapter four, verses one through eleven. The Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness where He fasted forty days before Satan came to tempt Him. When the devil wanted Jesus to prove Himself to be the Son of God by turning stone to bread, the Lord quoted Deuteronomy, chapter eight, verse three. He told Satan that men did not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

The devil tempted Jesus to jump off the pinnacle of the temple and even quoted that God’s angels would keep charge over the Son of God and catch Him if He falls.

Jesus quoted Deuteronomy, chapter six, verse sixteen, about not tempting the Lord your God. Jesus could have jumped down and the angels would‘ve caught Him but He would have been guilty of tempting God. When Satan promised Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if He would fall down and worship him, the Lord refused. He told the devil to go away and let him know that the Lord God was to be worshipped and Him only.

Jesus could’ve called on His Devine nature to resist the temptations, but He did not. He used the scriptures to escape the taunts of the devil and showed us how we too can prevail when tempted.

Temptations arise from three sources, according to First John, chapter two, and verse sixteen. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life can lead us to sin if we are not careful.

Lust is an inordinate or unlawful desire. Yet to desire something in and of itself is not lust, many people do not know the distinction. The lust comes in when we desire something God has condemned as sinful or desire something we would have to sin in order to obtain.

We are flesh and blood mortal beings and our bodies have certain needs in order to function properly. We must take in food and liquids for nourishment and these fleshly needs come with various appetites. If a man is hungry or thirsty he can be tempted to steal food or water in order to satisfy that appetite. If a woman’s family is hungry she may be tempted to steal. This is where the lusts of the flesh come in and legitimate appetites can turn into unlawful desires.

We put on clothes to protect our bodies against the elements and, hopefully, for the sake of modesty. I say modesty because there is another appetite, which is to mate.

God made us and He designed us to have these desires. We must eat and drink or we will die, but we can live without sex.

Males and females are attracted to each other; God made it so for the purpose of procreation. This is a broad generalization because not every woman is attracted to every man and not every man is attracted to every woman. It is not sinful to be attracted to a member of the opposite sex or admire the physical attributes of others. Noticing a person’s hair, face, figure, the set of their eyes, or whatever about them you find to be physically appealing does not equate to lust, although it could if a person allows the feeling to go beyond simple attraction. We can walk down the street and admire the beauty of a flower without plucking it.

Whoever looks at a woman to lust after her commits adultery with her in his heart, is what Jesus taught in Matthew, chapter five, verse twenty-eight. Being attracted to a woman is normal for a man. The desire to have sexual intercourse outside of marriage or desiring it with the spouse of someone else is an inordinate desire; God has condemned it as sinful.

The second type of temptation comes from the lust of the eyes. This desire says, “I see it, I want it, and don’t care what it takes to obtain it.”

For some people the object of desire is political power or money or a watch or anything belonging to someone else. The desire to seek political power isn’t lust. It becomes lust when the person is willing to lie, cheat, steal, murder, or commit any other sin in order to achieve the goal. Paul taught in First Timothy, chapter six, verse ten, that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. The love of money had caused some people to fall away from following Jesus and resulted in many sorrows. It is not a sin to be wealthy, to have money. The sin comes when a person develops an inordinate desire for riches. Lust for money can tempt a person to abandon Jesus and commit many kinds of sins, all in the name of worldly gain.

We have the example of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts, chapter five, verses one through eleven. This husband and wife had witnessed the reaction when Barnabas sold his land and brought the entire sale price to the apostles. The couple desired to have the same type of recognition so they sold a possession and Ananias brought part of the money and laid it at Peter’s feet. The apostle asked Ananias why Satan had filled his heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price for himself. Ananias wasn’t required to sell his property and give the proceeds to the church. Even after he sold the land and had the money in his hand, he could’ve said, “This is part of the sale price.” He chose to make people think he was giving the entire amount and did not just lie to men, he lied to the Holy Spirit, he lied to God, and fell dead at the apostle‘s feet. Sapphira came later and when she was asked if the land sold for the price given, she backed her lying husband. The couple had an inordinate desire, lust, for recognition and were willing to lie to God and test the Spirit of the Lord in order to obtain it. Sapphira fell dead at Peter’s feet. The sad part is they could have told the truth and said the money was part of the price and they would not have been struck dead. People who choose to walk godly give out of the goodness of their hearts, not to be applauded by the crowd.

The third type of temptation comes from the pride of life and is just as dangerous as the other two. The pride of life tells a person, “You’re alive and well and have plenty of time ahead of you.”

We learn from the book of Hebrews, chapter nine, verse twenty-seven, that it is appointed once for all of us to die and afterward comes the judgment. The only way we’re not going to die is if we are alive when Jesus comes back. Death can come at any age, but the pride of life fools a person into thinking that day is far away.

A person who is taught about Jesus and then puts off obeying the gospel and getting their sins forgiven through the blood of Christ, does so because of the pride of life. Some people have told me they understood what they needed to do in order to become a Christian, but wanted to wait. Some of them wanted to have fun first, to sow their wild oats, or to burn off their exuberance. They are telling me that sin is fun and they are unwilling as yet to give it up. They do not want to live godly because that would be boring. The pride of life tells them they have plenty of time to serve God later; causing them to forget that death can take them at any time.

I have been told by other people that they will obey the gospel and become Christians some day, not now, when it is more convenient. These are decent moral people who are kind to others and do not steal or cheat anyone. Their problem is the pride of life has deceived them into thinking they have plenty of time and would not die in their sins before that convenient day arrives.

The point is that we should make time for God and not allow the pride of life to fool us into thinking we have plenty of time to serve Him in this life.

We can be tempted by any of the three types of temptations, one at a time or all at once. We have an example in Second Samuel, chapter eleven, verses one through five. King David was walking on his roof; they were flat back then, when he beheld a woman bathing. He learned from his servants that her name was Bathsheba and the wife of Uriah the Hittite. David sent for her and she came to him. He was a handsome man, a famous warrior, extremely rich, and the king of Israel, she found this attractive. He lay with her and she conceived.

The lust of the flesh gave David the urge to have sexual intercourse. He had wives; the Law of Moses permitted multiple wives, so he could’ve satisfied that appetite with one of them. There was a way of escape but he chose not to take it.

The lust of the eyes came into effect when David inadvertently beheld Bathsheba taking her bath. She was beautiful and he certainly admired her attributes. Seeing her naked was an accident but he could’ve looked the other way or gone back into his palace. He allowed the lust of his eyes to trigger the lust of his flesh and the temptation led to adultery. She could have said, “No.”

People today can find themselves in the same situation as David and Bathsheba. They see the spouse of someone else and the lust of the eyes stirs up the lust of the flesh and the result is adultery. This can and has happened among Christians. Any of us can be tempted at all points at any time, but God‘s grace abounds and the conscience educated by His word will do its work and hopefully lead us away from those temptations.

The pride of life could tempt a person who has sinned to put off repentance, make them believe they can continue in sin and seek forgiveness later, or cause them to die in their iniquity.

Jesus of Nazareth, the risen Son of God, Christ the Savior, was tempted by the devil. Jesus is the unblemished Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice to take away our sins because He Himself committed no sins. He is our high priest, according to order of Melchizedek.

Pride in and of itself can tempt a person to sin. It can cause us to be unwilling to admit when we are wrong and keep us from repentance. We are commanded to walk humbly before the Lord and pride can keep us from doing so if we are not careful. Pride can ruin our human relationships by causing fights, arguments, and harsh feelings.

Hebrews chapter four, verse fifteen. The Lord was tempted in all points just as we are, yet without sin, giving us a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses. The scripture also shows us that the temptations we face in and of them-selves are not sin. It is not a sin to be tempted. Otherwise, Jesus would have been guilty. The sin comes when we give in to the temptation, which Christ never did.

The bible tells us that those who live godly will suffer persecution. Living godly in this present age is a challenge but not impossible if we turn to God for help, look for His way of escape, and pray for Him to lead us not into temptation.

Each of us has an important role to fill on the earth and godly living is the way to fulfill it. We can be the seasoning in an otherwise distasteful world.

Chapter Two:Our Influence On The World

Jesus taught His disciples, and all who would be His disciples, in Matthew, chapter five, and verse thirteen, that they are the salt of the earth. How shall salt be seasoned if it were to lose its flavor? The salt would be useless, fit only to be trampled under foot.

In order for us to walk godly as disciples of Christ, we must remember who and what we are, followers of Jesus, the salt of the earth. Salt adds flavor to bland food, making it palatable. Faithful Christians make an other-wise unsavory world palatable to God. A disciple of Jesus who no longer follows His teachings has made himself unsavory to God and therefore of no use to Him. If Christians ignore the teachings of Jesus, fail to apply His standards to their daily lives, how can they hope to influence non-Christians to come to the Lord? Salt is a preservative and we Christians should act as preservatives of godly morals against worldly spoilage.

When a person responds to the gospel call and becomes a Christian, God doesn’t send down His chariot of fire and transport the new convert to heaven. The person who is born again is still on the earth. In order for salt to do its job, it must be applied directly to whatever is being seasoned or preserved. In the same way, as we walk godly in this present age, we must avoid temptation by saying no to sin and sharing God’s standard of morality with other people. When we apply God’s word to our lives and share this knowledge with others, we’re the salt of the earth just as Jesus would have us be.

Salt had great value in the ancient world and was often used for trade. According to Jesus in Luke, chapter twelve, verses six and seven, five sparrows were sold for two coppers and yet not one of them was forgotten before God. Jesus taught His disciple to not be afraid because the very hairs of their heads were numbered. This means those who follow the Lord are so valuable to God that He knows exactly how many hairs are on the heads of each one of them. We are precious to God and His teachings should be precious to us. The writer of Psalms one hundred nineteen, verse seventy-two, tells us the law of God was more precious to him than gold and silver coins. It is like a person today treasuring God’s word more than winning the lottery and gaining millions of dollars. We should likewise value God’s word.

Jude, the brother of James, made known in the third and forth verses of his book why he decided to write the letter to all those who have been called and sanctified by God and preserved by Jesus Christ. The original intent had been to write about the common salvation, it is always good when we remember God’s love in sending His Son to die for our sins and how He raised Him up from the dead, but Jude changed his mind. There was something more urgent these Christians needed to know about. They needed to contend earnestly for the faith, the gospel truth delivered by the apostles and disciples to the people who accepted it and became saints.

Since the word saint is used in the scripture, I think it best to clarify the biblical meaning of the word, over which there is much confusion in the religious world. The apostles were saints and they could work miracles and had the ability to lay hands on people and those individuals would gain one or more spiritual gifts as the Holy Spirit chose. Being a saint does not mean the person has some super natural quality which allows them to do things beyond the ability of mortal beings. A saint is a person who has been set apart and dedicated to God. The Apostle Paul taught that Christians are washed, sanctified, and justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God, according to First Corinthians, chapter six, and verse eleven.

Everyone who has had their sin washed away by the blood of Jesus, everyone who has been justified by the blood of Jesus, have also been set aside and dedicated to God by the blood of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. A saint is not someone who has been dead for a certain amount of years or has performed a certain number of miracles. A saint is anyone who is set apart from the rest of humanity and is dedicated to God. Do not take my word for it on the subject, look to the bible.

Romans 1:7, Paul addresses the letter to those who are called to be saints.

Romans 8:27, Paul teaches how the Holy Spirit makes intercessions for the saints.

Romans 15:25, Paul speaks about going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints.

1 Corinthians 1:2, Paul addresses the letter to those who are sanctified, called to be saints.

1 Corinthians 14:33, God is not the peace. In all the churches of the saints.

Ephesians 1:1, Paul addresses the letter to the saints in Ephesus.

Ephesians 5:3, Paul teaches that fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, not be named

among the saints.

Philippians 1:1, Paul addresses the letter to the saints in Christ who are living in Philippi.

The letters written by Paul weren’t addressed to dead people who had gone on before. He wrote to living breathing people, some of which needed to make some corrections in their lives. The word saint means to set apart and dedicate. When Peter tells us in his first letter, chapter three, verse fifteen, to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts, he means to set apart and dedicate a place in our hearts belonging only to God. Every Christian is a saint but not every Christian could work miracles. The word has been abused to the point where if you tell someone you are a saint, they will think you have an overly high opinion of yourself. What the word really means is, as Christians we have been set apart and dedicated to God by His grace, not because of our own perceived righteousness.

The word of God is valuable and as the salt of the earth, as children of God, as Christians, as saints, as humble servants, we must be willing to contend for the faith. Jude knew back in his day that certain men had crept into the church, ungodly men who had twisted the grace of God into lewdness and even denied God and Jesus. The same kind of thing can happen today. As we strive to live godly, as we continue to be the salt of the earth, we must not allow false teachings to stand. The scriptures can be used to expose any errors being taught.  This should be done out of concern for the souls of those who could be led astray.

We should fight the good fight, as the Apostle Paul told the young minister in First Timothy, chapter six, verses twelve through fourteen. Fight the good fight. Lay hold of eternal life, keep the Lord’s commandments, and to be blameless until Christ’s appearing. Our spiritual salt will never lose its savor if we do as Paul told Timothy.

The most extreme example of what can happen to a society which becomes unsavory to God can be found in Genesis, chapter eighteen, verses sixteen through thirty-two. God revealed His intention to go down and destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of their great sin. Abraham wanted to know if God would destroy the righteous along with the wicked and asked God if He would spare it if there could be found fifty righteous people living there. The Lord agreed to relent for the sake of fifty righteous people living in Sodom. Abraham asked again, only this time for the sake of forty-five and God agreed to spare them if He could find forty-five. Abraham lowered the bar to thirty and the Lord again agreed. Abraham, apparently knowing Sodom’s reputation, lowered the number to twenty righteous people and God agreed again. Finally, Abraham asked God if He would spare the city if ten righteous people could be found and God agreed to the ten. Chapter nineteen goes on to describe what happened when the angels visited Sodom. The men of the city wanted to have sexual relations with the messengers of God. The angels struck the sodomites blind and then led Lot, his wife, and two daughters out of the city. The angels told them the city was going to be destroyed and that they needed to flee and not look back. Fire came from heaven consuming Sodom, Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain. Lot’s wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt.

Sodom would have been spared if there had been at least ten people who God found to be righteous. Very few were striving to live godly. The salt of the earth are those people who are trying to live godly. When God looks down upon our modern world, the nations, cities, towns, and villages, let’s hope He’ll find people who are faithfully following His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If there is no salt found on earth, there would be nothing left to make it palatable to God.

Salt makes us thirsty. In the gospel according to John, chapter four, verses ten through fourteen, Jesus is in the middle of a conversation with a Samaritan woman. The Samaritans were a mixed race, part Jewish and part Gentile. The Jews did not have dealings with the Samaritans so the woman was surprised when Jesus spoke to her. They were at the well that was dug by Jacob when the Lord asked her for water. Jesus let her know she could have asked Him and He would’ve given her living water. He went on to explain how the living water He provided would be a fountain springing up into eternal life.

Jesus invited those who thirst to come to Him and drink in John, chapter seven, verses thirty-seven and thirty-eight. Those who believe on Him would have living water flowing from their hearts. As the salt of the earth, as we interact with people, we can make them thirsty for the living water which can only be found in Jesus Christ.

By applying the teachings of Jesus to our daily lives, we become the salt of the earth and learn how we ought to behave and avoid sin. Godly living gives us the opportunity to enlighten others about Jesus as they see our stated beliefs reflected in our conduct.

You, the follower of Jesus, are the light of the world, according to Matthew, chapter five, verses fourteen through sixteen. A city on a hill cannot be hidden and no one lights a lamp and then covers the flame. We enter a dark room and turn on the light so we can see. Similarly, Jesus made us lights to illumine a darkened world. The prince of this world is the devil and darkness is the area in which he thrives.

God’s word exposes all evil and banishes ignorance. We can tell the books, chapters, and verses in the bible to people so they can know what the will of God is and His standard of right and wrong. But there is much more to letting our lights shine than just knowing the scriptures; if our words and deeds and how we conduct ourselves match, people will see the good works and glorify our heavenly Father. If our words and deeds do not match, they see hypocrites.

We are not meant to hide our faith from the world, which does not mean we go around shouting to everyone about Jesus and all the works we have done in His name. We are to walk humbly before God and illumine the path to Him through His word and demonstrate our faith through godly living. A good way to let our lights shine is to feed an enemy if he is hungry and give him a drink if he’s thirsty. The instruction is given by Paul in his letter to the Romans, chapter twelve, verses twenty and twenty-one. When we do as the apostle said, it is like heaping coals of fire on the head of our antagonist. We shouldn’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Two wrongs do not equal one right and evil for evil still adds up to evil. We can let our lights shine when we repay a person with kindness who has treated us wickedly. A person of conscience will feel badly for their behavior or be forced to wonder what motivated us to be kind to them. It might even provide an opportunity to share Christ with them.

We need to know the path before we can illumine it. In Matthew, chapter fifteen, verses one through twenty, the scribes and Pharisees wanted to know why the disciples of Jesus did not follow the tradition of the elders and wash their hands before eating. The Lord pointed out the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees, how they honored God with their lips while their hearts were far from Him and taught as doctrines the commandments of men. Jesus went on to declare them blind guides saying, “If the blind leads the blind, both will fall in the ditch.”

Our ability to see is dependant upon light, enter a pitch dark room and the fact becomes clear. In John, chapter one, verses one through fourteen, we learn about the Word. The Word was in the beginning with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God and everything was made through Him. He was the Light but the darkness did not comprehend it. Jesus is the Word, the second Person of the Holy Trinity.

Modern day people can fall into the same trap as the scribes and Pharisees whom Jesus declared to be hypocrites. People invent doctrines and pass them off as being God’s word or teach their own doctrines while ignoring the scriptures when they conflict with their teachings.

Care must be taken to use God’s word when teaching people about Jesus and not the use of man-made doctrines. It would be impossible for any of us to let our lights shine and lead others to Christ if we ourselves are blind to God’s truth.

There are people who prefer the darkness. Jesus taught in John, chapter three, verses eighteen through twenty-one, that those who believe in Him are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already because they failed to believe in the only begotten Son of God. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Those who practice evil hate the light and refuse to be illumined because it exposes their evil deeds. The people who recognize the truth will come to the light and practice the teachings so their deeds are clearly seen and done in God.

Sadly, there are people who will reject the gospel truth because they do not want to change the way they’re living. Your godly living is going to make them look bad in contrast, which is where persecution can come in. Too many people have the same idea as Cain; get rid of the person making you look bad. The ill will rarely rises to the level of murder but the resentment is real and could result in some form of persecution, even if your only motivation is to live in a godly manner, you might be accused of having a holier than thou attitude. We should try not to allow the negative reaction of others discourage us from following the Lord.

Jesus is the light and God has made it possible for us to be like Him. In Ephesians the forth chapter, verses four through thirteen, we can see how God made it possible for a person to be perfect, complete, measured in the stature of the fullness of Christ. There is one Spirit, one hope, one calling (the call to be saints, 1 Corinthians 1:2), one Lord, one faith, one baptism (Water, Acts 8:38), one God and Father of all. He also gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.

The apostles and prophets all died about two thousand years ago but not their words, which were inspired by the Holy Spirit. We possess in this day and time, in practically every language, the writings of the apostles; Matthew, John, Peter, and Paul. We also have the writings of the prophets; Mark, Luke, James, and Jude.

Their works are found in what we call the New Testament, which is the second part of the book we call the bible. When we read what these men wrote, we read all about Jesus and how to live godly.

The man of God is thoroughly equipped, according to Paul in his second letter to Timothy, chapter three, verses sixteen and seventeen. All of the scriptures are inspired by God and therefore profitable for doctrine, reproof, correcting errors, and instructions in righteous living. We do not need to develop, determine, or modify doctrines; God has already done that in His word. The bible can show us what we are doing wrong and how to make the necessary corrections. The scriptures reveal God’s standard of right and wrong and show us the ideal way to live godly, using Jesus as our example and as our Savior and Guide to eternal Life.

We have pastors, evangelists, and teachers today, people who have studied the bible and fill these rolls. God has made provisions for all people everywhere to come to Him if they so choose. The souls who follow Him do so of their own free will.

We can choose to live godly in this present age and avoid sin, if we do not trip over our own tongues. Rash words stir up bitter thoughts and the consequences can be unpleasant, chapter three explains the reason why.

Chapter Three: Every Idle Word

One of the ways to live godly in this present age is to learn how to control our tongues. We are going to be tempted to curse, swear, utter profanities, or use filthy language. Biblically speaking, cursing is not swearing, swearing is not profanity, and profanity is not filthy language.

When the bible uses the word, curse, it means to call for harm or punishment to be visited upon someone or thing. It can be anything from calling for a bird to poop on your neighbor’s new car or demanding that God punish the object of your anger to an eternity in hell.

When the bible uses the word, swear, it means to take an oath based on someone or thing greater than oneself or on something the person holds as precious. This can be anything from swearing on your great grandmother’s diamond ring to swearing to God on a stack of bibles.

Profanity is speaking blasphemous, irreverent, reviling, or belittling words about or against God; to take His name in vain. The word vain when used in the scriptures means empty, without substance. We should be deliberate when mentioning God and use His name with reverence. The Lord’s name should never be used as an exclamation point in a sentence.

Filthy language is using words that are culturally considered to be crude or lewd. These words are usually thrown into a sentence as punctuation marks or to add intensity to whatever the person is trying to express or when we stub our toes in the dark.

We all need to watch what we say because people are listening and so is God. Our tongues have the potential to waggle off rash words that can cost us big time. The most extreme case is found in Matthew, chapter twelve, verses twenty-two through thirty-seven. Jesus had just healed a man possessed by a demon and the Pharisees claimed the demon had been cast out by the power of Beelzebub, Satan, the ruler of the demons. Jesus did all of His works through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Pharisees blasphemed the Holy Spirit and Jesus made it clear they would not be forgiven for doing so. Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, but speaking a word against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Jesus goes on to warn that we will give an account for every idle word we speak in the Day of Judgment. The Pharisees had been unable to deny Jesus had worked a miracle and so rashly, without understanding the gravity of what they were saying, attributed the source of the miracle to the devil. Their idle words cost them dearly. Idle words can be forgiven, just not those spoken against the Holy Spirit as the Pharisees did. We are going to give an account for every reckless word we utter, that is a sobering thought.

James speaks about the tongue in the first chapter of his book, verse twenty-six. If we think we are religious and do not bridle our tongues, we are deceiving ourselves and our religion is useless. It is difficult for a person who uses bad language to set a good example. All of us should learn to think before we speak and to control our tongues. This is no easy task, especially when we are irritated.

We all have moods that affect our attitudes and have days when we are better at controlling our reactions than at other times. But how we feel is only a reason, not an excuse. Jesus teaches us how serious it is when we get angry with each other for no good reason in Matthew, chapter five, verse twenty-two. We could be in danger of the judgment. This is something that could be held against us when we stand before Christ at the end of time, if not repented of. Jesus goes on to warn about calling a person empty headed and if we actually call someone a fool, we could be in danger of hell fire.

Jesus warns us about swearing oaths in Matthew, chapter five, verses thirty-three through thirty-seven. The old Law taught people to keep whatever oaths they swore to God. Jesus made a new rule, do not swear at all. Do not swear to God, do not swear to heaven, and do not swear by the hair of your own head. We should not swear even on the bible.  If we mean, yes, then we should say, “Yes,” and if we mean, no, we should say, “No.” Swearing an oath can get us into trouble and lead to evil.

The writers of the constitution of the United States knew the teachings of Jesus and gave people the right to affirm rather than swear.

We need to remove ourselves from certain bad behaviors, according to the Apostle Paul in Colossians, chapter three, verse eight. We need to do away with anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and filthy language. The use of lewd words in our sentences can dim the Christian light we are attempting to let shine. The children of God must be imitators of Him and walk in love as Jesus Christ did and gave Himself for us. The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, chapter five, verses one through five, taught this lesson and listed things that are not fitting for those who have been sanctified by God to be doing. There should be no fornication or uncleanness, or covetousness among us. Filthy behavior, foolish talking, and coarse jesting (dirty jokes) are not fitting behavior for saints. If we tell people we are Christians, they have a right to expect better behavior from us.

The tongue is difficult to tame and is a small member of the body, yet boasts great things. James warns us in the third chapter of his book, verses one through ten; that a small flame can start a devastating forest fire and the tongue can defile the whole body. Tongues are untamable and are an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. People bless God the Father and turn around and curse their fellow human beings. The same mouth produces curses and blessings, which ought not to be so. When people make us angry, we need to remember Paul’s admonition to the Romans in chapter twelve, verse fourteen, and bless those who persecute us and don’t curse.

We are human with all the good and bad characteristics the word implies. If we could be flawless then Jesus would not have had to come in the flesh, die for us, and rise from the dead. If we do slip up and curse, swear, or use profanity, what we need to do is repent and ask God to forgive the transgression. The Apostle John teaches us in his first epistle, chapter one, verse nine, that if we confess our sins to Jesus, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins, which is a great comfort for those of us in need of forgiveness.

Self-control is the power of being in control of one’s own reactions and emotions and is essential in our battle against temptation. King Solomon taught in Proverbs, chapter twenty-five, verse twenty-eight, that a person who has no control over his own spirit is like a ruined city without walls. The person without self-control is vulnerable to attack and will be overcome by temptation and fall into sin.

We should learn to control our impulses because not every thought or urge is befitting a child of God. Our emotions should be under control and not allowed to run wild, especially a bad temper which can cause a person to say or do highly inappropriate things. This is why a person who is slow to anger, who is patient, is better than the mightiest fighter, and the one who controls his own spirit, exercises self-control, is better than someone who overthrows a city. Solomon recognized this truth in Proverbs, chapter sixteen, verse thirty-two. It takes a strong person to control anger and a weak one to just let loose the torrent. The emotion is common to us all but we must master ourselves or be vulnerable to temptation.

Watching our tongues and controlling our tempers is only part of the equation, we must rule all of our appetites and be sober-minded. In order to fulfill the command to live soberly and righteously in this present age, a person must keep from getting drunk or taking mind altering substances. We need to reinforce, gird up our minds, and be sober, as Peter said in his first letter, chapter one, verse thirteen, and rest our hope completely on the grace brought to us when we learned of Jesus Christ. The person who hopes in the Lord does not need alcohol or drugs in order to be happy or to face the troubles of the world. Substance abuse wears away self-control and many people have suffered the consequences in both body and soul.

Jesus Christ, Second Person of the Holy Trinity, is our ultimate example of self-control. His words have real power, able to calm the sea. The Word-Made-Flesh allowed Himself to be beaten and scourged by people He could’ve killed with a single utterance. Can you imagine the kind of self-control it would take to allow yourself to be nailed to across and lifted up to hang in the air for hours on end, all the while having the power to make it stop? He exercised extraordinary self-control so through His death burial and resurrection we could have the hope of eternal life. He knew there was no other way to make atonement for our sins and reconcile us to God.

The Apostle Paul teaches us the importance of self-control in first Corinthians, chapter nine, verses twenty-four through twenty-seven. Everyone entered in a race runs, but only one receives an award. The races in this world are for temporal prizes, and there are rules to be followed in order to be qualified to receive them. We run as Christians in the marathon of life and the prize we are after is eternal life and finishing the course is all it takes to win. It does not matter who comes in first, only that we run faithfully. It takes discipline, hard work, and sacrifice to win in any sporting event and the same is true for our journey through this life.

We cannot win a race without knowing which way to run and cannot obtain eternal life without following Jesus. We must all exercise self-control in order to bring our bodies into subjection. We rule our impulses, they do not rule us. We rule our appetites, they do not rule us. The apostle exercised self-discipline because even a preacher can be disqualified for breaking the rules.

The ability to control one’s own external reactions and emotions is vital to successfully living in a godly manner. What good would it be for a person to know and understand the teachings of Jesus and not have the discipline to apply those lessons to his or her life?

We are to be sober-minded, having our urges in subjection. This gives us the ability to overcome temptation, have good reputations, and influence people in a positive way. The lack of discipline can ruin a person’s reputation.

Chapter Four:Our Character And Reputation

People who are upright will be guided by their integrity, King Solomon taught in Proverbs, chapter eleven, verse three. People who are unfaithful will be destroyed by their perversity. A person who would live godly must have integrity. Honesty and trust-worthiness should be a strong characteristic in anyone who follows God, but it takes a long time to build a good reputation and only a few moments to destroy one.

Jesus instructed His disciples to let their, “Yes,” be, “Yes,” and their, “No,” be “No.” in Matthew, chapter five, verse thirty-seven. Our word should be our bond. If we agree to go to the park with someone then we should do everything in our power to keep the agreement. Time and chance happen to everyone but, barring any unforeseen circumstances, we should always keep our word. We must also be honest in our dealings. A person who is striving to live godly in this present age must be trustworthy, a person who can be trusted with the valuables of others, and a person who will not lie or cheat.

A poor person who walks in his integrity is better than one who speaks perversely and is a fool, Solomon taught in Proverbs, chapter nineteen, verse one. A poor person who speaks the truth is better than anyone else who speaks lies.

When someone gains the reputation of being a liar, people cannot trust the validity of anything he says. The credibility of the person is shattered and it is difficult to put the pieces back together again. The same holds true for a thief. People who are known to steal are not trusted around the valuables of others. It can take years of honest living to rehabilitate a thief’s reputation and for him finally be looked upon as having integrity.

A person who is trustworthy in little is also trustworthy in much, according to Jesus in Luke, chapter sixteen, verse ten. A person who is unjust or faithless in little is also unjust and faithless in much. If you can trust a person with petty cash, you can trust him in the money vault. If a person can’t keep her word on a small matter, it is for sure she cannot be trusted with things that really count.

We can either add onto or take away from our reputations every day, how we conduct ourselves will make the determination. Integrity is one of the greatest assets a person, business, institution, or organization can possess. A bank without integrity will soon have customers clamoring to withdraw their money. An accounting firm without integrity will soon be out of clients.

As fellow travelers in this life we should abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the soul, according to the Apostle Peter in the second chapter of his first letter, verses eleven and twelve. He would have us conduct ourselves honorably among all mankind. If we do as the apostle instructed people who speak evil of us in this life will only have good works to testify about before God, which would be to His glory.

The Apostle Paul exhorts us in his letter to the Philippians, chapter four, verse eight, to meditate on things that are true, noble, pure, lovely, and things that are of good report. We should think about a good reputation and put our minds on virtue and things that are praiseworthy. This is the power of positive thinking. There are a lot of bad things happening in this world and anyone who doubts this need only turn on the news or read a paper to learn otherwise. Someone might be tempted to say, “Everyone else lies and cheats in order to get ahead, why shouldn’t I?” We are bombarded with news of all sorts of evil, assaults, murders, robberies, nations attacking nations, wars and rumors of wars, sex scandals, and politicians caught in lies. We see and hear of inhumanity toward man, and cruelties perpetrated against men, women, children, and animals. This is why we need to do as the word of God says and pull back. In order to avoid the temptation to sin, we need to make time to meditate on good things, positive things, to think about the love of God and Christ, and ponder the magnitude of His grace.

Righteous people walk in their integrity, is what Solomon taught in Proverbs, chapter twenty, verse seven. The children of the righteous after them are blessed. The righteous are role models through their strength of character and the children who watch and learn from them take up and follow the example and are blessed.

My uncle Bob once said, “We can all serve as a good example or bad example, but we all serve as examples. The choice is ours.”

Paul encouraged Titus to be sober minded in the second chapter of his letter to the young minister, verses six through eight. The instruction is to think soberly, not cluttered with foolishness, not clouded with mind altering substances, but with rational and serious thinking. There needs to be a pattern of good works and doctrinal integrity.

We have already gone over cursing, swearing, and the use of profanity and filthy language and should therefore recognize the value of sound speech. The idea is for us to say things that are truthful, good, and right, so an opponent who quotes our exact words will only have good things to say.

“Do not be deceived,” the Apostle Paul warns in the fifteenth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians, verse thirty-three; Evil company, evil companions, evil communications, corrupt good habits and morals.

Brother Robinson, my predecessor at the Flagler Grove church of Christ, once said in a sermon, “If you run with the goats, eventually you’re going to smell like one.”

If you hang around with a brawler, sooner or later, he will get you into a fight and if we are in constant communication with someone who uses filthy language, there is a danger we may become used to such words and let one slip without thinking. There are enough temptations to deal with on our journey through this life without adding more to the load by believing we can stay in constant contact with evil companions and not be corrupted by them.

Sometimes we need to do what Joseph did in Genesis, chapter thirty-nine, verses seven through twelve, and flee temptation. He ran away when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him. If we likewise find ourselves in company with people who are tempting us to sin or a situation weakening our resolve, it is prudent to remove ourselves from the temptation. The last resort may not look grand but it does work. If a person finds himself in a place impossible to vacate, turning to the Lord for strength will help. Meditating on God’s word, praying, and singing hymns and spiritual songs can also be an effective way of taking the mind away from the temptation.

Paul talks about the value of singing in Colossians, chapter three, verse sixteen. We should let the word of Christ dwell in us and admonish ourselves with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. The passage is teaching about singing out loud to teach and admonish one another but I have found that following Paul’s exhortation to sing or at least think of the songs in my mind helps me avoid temptation.

One slip, depending on the notoriety of the sin, can ruin a good reputation and destroy a person’s integrity. How then can we maintain our integrity?

We can apply what Paul said in Ephesians, chapter four, verses twenty-five through twenty-nine. We should stop lying and speak the truth to everyone we come in contact with. We can get angry, we are human it will happen, yet do not sin. We should allow our anger to go away with the setting sun and not let harsh feelings grow and simmer into wrath. A person who steals needs to stop it and go back to work. We should resolve to let no corrupt words come out of our mouths and speak things that are good. Honesty and integrity do not dictate that we speak every thought entering our minds. The best thing is to consider whether or not what we are about to tell someone will bring about good or bad. If something good can come about because of what we wish to communicate, then we should say it. If nothing good can come of what we want to share, then we should not say it. This does not mean we shouldn’t tell people things they need to hear, out of concern for their well being. There are times when a person needs to be told things they do not want to hear in order to get them to repent or to keep them from making a mistake.

As we put into practice the ideals taught by the word of God, we will be walking godly and fighting temptation. People will observe our behavior and our reputations will be good without us having to brag about the greatness of our integrity. The children of God must walk in humility because He wants us to be humble and a reputation for arrogance is unbecoming.

Pride can be a huge impediment and is a characteristic God will punish people for having. The Almighty made known in Isaiah, chapter thirteen, verse eleven, that He would punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their lawlessness. He would halt the arrogance of the proud and bring low the haughtiness of the terrible.

The person who wants to be pleasing to God needs to have a reputation for humility, not arrogance, not pride or boastfulness.  This isn’t to say we can’t be pleased when certain goals are met or over various achievements.

Jesus compares the prayers of two men in Luke, chapter eighteen, verses nine through fourteen. A Pharisee, who is generally looked upon as being pious and very religious, and a tax collector, who tends to be unpopular in every society. They both entered the temple to pray. The Pharisee exalted himself by thanking God that he was not like other people. He did not commit extortion or murder. He had never been unjust or guilty of adultery and thanked God he was nothing like the tax collector who was standing afar off. The Pharisee went on to brag about fasting and how much money he contributed. The tax collector kept his distance from the alter feeling unworthy to come closer. He did not even look heavenward but struck himself in the chest and asked God to be merciful to him, a sinner. The tax collector went home justified before God because he humbled himself while the Pharisee who exalted himself went home unjustified.

The person who is greatest is he who serves the most, Jesus taught His disciples in Matthew, chapter twenty-three, verses eleven and twelve. The person who exalts himself is going to be humbled and the person who humbles himself is going to be exalted. The concept is the opposite of how the world works where people tend to rise to positions of authority in order to be served by others. In the church, a man desiring the office of a bishop is one who understands that he is to be a servant of the flock and not the ruler. The desire is not to be for the elevated position of the office but to serve the spiritual needs of the church.

Humility is before honor, according to Proverbs, chapter fifteen, verse thirty-three. It is wise to respect God because the fear of Him is an instruction of wisdom and we need to be humble before He will give us honor.

Solomon teaches us that pride leaves before destruction in Proverbs, chapter sixteen, verse eighteen. Haughty or self-important attitudes go before a fall because it is difficult for people to stay arrogant when things are collapsing around them.

The concept of humbling oneself to be exalted is shown again in Luke, chapter fourteen, verses seven through eleven. Jesus was invited to a wedding and watched the other guests arrive and choose for themselves the better places. He taught them not to take the best seats at a wedding. Someone more honored by the host may arrive and then the person in the wrong seat would be asked to move, in front of everybody. It is better to take the worst seat and have the host come and invite them to a better place. In most cultures guests do not go to a wedding reception and seat themselves at the table with the bride and groom. Keep in mind that it is better to be humble than to be humiliated.

The Lord will lift you up if you humble yourself in His sight, according to James, chapter four, verse ten. God wants us to be humble and He sees everything. Too many people forget there is nothing hidden from His sight and commit all kinds of sins thinking they‘re getting away with them because there was no witness. Always remember, God sees all.

The scriptures encourage everyone who wants to be pleasing to God to be humble. It may help us to be humble if we think about Jesus. He is the Word made flesh and yet He humbled Himself and was obedient to the Father even to the point of dying a horrible death on the cross. Humility is not a weakness.

The content of a person’s character should include integrity along with humility. These qualities can help avoid problems between couples when disagreements arise. God invented marriage and He hates divorce, so it behooves us to discover what He has to say on the subject.

Chapter Five:Marriage

The most important decision a person can make is whether or not to accept Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, and to follow Him. The choice has eternal consequences. The second most important decision, in my opinion, is whether or not to get married. If the decision is, no, then all other choices fall into place and depend on the priorities of the individual. If the answer is, yes, then the next question is to whom? The answers to these questions are important because of the tremendous impact on the course of not only the life of one person, but the direction of the potential spouse as well.

God’s definition of marriage in Genesis, chapter two, verse twenty-four, is a man leaves his parents and is joined to his wife and the two of them shall be one flesh. There have been debates in recent years concerning how to define marriage. Can a man marry a man or a woman marry a woman?  Those people who believe in same sex marriage try to blur and redefine what marriage is in order to get states and courts to enter into a legal definition of the union between two people. God has given His definition. Marriage is between a man and a woman.

I do not mean to upset the sensibilities of atheists or any people, who want the mention of God stricken from the public record in the name of separation of church and state, but there is a God and He has clearly stated, in both the Old and New Testaments, that marriage is between a man and a woman. No court or legislature on earth can nullify the Lord’s judgment. The government and the courts can write or impose their own definitions of marriage, but they and every one of us shall someday stand before Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, and give an account to Him. I guarantee you God’s definition will prevail even if people choose to leave Him out of the debate.

The word of God trumps culture. What the Lord deems to be good is good and what He decides is evil is evil. His standard is for all people, all nations, and all civilizations, even those living in the remotest villages. If a culture decides it is acceptable to sacrifice a child to appease their totem, the act is still murder in the eyes of God. The fact that a society approves of something God has condemned as being evil does not change the mind of the Almighty. The deed is still sinful and those who are guilty will discover the earthly legality to be null and void and no excuse.

People who want to live godly must change to God’s standard, not that of the world. When man’s law conflicts with God’s law, we must choose to obey God rather than man. Many Christians and Jews died when they refused to bow down and worship Caesar as a god. The Roman law required them to bow but they chose to worship God and Him only.

When the laws of governing authorities do not conflict with God’s word, all people who would walk godly must do what the Apostle Paul instructed in Romans, chapter thirteen, verse one. We must be subject to the governing authorities. Many Christians died in the jaws of lions before the Roman government realized that the Christians did not rebel, paid taxes, were peaceable, and obeyed all of the laws except those requiring them to deny Jesus. Finally, the persecutions stopped.

As stated earlier, culture does not trump the word of God, who defined marriage as being between a man and a woman. Societies cannot change the Lord’s definition, but He does allow them to decide the how. There is no God proscribed marriage ceremony in the bible. Whatever the governing authorities or cultural traditions used in order for a man and a woman to be recognized in their society as being married is legitimate.

Abraham sent his faithful servant to find a wife for Isaac in the twenty-fourth chapter of Genesis. The servant prayed to God for guidance and Rebekah was the answer. Silver, gold, and clothes were given to her, her family received precious gifts, and it was agreed that she would marry the son of Abraham. The servant then brought Rebekah and her maids to Isaac. The young bride-to-be saw Isaac, Isaac saw Rebekah, she dismounted from her camel and the two of them went into the tent and she became his wife. There was no ceremony.

There was a wedding in Cana of Galilee in John, chapter two, verses one through eleven. This was a more elaborate wedding than that of Isaac and Rebekah. This one included feasting and the drinking of wine with many guests. The host ran out of wine and Mary told her Son, Jesus, about the problem. He was not concerned about the lack of wine but His mother knew who He was and clearly knew full well about the miraculous powers within Him. She instructed the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do and had absolute confidence the wine shortage would be no more. Jesus went on to turn the water into wine and that was His first public miracle.

If the society a person lives in dictates that a marriage is recognized when a man and a woman share a tent or after some grand ceremony or following a humble tradition, then God recognizes the union as well. A couple must obtain a marriage license in the state of Florida before they can be recognized as being married. A couple who choose to live together in this state without obtaining a marriage license are not married because they have failed to obey the laws of the governing authority.

The teachings of Jesus and His disciples are not politically correct and have never been so. The high priest and the political leaders of the day rejected the Lord and eventually turned Him over to the Romans to be crucified. The apostles and disciples went on to preach the gospel just as Jesus commanded them to do in Matthew, chapter twenty-eight, verses eighteen through twenty. They were instructed to make disciples of every nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to teach them to observe all that He commanded.

These faithful people went forth, following the command of the Lord, and taught things that were rejected by both the Jewish authorities and most of the idol-worshipping Gentiles. The idea that the animal sacrifices carried out by the Levite priests was no longer necessary was not politically correct and neither was going into the city of Ephesus like the Apostle Paul did in Acts, chapter nineteen, verses twenty-one through forty-one. He preached Jesus where the goddess Diana was worshipped and craftsmen made huge amounts of money off the images they made of her. The idea that idols were nothing and that God alone was to be worshipped was not politically or socially correct.

The books and letters making up the New Testament were not politically correct when they were written and it should be of no surprise to anyone to find many people are offended by those writings today. The people who want to please God will look into His word, find out what He says on any given subject, and try their utmost to apply it to their lives. The people who do not like what God has revealed will ignore Him or dismiss the bible as being outdated and not applicable to our modern world. People who rejected the teachings of Jesus were in the majority in the first century and are to this day. It all comes back to individual choice, to follow God or ignore Him.

The word of God has provided some guidance on the relationship between husband and wife. The Apostle Paul teaches about the sexual relationship and the mixed marriage between a believer and an unbeliever in First Corinthians, chapter seven, verses two through sixteen. To avoid sexual immorality, every man should have his own wife and every woman should have her own husband and should not deprive one another. The husband should be considerate of his wife’s sexual needs and be there for her and her for him. The husband has authority over the wife’s body and she has authority over his. When a man marries he no longer has authority over his own body. He has given the authority to the woman who answered, “I do.”

The couple can suspend their sexual contact by mutual consent and for an agreed upon period of time. The Lord recognizes there will be times when couples must be apart for awhile, but not too long or Satan might tempt one or the other to sin. This is to help the husband and wife to walk godly and avoid temptation. The Lord commanded through the Apostle Paul that a wife is not to depart from her husband. If she does leave her spouse, she is to remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. The same command applies to the husband as well. He is not to divorce his wife.

The situation where one spouse believed in Jesus and became a Christian while the other either followed the Law of Moses or was an idol worshipper was not uncommon. New converts wanted to know if their being Christians required them to divorce their unbelieving spouse. Paul’s opinion is for the believer to stay with the unbeliever and perhaps lead him or her to Christ. But if the unbeliever does leave, let him or her go. At this point the previous command of the Lord to the believer should be applied, let him or her remain unmarried or be reconciled to his or her spouse.

The Apostle Paul reveals more about the relationship between the husband and wife in Ephesians, chapter five, verses twenty-two through thirty-three. The husband is the head of the wife just as Jesus is the head of the church. Even as the church is subject to Christ, the wife is to be subject to her own husband. This has nothing to do with intelligence or any superiority of the man’s decision making capability because there are many women who are smarter and wiser than their husbands. The reason the husband has been placed in the lead position in the marriage is because God has said it is to be so in His written word.

The husband has responsibilities in the marriage and cannot ignore them and be pleasing to God. The husband is to love his wife so much that he is willing to die for her just like Jesus died for His church. The husband is to cherish and provide for his wife the way he would his own body and to love her the way he loves himself. He must have a genuine care and concern for her well being. She must respect him, but if he truly loves her the way he ought, he will respect her as a person and not a possession.

The Apostle Peter writes about the relationship between the husband and wife in the third chapter of his first letter, verses one through seven. He speaks about the inner beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit as opposed to mere outward adornment. Pretty inside is more becoming than pretty outside. Even though he commands the wives to be submissive to their own husbands, he commands the husbands to be understanding and to treat their wives with honor. This means to hold her in high esteem and with respect, not treat her as a slave or someone beneath him. Peter is writing about a Christian being married to a Christian and reminds the husband that his wife is a joint heir to eternal life and if he does not treat her right his prayers to God will be hindered. So, husbands, if you want God to listen to your prayers, you better not abuse your wife.

God’s word is not silent about divorce and remarriage. The issue is another one of those subjects in the bible where scriptures are plain and easy to understand, yet difficult to apply when it affects us or our loved ones. Even so, we must study the scriptures as people who want to live godly and avoid temptation. We escape the enticements by applying God’s word to our lives in order to be true disciples of Jesus.

The Lord spoke in His sermon on the mount of how He would have us live our lives and the relationships and attitudes we should have toward God and our fellow human beings. I recommend that the readers of this book take the time to read Matthew, chapters five, six, and seven. You will find many of the points made by Jesus are subjects in this book because I could not think of a better source on godly living than Him.

The Lord spoke of divorce in Matthew, chapter five, verses thirty-one and thirty-two. The Law of Moses permitted divorce for any cause, much like our courts today, but Jesus has changed the rules. He made the only acceptable cause in which a man can divorce his wife to be sexual immorality. If the man divorces his wife for any other reason, she is not free to marry another man and if she does, she will be committing adultery.

Jesus teaches more on the subject in Luke, chapter sixteen, and verse eighteen. If a man divorces his wife and marries someone else, he is committing adultery and the person who marries the divorced woman also commits adultery. The Lord does not mention in this passage anything about divorcing for only the cause of fornication, which is sexual immorality. In fact, if what Jesus said in the sixteenth chapter of Luke was all He had said on the subject, there would be no exceptions and no one could obtain a divorce for any reason. But if we take in both passages we learn that the man who divorces his wife, except it be for the cause of sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery, and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery. The result is four people guilty of adultery.

The Lord speaks again concerning divorce in Matthew, chapter nineteen, verses one through twelve. The Pharisees wanted to know if it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason. Jesus explained how a man was to leave his parents and be joined to his wife, the two becoming one flesh; God’s definition of marriage. God joined the couple together and no man had the right to separate them. The Pharisees wondered why Moses wrote that they could give her a certificate of divorce and send her away. The answer was their hard heartedness. The Lord’s authority exceeds that of Moses. Jesus changed the rules and made known that divorce is only permitted for sexual immorality. Whoever divorces his wife and marries another is committing adultery and so is the person who marries the woman he put away.

The disciples of Jesus did not like His narrow teaching and concluded it would be better for a man to never have a wife. The Lord went on to explain that some men were born eunuchs and were celibate, being physically unable to have sexual relations. Some men were made eunuchs by men and some men have chosen to be eunuchs, celibate, for the kingdom of heaven’s sake.

I’ve been told by a goodly number of people over the years that the scripture in Matthew nineteen does not apply in the Christian age. First, Jesus went back beyond the Law of Moses to the very beginning. When a man and a woman come together to become husband and wife; God joins them. The two become one flesh, even atheists. Second, if the scripture does not apply to people living in the Christian dispensation, then to whom and when does it apply? The Law of Moses permitted divorce for any reason, so the Jews could say what Jesus taught did not apply to them either. The fact is the scripture applies to everyone who wants to be a follower of Jesus and anyone who chooses not to follow Him will answer for violating His word on the Day of Judgment.

I know the biblical teaching on divorce and remarriage is hard to accept and many people are tempted to dismiss or ignore it. The Lord’s disciples felt the same way and told Him so. When Jesus speaks of those who are eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of God, He’s talking about people who have chosen to be celibate for the kingdom of God, which doesn‘t necessarily require a surgical procedure. The Lord’s mercy and grace are wonderful and free but this does not mean we will not have to make some sacrifices for the kingdom of God. There are many people who have chosen to take up the cross and follow Jesus no matter what the cost. The situation could arise where a person may be required to remain single and therefore celibate.

The Apostle Paul commanded in First Corinthians, chapter seven, verses ten and eleven, that a wife not depart from her husband. She must remain single if she does depart or be reconciled to her husband. The situation had to do with believers being married to unbelievers and the unbeliever departing. Fornication, sexual immorality, was not involved and remaining unmarried is consistent with the Lord’s teaching in Mathew, chapter five, verses thirty-one and thirty-two, that whoever divorces his wife and marries another, except it be for the cause of sexual immorality, commits adultery.

There is one other way for a marriage to end and it is found in the thirty-ninth verse of First Corinthians chapter seven. A wife is bound by law for as long as her husband lives. This is where the, “Till death do us part,” line comes in most couples’ marriage vows. The apostle goes on to say that if her husband dies she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the Lord, meaning a Christian.

The Lord speaks of only two things that end a marriage, death and divorce for the cause of fornication. I wish He had said more on the subject or that He gave me liberty to speak beyond what He taught or allow me to tell everyone He will make an exception in their case. We can only go by what Jesus has said and anything else is based on the opinion of men, who have no authority to change God’s word to suit their listeners. Maybe Jesus will grant an exception, but no one can know for sure until they stand before Him in the Day of Judgment. They would be gambling with their souls and the souls of those they married. I hope He will be merciful, but my hope does not change God’s word.

It has been pointed out to me in several discussions on the subject of divorce and remarriage that baptism cleanses us from our sins and the old person dies and arises to walk in newness of life, born again. They also tell me when I remind them about repentance being necessary that a murderer can be forgiven of his sins but cannot restore the life of the person he killed. I completely agree with both statements. Baptism, through the blood of Christ, does cleanse us from our sins, even the adultery caused by an unscriptural divorce. Baptism does not change an adulterous second marriage into a holy union. If a man steals a car and shortly thereafter learns about Jesus and believes and confesses Him to be the risen Son of God and is baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, can he keep the car? Has he truly repented if he does? The thief can give back the car and a person can end an adulterous relationship.

Those who have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into His death and die to sin, but we do not die literally. If baptism wipes away an adulterous marriage because the believer dies to sin then it wipes away holy matrimony as well. The scriptures do not support such a doctrine; otherwise couples would need to remarry after being baptized.

The following are questions I have been asked over the years concerning divorce and remarriage.

Q: What if my girl-friend told me she was going to have a baby and I married her and then found out she lied and wasn’t pregnant, can I divorce her?

A: No. Your wife lied, which is a sin, but she did not commit fornication. Jesus said the cause must be sexual immorality.

Q: I married a man who I later found out was still married to someone else so I divorced him, am I free to marry another man?

A: Yes, you are free to marry. Your former husband was an adulterer and was causing you to commit adultery by your being in that relationship with him. He was not free to marry you.

Q: I have two friends who divorced their spouses and neither was for the cause of sexual immorality. They fell in love with each other and gave in to temptation and now she is having a baby. They decided to marry, believing this to be the right thing to do. Will their marriage be right in the sight of God since they believe this to be the right thing to do?

A: No, they are not doing the right thing. The divorces each of them obtained from their spouses were not for the cause of fornication, as Jesus taught in Matthew, chapter nineteen, verse nine. Just because we think something is, “The right thing to do,” does not make it so and it does not by any means nullify the words of Jesus. Having a baby doesn’t change God’s word. Even so, your friends are obligated as single parents to take care of that child.

Jesus gave only one reason for a couple to divorce and that is fornication, sexual immorality. When one spouse cheats on the other, trust between them is gone and the Lord does not require someone to remain married under such circumstances. Many people, preachers included, are tempted to add exceptions of their own in order to make happy a couple whose marriage is un-scriptural. We all want people to be happy but not at the expense of their souls. The heavenly Father gave all authority to Jesus Christ and He is the only one able to make exceptions and He gave only one.

Nobody said living godly and avoiding temptation was going to be easy. God’s standard is perfect and it is my function to let people know what that standard is. I cannot change it to suit my listeners or readers. At the same time, we are all human and fall short of the glory of God and at times fail to live up to His standard. We cannot change the standard to make ourselves feel better, but we can ask His forgiveness when we fall short and then move upward to the mark of the high calling of God.

We all need God’s forgiveness and are thankful to receive it. Likewise, we should extend our forgiveness to those who do us wrong. Chapter six deals with forgiving others and the danger of holding grudges.

Chapter Six:Holding Grudges

The temptation to hold a grudge, have a persistent feeling of ill will, or to hold onto bitterness deepened by hard feelings, can come along when people do us wrong. The Apostle Paul teaches us in Ephesians the forth chapter, verses twenty-six and twenty-seven, to be angry and not sin. We should not let the sun go down on our wrath. The devil will see an opportunity to tempt us if we hold onto anger. God knows things will happen to cause us to be angry now and then but He does not want us to allow it to grow into bitterness.

James teaches us in the first chapter of his letter, verses nineteen and twenty, to be swift to hear and slow to speak. We should develop the art of listening before we make a reply. This may reduce the possibility of speaking before we respond to what is being said. We should not be quick tempered but rather slow to anger, keeping in mind that the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God. If we convince ourselves that we are full of righteous indignation, we could be tempted to lash out at the object of our anger, relationships can be broken, and people can be hurt. Jesus the Judge is waiting and we could be condemned if we grumble against one another, according to James, chapter five, verse nine. It is in our own best interest to put away wrath and replace it with forgiveness.

Peter wanted to know how many times he should forgive his brother for sinning against him in Matthew, chapter eighteen, verses twenty-one and twenty-two. He proposed up to seven times. The Lord upped the amount to seventy times seven and went on to tell of a king who was settling accounts; a servant came who owed the monarch an amount of money about sixty thousand times the average daily wage. The king called for the servant to be sold along with his family and everything he possessed. The man begged the king to be patient and received forgiveness of the huge debt. The same servant who had been forgiven the exceedingly large amount had  a man who owed  him a  sum  equal  to  about  one  hundred times the average daily wage. The servant refused to show compassion on the man who owed the relatively small amount and refused to forgive the debt and had the man thrown into debtor’s prison. When the king found out about the lack of forgiveness, he summoned the unforgiving servant before him, condemned him for his lack of compassion, and turned him over to the torturers. Jesus teaches that the heavenly Father will do the same to those who will not forgive people their trespasses.

The same idea is taught by the Lord in Mark, chapter eleven, verses twenty-five and twenty-six. When we get ready to pray, if we have anything against another person, we must forgive him or her so that our heavenly Father will forgive us our debts to Him. This is extremely important because prayer has a big part in walking godly and fighting temptation. We pray to God for deliverance, wisdom, guidance and understanding. We pray for forgiveness, healing, and in order to give thanks for His blessings. When we approach the Almighty in prayer, we should do so with compassionate and forgiving hearts. A person who is hard hearted and unforgiving need not expect to have his or her prayers heard or to be forgiven of any sins.

We are commanded to forgive people who have sinned against us. This means we pardon them for whatever offense they have committed against us and cease to be resentful or angry about what they might have done to us. We are not commanded to forget but to forgive. Some wounds run deep enough to leave scars, physical or emotional, and forgetting them would be difficult in the extreme.

When the bible speaks of offenses and being offended it means attacking and being attacked, physically, emotionally, or spiritually. A person might tempt us, strike us, lie to us, lie about us, persecute us, ruin our reputations, or any number of things that can do us harm. Offense does not mean the person simply did something we didn’t like or agree with. You may not like a person’s taste in hairstyle or clothing but your dislike for those things does not mean the individual has sinned against you. We should all be careful not to confuse our personal dislikes with being actually offended, attacked, by another person. Each one of us has a unique personality which sometimes leads to interesting encounters when we interact so let’s leave some room for other people’s likes and dislikes, as long as those likes and dislikes are not things God has deemed to be sinful.

It is not possible for there to be no offenses. Jesus taught this truth in the seventeenth chapter of Luke, verses one through four. The person who offends even the least of His disciples would be better off if he was dropped into the sea with a heavy weight around his neck. If a person sins against us we are to rebuke him, let him know that he has sinned against us and is in the wrong. He is in danger of a punishment worse than drowning and needs to do something about it, repent. If he does repent we must forgive him. Repentance is a deep and godly sorrow about one’s own actions with a resolve not to continue the same path, action, or wrong doing. It is not enough to say you are sorry.

David spoke of declaring his iniquity and being in anguish over his sin in Psalms, chapter thirty-eight, verse eighteen. He acknowledged what he had done wrong and was sad at having committed the offense or sin.

There are times when a person is sorrowful over doing something wrong or at failing to do something right. Jesus en-countered a rich young ruler in Matthew, chapter nineteen, verses sixteen through twenty-two. The man wanted to know what he needed to do in order to be perfect. Jesus told him not to murder, steal, commit adultery, or lie. He told him to honor his parents and love his neighbor as himself. The man said he had kept those commands from his youth and even after giving that answer, recognized there was something lacking and wanted to know what it was. Jesus told him to sell his possessions, give the money to the poor, and he would have treasure in heaven and to follow Him. The man went away sorrowful because he owned a lot of stuff. He was sorry but not enough to make the change.

We should be sorry when we fail to live up to God’s standard but in order for us to be truly repentant, we must also be willing to make a change. For example, suppose you are out and about and discover your wallet or purse is missing. A man, the thief, notices the frantic look on your face and apologizes, admitting nothing other than he is sorry for you. If you do not know he is the thief then you don’t know what he is sorry about or believe that he is just being sympathetic. He might be sorry that he caused you distress but not sorry enough to admit what he did or to give the item back. In order for there to be forgiveness, there must be confession of the wrong doing and, in a case like this, restoration of the stolen property. Biblical repentance is a godly sorrow which leads to a change in conduct.

We have an example of a person who felt sorry in Esther, chapter five, verses nine through fourteen. Haman had been promoted above all the princes in the Medo-Persian Empire by King Ahasuerus and people bowed down and did homage to Haman, except Mordecai the Jew, who refused because he would only worship God. Haman hated Mordecai so bad that he not only wanted him dead, he wanted all Jews to be exterminated and managed to get a law passed that would bring about the slaughter.

Haman had just come home from a feast prepared by Queen Esther and eaten in the presence of the king and queen. Haman bragged to his wife and friends about his successes, authority, and wealth. He told of his exclusive invitation to dine with the king and queen and that he would do so again the next day. But his hatred of Mordecai robbed him of the pleasure he should have been feeling. His wife noticed his displeasure and advised a gallows to be built and in the morning Haman should suggest to the king that Mordecai be hanged on it.

The advice pleased Haman and in Esther, chapter seven, verses one through ten, he goes with the king to dine with the queen. There were two things Haman did not know, Esther was Jewish and was raised by her older cousin Mordecai after her parents had died. Haman’s plan to have every Jewish person slaughtered would have extended to her under Persian law.

Esther had petitioned the king and he was willing to grant her anything up to half of his kingdom, he really and truly loved her. She requested the lives of her and her people who had been sold out to be killed. The king demanded to know who would dare do such a thing. I can picture in my mind Haman’s face going deathly pale as it dawned on him that Esther was Jewish and with her finger pointed at him, his name passed from her lips. The king became so angry he stood and went into the palace garden to compose himself. Haman realized the impending wrath to come and began begging Esther to save his life. He leaned forward in his panic and actually fell onto the couch she was sitting on. The king walked back in from the garden and saw Haman on top of Esther and her, no doubt, trying to push him off. The king thought Haman was trying to force himself on the queen and ordered his immediate execution on the gallows that had been made for Mordecai.

Haman had pleaded for his life. He was not sorry about plotting against Mordecai or sorry for trying to have every Jewish person exterminated. He was sorry he got caught and was afraid for his life. Many people are sorry after they have been caught in a misdeed and are about to be punished for it.

Jesus tells us to forgive a person if he says, “I repent.”

We are told to put away all bitterness and wrath. If a person sins against us, we are to let go of the bitterness the action arouses in us and not strike back in our wrath. Let it go, holding onto bitterness leads to hard heartedness. Getting rid of the harsh feelings helps us to be forgiving when or if the person who sinned against us repents. If the offender realizes he or she has sinned and comes to us admitting the offense and indicating a change in their attitude or behavior, we can find it in our hearts to forgive them because we had already dispensed with the initial bitterness. We are commanded to forgive.

We have looked at two examples of people feeling sorry. The rich young ruler was sorry but not enough to make the necessary change. Haman was sorry he got caught and was afraid for his life. In Second Corinthians, chapter seven, verses eight through ten, we have an example of godly sorrow leading to repentance.

The church at Corinth had many problems and issues that needed to be corrected. The Apostle Paul’s first epistle to them was scathing and to the point. It was a letter of reproof in which Paul used his apostolic authority to order corrections to be made. The majority of the Christians in Corinth were made sorrowful over the stern letter written to them by the man who had established the church there. The reports of their reaction to Paul’s first letter came to him and he is gladdened by the fact that they heeded him and repented. He regretted the letter made them feel sorry, a caring person does not enjoy inflicting sorrow on others, but he did not regret what he wrote because they made the corrections his first letter called for. Godly sorrow produces repentance which leads to salvation. Worldly sorrow, like that of the rich young ruler and Haman, leads to death.

Peter denied knowing Jesus in Matthew, chapter twenty-six, verses sixty-nine through seventy-five. Three times the disciple denied the Lord before the cock crowed and then went out and wept bitterly. Peter was filled with godly sorrow and repented and was later considered to be a pillar of the church.

Judas was remorseful when he saw that Jesus had been condemned in Matthew, chapter twenty-seven, verses three through ten. The fallen disciple, one of the twelve chosen by the Lord, who had been with Jesus for about three years, had witnessed many miracles like feeding thousands with some fish and a few loaves of bread. Judas was there when the Lord healed the sick, the blind, and beheld Lazarus walk alive from a tomb after being four days dead. Judas knew Jesus and knew Him to be an innocent man. The traitor was sorry enough to return the thirty pieces of silver he had earned for betraying the Lord and then went out and hanged himself. Worldly sorrow leads to death.

While we fight against temptation and strive to live godly in this world, there will be people who will hurt us, intentionally or unintentionally. We must be willing to forgive them just like we want God to forgive us our sins against Him. We should replace bitterness with love, a genuine care and concern for the welfare of others. It is impossible to live godly and avoid sin without love.

Love is what motivated God to give His only begotten Son so those who believe on Him can have everlasting life. Chapter seven explains this powerful force and shows us how it affects the world.

Chapter Seven:Love

The universe has many powerful forces such as gravity and centrifugal force. Consider the energy released when a hydrogen atom is split. Think of the destructive power of rushing water, an earthquake, or a volcano. All of these forces can be measured, yet there is one motivating force that cannot be measured by gage or electronic apparatus; Love.

The greatest love a person can have is to lay down his life for his friends, according to Jesus in John, chapter fifteen, and verse thirteen. Love is measured by action, how much effort or sacrifice a person is willing to expend. We find in John, chapter, three, verse sixteen, how much love God was willing to expend. He sent His Son to the earth so those who believe in Him should not perish. The Father’s love for the world motivated Him to send Jesus to give those who believe in Him eternal life.

All of us fall short of the glory of God and every person in the world was doomed to be tossed into the lake of fire along with the devil and his angels. The only force that could come between us and eternal damnation is the love of God. Never underestimate the power of love.

The Apostle Paul tells us the magnitude of God’s love in Romans, chapter five, verses six through ten. On rare occasion a person might die to save a righteous man or for someone regarded to be a good person. This was not the case with God. He sent Christ to die for sinners. Yes, we are all sinners and were enemies of God, yet He loved us. Justification and salvation come from the blood of Jesus. The reconciliation comes through His death and resurrection to life. The earth is but a speck in an immense universe and we are specks on this third planet from the sun. Even so, God loves us. Jesus showed His love by enduring  humiliation and  abuse, by allowing Himself to be scourged and nailed to a cross. He is God incarnate and could have stopped the maltreatment at any point. He could have decided we were not worth one prick on His skin or a single drop of His blood. While He was in agony on the cross and people were taunting Him, He asked God to forgive them because they did not know what they were doing. That is love.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God, Paul taught in Romans, chapter eight, verses thirty-eight and thirty-nine. The various perils and troubles we potentially face cannot rip us away from God’s love.

Each of us is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, according to Jesus in Mark, chapter twelve, verses thirty and thirty-one. We are to love God with every fiber of our being and love our neighbors as ourselves.  Here is a way to see if our love for God is true in First John, chapter five, verse three. Those who love God show it by keeping His commandments. Not only will we keep His commandments, live the way Jesus and His disciples taught, we will not consider those commands to be a burden. When we truly love someone the things we do for them are not chores. If the person we love is thirsty, it is not a burden to get him or her a drink. We do things and make sacrifices for the people we love and do not gripe about what it costs us in time, effort, or money. If we love Jesus we will keep His commandments just like He told His disciples in John, chapter fourteen, verse fifteen, and if we do not we won’t.

The love commanded by the Lord is not sexual in nature nor is it a tender affection. The love we should have is a genuine care and concern for the well-being of another person. Loving one’s neighbor does not refer to only the person living next door. We are to have a care and concern for everyone with whom we come in contact.

The Apostle Paul teaches us more on loving one another in Romans, chapter thirteen, verses eight through ten. We fulfill the law by loving each other. God commands us not to steal, commit adultery, lie, desire the possessions of others, and other commandments as well. If we care about someone we will not have an affair with the person’s spouse. We will not steal from the person we love or deceive them, nor make false accusations. A genuine concern for other people will keep us from doing them any harm and that is why love fulfills the law.

Love must accompany us on this journey through life and it takes more than loving only those who love us. In Luke, chapter six, verses twenty-seven through thirty-five, Jesus teaches us to love our enemies even if they hate us. He wants us to love everyone, which makes us different from the rest of mankind. Some of the nastiest people ever born have managed to love those who love them. We need to love our enemies while remembering how much God loves us, even when we were His enemies. We love Him because He first loved us. Wives are admonished in Titus, chapter two, verse four, to love their husbands and children. It might seem strange at first to see the apostle telling husbands to love their wives and wives to love their husbands and children. This is because in modern western culture men and women choose whom they want to marry. Marriages were often arranged by the parents in biblical times and whether or not the man or woman had any love or physical attraction for each other had nothing to do with it. Sometimes the arranged marriages went well as with Isaac and Rebekah. She was told, “This is your husband,” and he was told, “This is your wife,” and they immediately went into the tent and consummated the marriage. Of course God actually matched this couple so it is of no surprise that they would love each other. The newly weds met for the first time and were ready to consummate the marriage within minutes.

The Apostle Peter admonishes us in his first letter, chapter one, verse twenty-two, to love intensely with a pure heart and without pretension. His fellow apostle taught in First John, chapter three, verses sixteen through eighteen, how we learn about love by the example of Jesus who died for us. We should have the same kind of love for our fellow Christians. If God has blessed and supplied us with an abundance of things and we see someone in need and do not help, how can we say we love that person? If we see somebody we can help and ignore that need, our professed love is feigned and nothing but a pretense. We can mouth the word love all day but it takes actions and deeds to prove our love is true.

All who would walk godly must also love the truth. Paul warned in Second Thessalonians, chapter two, verses nine through twelve, because of the coming lawless one, the antichrist. The people who will be deceived by the lying wonders and strong delusions will be condemned in the end because they did not love or believe the truth, the word of God. The people who do not love God’s truth will reject the bible and instead accept delusions, false teachings, and doctrines of men and demons. It is vital that we love God’s truth and not allow anyone to shake our confidence in it. I have heard many people on television and radio speak of the bible with contempt, which is sad because they are rejecting their only hope for salvation.

We are encouraged to be considerate of each other in the book of Hebrews the tenth chapter, verse twenty-four. We are to motivate each other to love and good deeds. Sometimes on our journey through life we get caught up in the daily struggle and do not notice the opportunity to do a good deed. This does not mean we are callous or hateful just not very observant. We could walk right by a hungry person and not realize the problem until someone else points it out by saying, “Hey. That man is hungry. I think we should get him some food,” and then we act and render assistance. It is good to have like-minded people along on our journey in life who will point out opportunities for us to help others.

It is helpful to remember in this world full of temptations that God loves us. He sent His Son, who loves us as well. We are to love the heavenly Father whole heartedly and show it by following His Son. We show our love for the truth by following the scriptures inspired by the Holy Spirit. We also demonstrate our love for God by extending that love to our fellow human beings, even those who do not love us. We prove the sincerity of our love by doing good works. This brings us to chapter eight and charity, which is another word for love.

Chapter Eight:Charitable Giving

The goal is for us to fight temptation and avoid sin, doing so by striving to live in a godly manner. It is therefore incumbent upon us to be willing to give of ourselves to help people in need and support the work of the church.

The word of God contains the answers concerning how much a person should give in both the Old and New Testaments. It is important for us to explore the differences between what was required of the Israelites under the Law of Moses and what is required of Christians under the law of Christ.

The tribe of Levi was chosen by God to serve in the tabernacle and received tithes from the other tribes. The children of Israel were required to give a tenth. Many people seem to believe the tithe was just a tenth of the ancient Israelites’ money, which was not the case. They were required to give a tenth of everything, herds and flocks, plants and herbs, as well as their monetary gain. These offering were given to the tribe of Levi, who supported the priests, who were of the family of Aaron.

Moses wrote in detail about the duties of the priests and Levites and the tithes to be given to them in Numbers, chapter eighteen, verses eight through twenty-four. Feel free to read the chapter if you desire a greater explanation of the tithes. I want to move forward to what Jesus has to say about giving and then on to what is expected in the Christian age.

Jesus is in the middle of pronouncing woes upon hypocrites in Matthew, chapter twenty-three, verses twenty-three and twenty-four. Those guilty of hypocrisy were the scribes, who spent their time making copies of the law and who should therefore know the statutes better than most people, and the Pharisees. The Law of Moses required a tithe and these two groups were meticulous about giving the exact amount right down to the herbs and spices. Their problem was that while they were correctly giving the precise amount required by the law, they rejected the more important matters such as mercy, justice, and faith. Their faith in God was small; they did not have mercy on anyone, and did not care about giving people justice. They were leaders who could not see where they were going spiritually and gagged on gnats and yet could swallow a camel whole. People today can be tempted, lured, into the same trap as the scribes and Pharisees. God is not pleased with faithless men and woman who have no compassion on others and treat people unjustly and without mercy.

There are too many camel-swallowing-gnat-gaggers running around today, people who think they only need to give some money to the church or a charity organization and believe this covers their otherwise ungodly behavior or they strain over the slightest perceived violation of scripture while ignoring their own sinfulness. I knew a person who questioned if one of the hymns chosen by the song-leader was scriptural while he himself was having no problem with committing adultery when his wife was out of town. Questioning the lyrics in a song is fine because we should all sing with our hearts to God and mean every word but he needed to get the log out of his own eye before he could see clearly to get the splinter out of the song-leader’s, especially since the song in question was indeed based on several scriptures. We must worship God in spirit and in truth, have compassion and mercy on our fellow human beings, and help in material support.

The Apostle Paul made clear in First Corinthians, chapter thirteen, verse three, that even if we sell everything we own and give it to the poor, it would profit us nothing if we do not have love. Giving must be motivated by love. While it is important for all of us to follow the teachings of Jesus and His disciples, we should never lose sight of mercy, justice, faith, and love.

The amount given is not as important as what is in the heart of the giver. In Mark, chapter twelve, verses forty-one through forty-four, Jesus was observing the people who were placing money into the treasury. He watched as people came and went until a widow dropped in two mites. He stated that she had given more than all of the rich people because they had given out of their prosperity while she had given all that she had. The widow gave whole heartedly.

Jesus warns about giving and practicing charity for show in Matthew, chapter six, verses one through four. There are people who want to be praised and regarded as generous and pious by the crowd. The applause is all they will receive because the heavenly Father does not reward hypocrisy. Goodness and compassion should be our motivation and any charitable deeds we do should be done without letting other people know. The heavenly Father will see the good deeds and reward us for them, even if no one else notices or cares. I have learned about the charitable deeds of various members of the congregation, not by them, by the people who had been helped. God gives the reward.

The things we do for God and our fellow human beings should never be practiced for show, to impress others, or for the sake of appearance. When Jesus tells us not to let our left hand know what our right hand is doing, He means we should not brag about how much we give to God or as charity to others. Do not tell the man next door you give a thousand dollars to the church each week or the lady filling her tank at the gas station how often you take food or clothing to the homeless. These things, contributing to the church and providing for the less fortunate, should be done quietly and our motivation should be love.

The tithe paid by the tribes of Israel to the Levites for tabernacle and later temple services rendered has not been carried over into the Christian age. A ten percent rule is no where to be found in the New Testament. We have Paul’s admonishing in Second Corinthians, chapter nine, verse seven, to give whatever amount is in our hearts to give. If you determine to give ten percent then you should do so. The same is true if you decide to give fifteen percent. If God has thoroughly blessed you monetarily and you want to give ten thousand dollars then follow through. If a dollar is what you have determined in your heart should be donated then give that. The donation amount is between God and the giver. My father determined the amount he would give to be ten percent. Someone else may decide to give twelve percent or two. The amount might very from time to time, depending on the ability of the giver. No person should be forced to give and none of us should give grudgingly. God loves a cheerful giver.

The gift of prophesy was given to the first century Christians and it was revealed that a famine would strike Jerusalem. In First Corinthians, chapter sixteen, verses one through four, the Apostle Paul gave orders for the church members to begin setting aside money on the first day of the week. The money was a special collection to eventually be taken to Jerusalem. He did not want to wait until he was at Corinth and call for a hasty collection. If you walk up to a group of people and ask them to donate for a worthy cause, the best you can get is whatever amount is in their wallets and purses. What Paul ordered to be done was much better. The members of the church were to set aside each week whatever amount they could and by the time the apostle arrived to collect the money it was huge. He gave the order in First Corinthians the sixteenth chapter and then told them in chapter nine of his second letter to gather that money up because he was coming to collect it on his way to Jerusalem. In Acts, chapter twenty-four, verse seventeen, Paul told the Roman governor about the alms brought to Jerusalem. The apostle had collected and completed his mission.

We have no way of prophesying the coming of famines or natural disasters or other types of problems that can suddenly arrive and require a large amount of money to be spent. The apostle has given us a guide as to how to prepare for unpredictable events and to help the church continue to function. It takes money to support the spreading of the gospel and to help the needy saints. It takes a little money if the church wants a full time preacher and a lot of money if the church wants a building to assemble in. It takes setting aside, saving collection money, in order to send relief to hurricane ravaged lands. The collection is not for the enrichment of any individual Christian but for the benefit of the whole congregation to support the work of the church and to have the ability to render help in the time of need.

Charitable giving is not confined to church donations. We are free to give a cheeseburger to the hungry fellow sitting in ragged clothes outside of the neighborhood Burger King. We can donate to burn centers and give of our time and or money to many different worthy causes.

Jesus spoke of two groups of people who will be facing Him on judgment day in Matthew, chapter twenty-five, verses thirty-one though forty-six, the sheep and the goats. The righteous and the unrighteous will both stand before Him. The righteous will be gathered on the right and the unrighteous will be gathered on the left. Jesus welcomed the righteous, who were blessed by the heavenly Father, and went on to say how they gave Him food when He was hungry, a drink when He was thirsty, gave Him clothes when He needed them, and visited Him when He was sick and in prison, many Christians were thrown into prison for their faith. None of the righteous remembered seeing the Lord hungry or thirsty or naked, nor did they remember visiting Him when He was sick or in prison. Jesus informed them that what they had done for even the least of His, they did for Him. These people had compassion in their hearts and helped those who were in need. Social class means nothing to Jesus. Every soul belonging to Him is valuable and He knows them, loves them, and feels for them. We should always keep this in mind while striving to live godly.

The second group of people, the goats, standing before Jesus were condemned and doomed to destruction along with the devil and his angels. The unrighteous were damned because they failed to help the Lord in His time of need. They, like the righteous, could not remember ever seeing Jesus hungry, thirsty, sick, or in prison. What is sobering to me is that none of these people were condemned for sins they committed. The people in the second group were not adulterers or liars or murders or guilty of any abominations listed in bible. They were condemned because they had no compassion and provided no help to even the least soul belonging to Christ. What they failed to do for the least of His they failed to do for Him.

We are not saved by performing good deeds. No amount of good works can wash away a single sin, only the blood of Christ can do that. Even so, the giving of our time, effort, and resources to help people in their time of need is a way of demonstrating the love we proclaim to have for others. A person who does not care about other people needs to do some introspection and make a change or risk ending up being one of the goats, unrighteous, who failed to help the Lord.

If each of us loves our neighbors as ourselves, we will care about their needs and help them in times of trouble. We should treat everyone we meet as a neighbor and avoid the temptation to leave their problem for someone else.

The good news is nobody has to remain a goat. The person guilty of refusing to help the least one belonging to the Lord still has time to repent, make a change, and start fresh. Jesus is willing to forgive those who confess, acknowledge their sins to Him, which involves prayer; so turn to chapter nine to learn how.

Chapter Nine:Prayer

Prayer is talking to God, either silently or out loud. There are the private prayers between the individual and our Creator and public prayers in which one person speaks and the listeners give an, “A-men,” at the end, if they are in agreement.

Jesus encouraged His followers to ask, seek, and knock in Matthew, chapter seven, verses seven through eleven. What they ask for will be given to them, knocking will open it up to them, and they will find what they look for. Does this mean we will get anything we ask for? Is the Lord guaranteeing that we will find whatever we are looking for? Is Jesus saying every door we knock on will be opened? No, no, and no.

Reality does not allow for an unqualified, “yes,” to every prayer or a certainty of always finding whatever you are looking for nor is every door going to be open. If God answered to the affirmative to every prayer made on behalf of a dying loved one to recover, every believer from the ancient of days would still be alive. If a person lives long enough he or she will eventually lose something and not be able to find it, no matter how hard they search. There will be times when we knock on doors and no one is around to let us in.

Jesus gave us the example of a father not giving his son a serpent when the child requested a fish. If a father and son are walking along the docks and the boy asks for some fish, the request is perfectly reasonable. A decent father would not say, “No, son, play with this live venomous snaked instead.” Good parents will feed their hungry children.

Jesus reveals that the heavenly Father knows how to give good gifts to His children, who ask for them. Earthly parents know how to give good gifts to their children and the heavenly Father more so.

A prayer can be answered three ways. The Almighty may say, “Yes,” and grant the request. The All-Knowing might say, “No,” deciding what we asked for is not good for us. The answer could also be, “Yes, but not now.”

Good parents want what is best for their children, who have limited experience and can be impulsive. Children do not always need what they desire and not always in the quantity they would like. Ice cream is a good treat but not in large amounts or in place of a healthy meal. Ice cream would be truly bad if the child is lactose intolerant. God knows each and every one of us, our wants, and most especially, our needs. He knows our strengths and weaknesses and is concerned about what is physically and spiritually good for us. God knows what we want is not always what we need. Still, the Lord tells us to pray.

The thing to look for is the gospel truth containing the way into the kingdom of God. A person who is sincerely seeking The Lord’s kingdom and His righteousness will find it. The Creator will make sure the seeker finds the truth and at that point the person chooses to knock and enter or reject the Savior’s grace.

Choice, I’ve written multiple times in this book, it all comes down to choice. We can choose to pray or not. We can choose to seek God’s truth and obey or not. Choice is a reoccurring theme running from the book of Genesis all the way through the book of Revelation. We can read of many people making choices and the consequences or blessings that followed them.

Jesus encourages His followers to pray and gives some guidance on the motivation in Matthew, chapter six, verses five and six. The Lord speaks about hypocrites who like to be seen praying, the kind of people who stand in public places and deliberately draw attention to themselves. Their desire is not to talk to God but to be seen talking to Him. They have their reward, according to Jesus, people staring, pointing and perhaps commenting on their piety and devotion, but nothing from God.

The passage is not dealing with the situation where one person is leading the congregation or assembly in prayer or at the dinner table in the giving of thanks. The Lord is talking about private prayers, the words or thoughts directed secretly to God where no one else can see or hear. All petitions to God should be thought or spoken in sincerity and in truth because He knows the human heart and soul and the motivations behind the prayers.

The Lord instructs us not to use vain repetition in our prayers in Matthew, chapter six, verses seven and eight. Some people think God will hear them better if they add enough words. The Lord already knows what we need before we actually start praying. We do not need to chant meaningless phrases or try to impress Him with our vocabularies. Vain means empty or without substance. Reciting a memorized prayer without understanding or meaning the words from the heart qualifies as vain repetition. Every word directed to God must be heartfelt by the believer in order to be sincere.

There are specific prayers where a person prays for a particular result like healing, unity, or boldness. We also have general prayers, an example of which can be found in Matthew, chapter six, verses nine through thirteen. All prayers, general or specific, should start out glorifying the heavenly Father. His kingdom has come and He has set Christ on the throne. We should acknowledge His kingdom and call for His will to be done.

God’s will is going to be done and anyone who has doubts should read the book of Revelation. You do not need to understand all of the imagery and fulfillments of prophesy to grasp this one truth, no matter how strong the forces of evil become and how close the devil seems to victory, God is going to win and Satan is going to lose. Revelation, chapter twenty, verses seven through fifteen, tells how the armies of evil will fall and the devil and everyone whose name is not written in the book of life is going into the lake of fire. God’s will shall be done.

We should pray for the Lord’s will to be done in our lives and on earth just like it is in heaven. We should also ask and thank God for our food every day. He will provide the means by which we can obtain our nutritional needs. We should petition God to forgive our sins while we, on our part, forgive those who have sinned against us.

The goal is to live godly while fighting temptation and Jesus is providing a way to help us in the struggle. We should ask God to lead us not into temptation and to deliver us from the devil. I suggest this be done before going to sleep and before getting out of bed. This way we are requesting the Lord’s help when we are awake and while asleep and dreaming.

The prayer should end glorifying God and His kingdom. The words making up the Lord’s Prayer are not magic so we cannot just memorize the verses and babble them at God. We can speak the exact same words or use our own words in the format given by Jesus, so long as we mean what we say. An empty repetition of words will not produce a positive response from God.

The children of God have been granted a great privilege to cast their cares upon Him and to make their requests known. We have an example in Matthew, chapter twenty-six, verses thirty-six through forty-two, of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. The time was approaching when Judas would lead the mob to the Lord and begin the events that would take Jesus to a cruel death on the cross. The Savior was under the terrible stress of knowing exactly what He was about to go through. He knew of the sham trials to come before the high priest, king, and governor. Jesus knew His back and shoulders would be ripped and shredded by the scourge and that He would be nailed to and lifted up in agony on a cross. The Lord moved a short distance from the disciples and prayed for the heavenly Father to let the cup pass from Him. Jesus is God in the flesh and His human side did not want to experience the excruciating pain and humiliation to come any more than you or I would. Even so, He prayed for the Father’s will to be done. In following the example set by Jesus we too should ask that God’s will be done in our prayers. The Lord prayed two more times concerning the cup He was about to drink and called for the Father’s will to be done.

We can see by the prayer in the garden that Jesus did not give a recitation of His prayer found in Matthew the sixth chapter. The prayer in Gethsemane was tailored to His specific need. In Acts, chapter four, verses twenty-three through thirty-one, we have the account of the prayer after Peter and John were released by the Sanhedrin, the Israelite religious equivalent of our supreme court. Peter, in the name of Jesus Christ, healed a man who had been lame from birth. The miracle caused many people to listen and learn while the apostle preached to them about Jesus. The miracle created such excitement that the temple guards arrested Peter and John and brought them before the Sanhedrin. Peter proclaimed to the high priest, rulers, and scribes, that the man had been healed in the name of Jesus Christ, whom God raised from the dead.

Every person in the temple, including the high priest, knew the lame beggar for years and years and could not dispute that a miracle had taken place. The leaders also recognized Peter and John had been with Jesus, whom they delivered to Pontius Pilate to be crucified. This could have been an intimidating situation for two men who three years earlier were fishing partners possessing no formal education. They could read and do enough math to count the fish to be sold at market, but had no higher education. These two common individuals stood before the highly educated religious leaders of the day, people who had the authority to send them to prison, and the humble fishers of men were not afraid.

The apostles were commanded to no longer teach or speak in the name of Jesus. Peter and John both left the Sanhedrin to judge whether it was right to listen to them rather than to God. The religious leaders issued more threats but let the men go because people were praising God for the miracle.

When the apostles were reunited with their fellow believers they told them everything that had transpired and then prayed. They glorified God as the Creator in the prayer and spoke of prophesies fulfilled by Jesus, all in accordance with God’s purpose. They spoke to God of the threats made and asked Him to give them boldness to speak His word and perform healings, signs, and wonders through the name of Jesus. God answered by shaking the place and filling them with the Holy Spirit and giving them boldness to speak His word.

God’s children are free to go to Him in prayer any time they desire to do so and frequently. The ability to ask the Lord to deliver us from temptation is a wonderful blessing and so is knowing He will listen to us at all. The president of the United States does not know who I am. The governor of Florida does not know who I am, but the King of kings and Lord of lords knows who I am and He knows who you are too.

Before anyone goes to God in prayer there are some additional things the person needs to know or the prayer will go unanswered. According to the book of Hebrews, chapter eleven, verse six, it is impossible to please God without faith. I know it seems strange to think someone who was not convinced that God exists would bother to pray but believe me, it happens. People do a lot of things they ordinarily might not do if they are frightened enough.

“God, if there is a God. Help me if You can,” is not a prayer of faith.

The person who approaches God in prayer must know by faith that He exists and He actually responds to those who actively look for Him. If we diligently seek God’s truth, we will find it, and if we knock, He will let us in. Our belief in God is a fact we know and take action on, not a static acknowledgement of His existence.

A good example of someone having faith in the power of prayer can be found in First Samuel, chapter one, verses one through twenty-six. Elkanah had two wives, Peninnah and Hannah. Multiple wives were not forbidden under the Law of Moses so it was not uncommon for a man to have more than one. Jesus is the person who brought in the change and defined marriage as being between a man and a woman and the two were to become one flesh.

Peninnah had children while Hannah was unable to become pregnant. Elkanah loved Hannah the best but it was Peninnah who bore him children and she made Hannah’s life miserable. This went on for years.

Elkanah was a religious man and he made offerings to God regularly, giving portions on behalf of Peninnah and their sons and daughters. He gave twice as much as the law required on behalf of Hannah. Time went by and they traveled to the tabernacle in Shiloh. Hannah was very sad and weeping when she began to pray. She asked God to give her a son and promised that if He would grant her request, the boy would be given to serve Him all the days of his life.

Eli, the priest, saw Hannah’s mouth moving, hearing no words, he thought she was drunk. She explained to him how she was pouring her soul out to God and Eli, realizing he had been wrong, blessed her. She went home leaving her sadness behind. She had traveled all the way to the tabernacle and spoken from her heart to God, believing that He was listening and could grant her petition. She took her problem to God and left it with Him and that confidence drove her misery away.

The Lord blessed Hannah and she conceived and bore Samuel. She kept the boy until weaning him and then took him to Eli at Shiloh, keeping her vow to God. She gave Samuel to the Lord and the young prophet did indeed serve God for the rest of his life. As for Hannah, the Lord blessed her with three more boys and two girls.

We should be like Hannah when problems arise and take them to God. We should have confidence in Him and be happy knowing the Almighty is involved with the solution.

The Apostle Paul instructs Timothy in his first letter to the young minister, chapter two, verse eight, that he wants us all to pray without anger or doubting. A person who is angry needs to calm down before going to God in prayer. A humble attitude is important when approaching the Almighty.

Our actions can show whether or not we really believe God will answer the prayer. There was a community suffering from a drought. The preacher called the members of the congregation to assemble on the hill near the building where they worshiped to pray for rain. He climbed to the top of the hill and watched as the members arrived and gathered around him. He shook his head and let out a sigh.

“Never mind, everyone just go home,” the preacher said to the crowd.

“But why?” one of the congregants asked. “I thought you wanted to pray for rain.”

The preacher looked at the people standing around and said, “Not one of you brought an umbrella.”

Prayers must be offered to God in faith and it is impossible to please Him without it.

Praying frequently is not vain repetition, nor is continuing to go to God with a problem until it is resolved. Jesus gives us a good example of this in Luke, chapter eighteen, verses one through eight. There was a judge in a city who had no fear of God and no respect for any man. A widow petitioned him for protection from her opponent. The judge was not inclined to help her but she kept coming and he finally granted her petition because of her importunity. This does not mean the widow was an important person. It means the matter was so important to her that she would not quit or give up until he resolved the matter. The judge was unjust and   only helped her for selfish reasons. God is just and will help those who pray to Him every day and every night. After telling of the widow and encouraging us to pray and not give up, the Lord wondered if He would find faith on the earth at His second coming. I truly hope the Savior finds faith on earth when He returns.

The Apostle Paul encouraged the Thessalonians in his first letter to them, chapter five, verses sixteen through eighteen, to always be delighted, pray ceaselessly, and give thanks to God for everything. We should be happy, thankful, and pray often. It is not humanly possible to be happy and rejoice every waking moment. What we can have is an overall feeling of happiness that leads us to rejoice in the good times and sustains us in the bad. There are individuals who spend too much time thinking about what they lack and too little time counting their blessings. We should make it a point to stop and thank God for all the good things He has done for us.

We cannot pray endlessly, although I have heard a few brethren who seemed to be trying to do just that while leading the congregation in prayer. The apostle is not encouraging long-windedness. Paul is emboldening us to approach God in prayer and to do so frequently. We should not consider ourselves unworthy or the matter too small to bring before the Creator. None of us are worthy. It is by the grace of God, through Christ Jesus, that we are able to approach the Father.

James gives us more reasons why a prayer could go unanswered in the fourth chapter of his letter, verses two and three. Some of the people who did not receive their desires from God were angry enough to be violent. One of the problems they had was failing to ask the Lord in prayer for whatever it was they wanted. They did not request anything from God, so they received nothing. The people who did think to pray had asked for the wrong things, seeking the fulfillment of their ungodly desires.

Do not bother asking God to make you the richest man or woman in the world. The Almighty is not a money store where we can go and make withdrawals to spend on our earthly pleasures. Greediness is a temptation that can snatch us up on our godly walk through this life and many souls have fallen prey. Those who are caught up in the love of money and material gain need to rethink their priorities.

All prayer should be coupled with faith, there can be no doubt. A person who doubts is driven by forces beyond his control and tossed about like a wave by the wind. A person full of doubts is unable to decide what to do or how to react and is unstable in every aspect. A prayer without faith will go unanswered.

Monetary gain or the accumulation of worldly goods are things we should not pray for, but there are things the bible does encourage us to request. In James, chapter one, verses five through eight, we are told to ask God for wisdom. The Lord is willing to give wisdom liberally to everyone who requests it. Knowledge and experience are good, but not by themselves. Wisdom is the ability to apply what we know, which makes it so valuable.

God was pleased with Solomon when in Second Chronicles, chapter one, verses six through twelve, the young king requested wisdom. The Lord had appeared to Solomon in a dream and gave him the opportunity to have anything he wanted. The newly crowned king was young and inexperienced and was very much aware of the fact. He was offered the opportunity of a lifetime. What would you ask for from God? Solomon requested wisdom and knowledge. The Lord was so pleased by the request that He not only gave the young monarch more wisdom than any who had come before or would come after, he gave him national security and great wealth.

We are to pray for those who spite us, according to Jesus in Luke, chapter six, verse twenty-eight. The natural inclination to strike back can be strong but the Lord wants us to avoid the temptation and rise above the norm by praying for those individuals who hurt us.

Paul gives a brief list of things to be prayed for in First Timothy, chapter two, verses one through three. We need to give thanks to God for all of the blessings He bestows upon us, His grace, our daily food, good health, hearing our prayers, and whatever else He has done for us. The apostle wants us to pray for our political leaders, whether or not you voted for him or her, and the people who have authority over us, praying they lead in such a way as to allow us to live tranquil lives.

We can pray to God to make us well when we’re sick or offer up prayers on behalf of someone else. We can pray for strength or for deliverance from temptation, affliction, persecution, or bigotry. We can talk to the Lord when we are happy or sad or just need someone to listen. The Lord knows our needs and He cares and therefore wants us to come to Him in prayer, we only cheat our-selves if we do not.

When we trip over temptation and fall into sin, we can go to the Lord to obtain forgiveness, according to First John, chapter one, verse nine; He will forgive us of our sins if we confess them to Him.

We all have pressures that build up while we make our way in this world. Worry increases anxiety, which can tempt us to act out of desperation, which can lure us into sin if we do not know how to deal with it. Read on into chapter ten and see what the inspired scriptures have to say on the subject.

Chapter Ten:Overcoming Anxiety

I don’t believe it is possible to live in this world and not feel stress at some time or another. We are going to be concerned over the approach of a hurricane or a huge bill coming due or how to make ends meet. Violence and crime are on the increase and who knows if you or I will be the next victim. All these things and more work on the mind and can cause anxiety to grow.

Jesus gives warning in Luke, chapter twenty-one, verses thirty-four through thirty-six, about having our hearts weighed down with partying and the cares of this world. The Lord is coming back some day and He is the Judge, so it would be prudent to heed what He says about being encumbered by these excesses and cares.

The cares of this life can have an enormous impact and could spiritually choke us to death. According to Solomon in Proverbs, chapter twelve, verse twenty-five, anxiety causes depression. This is a negative spiral that feeds on itself and must be broken before it leads to destruction, physically, emotionally, or spiritually. A good word at the right time can help gladden the heart and break the negative slump.

The Lord is aware of the many anxieties within us and He is merciful. Our trust in Him and His mercy can comfort our souls when anxiety threatens to depress us. We can go to God in prayer like the writer of Psalms one hundred twenty, verses one and two. The psalmist sought deliverance from deceivers and liars. He was distressed and prayed to the Lord, who heard him. The ability to take all of our cares and concerns to God in prayer is a great stress reliever.

The anxiety we suffer is sometimes our own fault, a result of bad decisions or involving ourselves with people whose activities we should never have been a part of. In Second Chronicles, chapter eighteen and chapter nineteen, verses one through three, we have an example of a person under stress and calling to God for Help. Jehoshaphat was the good king of Judah who married the daughter of Ahab, the wicked king of Israel. The good monarch should not have made ties with the evil sovereign, who had been condemned by God. The time came when Ahab requested the aid of Jehoshaphat and his army in an up coming battle against Ramoth Gilead. The king of Judah agreed to march into battle along with his father-in-law, but requested that they inquire of the Lord on the matter first. Ahab gathered four hundred of his prophets and they all agreed the Lord would give the king victory. Jehoshaphat was not fully satisfied with the prediction of these prophets and wanted to know if there was a prophet of the Lord present. Ahab admitted there was one prophet not in attendance, one who always prophesied evil concerning him. The king of Israel sent for Micaiah. Mean-while, Zedekiah made horns out of iron to symbolize how the Syrians would be gored and destroyed.

The messengers sent to bring Micaiah told him the other prophets had encouraged the king of Israel and that he should do the same. When they arrived, Ahab sought his answer. Micaiah gave the encouraging words he had been told to say but Ahab knew better and demanded the truth. The prophet of the Lord made it clear that the king would die and the army would scatter with people running back to their tents. Micaiah also revealed how the Lord permitted a spirit to put deceit in the mouths of the other prophets so Ahab would believe them and die in battle.

Both kings believed the hundreds of deceiving prophets and went up to do battle with the enemy. Ahab encouraged Jehoshaphat to wear royal apparel while the wicked king of Israel went up in disguise. The king of Syria wanted the king of Israel dead and ordered his captains to concentrate on Israel’s king. The enemy forces spotted Jehoshaphat and surrounded him, mistaking Judah’s king for Ahab. The Syrians closed in for the kill, putting Jehoshaphat in peril and in fear for his life. The young king had good reason to be anxious. He was in a battle in which he should not have been involved, allied to a man to whom there should have been no alliance, and duped into being a decoy. The predicament was his own fault, but he cried out to the Lord anyway. God rescued him by making the Syrians realize the man they were chasing was not Ahab, allowing Jehoshaphat to return safely to his house in Jerusalem. A random arrow fatally struck Ahab and he watched the rest of the battle until dying at sunset.

The Lord chastised Jehoshaphat for being on the side of the wicked and made known how angry He was. Never-the-less God had found some good in the king of Judah, whose heart was prepared to seek Him, which is why Jehoshaphat had been spared.

Even if the anxiety we feel is the result of our own bad decisions, we can still call on God the way Jehoshaphat did. What we dare not do is allow the stress of the moment to carry us away into destruction. People living in Florida know how dangerous a riptide can be. A person caught in one can drown by trying to fight against the current but can survive by remaining calm and swimming off to the right or left. Anxiety can overwhelm us if we let it. We are not alone in the struggle and can call on God and each other. Paul exhorts us in Galatians, chapter six, verse two, to carry each others burdens and in so doing fulfill the command of Jesus to love one another.

We can relieve stress by meditating on things that are good, pure, and true. We can also draw strength from reading God’s word. Music can help calm us down and reduce anxiety, especially hymns and spiritual songs. I know for a fact and from personal experience that singing can help defeat anxiety, but few people are in any mood to sing when they are stressed. Push through the emotion and sing anyway.

If a person wants to share their problem with you, it does not help to tell them not to worry and leave it at that. Hearing, “Don’t worry,” does not make most people feel better. A benefit of sharing our burdens with someone we trust is the hope of a possible solution. The person may have experienced something similar and be able to help solve the problem or at least show how he or she dealt with the anxiety. Sharing our burdens with a trusted individual can help lower the stress, even if that person has no advice but is just a good listener.

Jesus tells us not to worry about our lives in Matthew, chapter six, verses twenty-five through thirty-four, and reveals what should come first. There is more to life than food and clothing, so stop worrying about what you’re going to eat and drink. The birds are not into farming and yet the heavenly Father provides for them. We cannot make ourselves taller by worrying. God adorns the flowers and He will make sure we have clothing; it is a lack of faith on our part when we worry about those things. The Creator knows our physical needs, so we should stop worrying about them and start placing Him first in our lives. The kingdom of God is the church and righteousness is found in Christ, we need to be seeking Him, knocking, and going in when the door is opened to us.

Jesus is not telling us to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first and then sit down and wait while God materializes food and clothing out of thin air. When we put God first, when we put seeking His kingdom and righteousness first, the Lord provides the means by which we can obtain the physical needs of the body.

We can also reduce anxiety by not worrying about tomorrow, which does not mean we shouldn’t plan ahead, just don’t worry about problems that might be in the future. Worrying about an imaginary worry is like fearing fear; it feeds on itself with no solution. We can reduce anxiety by dealing with real problems in the here and now and by letting tomorrow worry about its own trouble.

Anxiety can be reduced by increasing our faith, which comes by hearing the word of God. We are not alone on life’s journey and have the comfort of the Lord, who cares about us and is concerned for our well being. We should also have that same concern for each other.

We feel anxiety because we care. If a loved one is sick or injured, we feel anxious because we care. We are concerned if a person we love becomes a victim of crime or is harmed in any way. Jesus was anxious before His crucifixion and went through with it because His love, His care and concern for our souls, was greater than the emotional stress of the moment. We too can overcome anxiety through the love of Christ, who called for the Father’s will to be done.

There is another way to reduce stress and not give in to temptation, which is to be careful how we judge one another. The problem is, there are judgments we must make and are called for and judgments we have no right to make, learning the difference is why reading chapter eleven is so important.

Chapter Eleven:Judging Others

The bible warns us about judging other people while also admonishing us to make righteous judgments. The two teachings seem to be at odds with each other. Jesus informs us of the danger involved with judging in Matthew, chapter seven, verses one through five. It is better not to judge than to judge because the Lord will use the same standard we use to make judgments about others on us. We do not possess the ability to read the thoughts and intents of another person’s heart nor do we have the authority to condemn someone to an eternity in hell.

Is it our standard to rush into a conclusion about someone without knowing all of the facts or to decide a person is guilty on suspicion alone? Is our standard to judge a person based on skin pigmentation, national origin, or social status? Are we guilty of sins while chastising others for committing far less offenses?  These are the kinds of things we should consider before we start making judgments about another person.

Back when I was a teenager, long, long ago, a new family began attending our congregation. Weeks went by and I noticed they would come to worship and leave right after the service was over without saying much to anyone. I decided they must be snobs, thinking themselves too good to hang around and chat with the likes of us. My mother taught me a valuable lesson, by example, not in words. She invited the new family to Sunday dinner after church. The people were very warm and friendly, far from being the snobs I had judged them to be. I learned several lessons that day, not to make decisions about a person’s character before I get to know them and, it is as much my responsibility to show myself friendly as it is the other person’s.

We all have a tendency to make snap judgments. Sometimes what we decide about people is harmless and at other times harmful. When I go to the mall and see a man and woman walking together, most of the time I decide they are a couple. I do not know them and they do not know me and what I decide about their relationship doesn’t really matter.  I became an uncle at the age of seven. Consequently, I have nieces and nephews ranging from ages one through forty-one. There have been many times when I’ve gone to malls and restaurants with an older niece. Passers-by could look at us and decide we are a couple, not knowing our relationship. I do not know them, they do not know me, and their private conclusion does not affect me or my niece. The situation could change and become harmful if one of my nieces comes to Miami and someone who knows her and knows I am a preacher, but does not know I am her uncle, makes a snap judgment. Next thing you know, the story spreads that the preacher is having an affair with a married woman. People who do not know the facts would be condemning us as adulterers. The scenario happens far too often where someone rushes into a hasty decision and pronounces condemnation upon another person without knowing the facts or bothering to look further. We need to know the truth before making decisions about other people. The Lord will judge us by the standard we use.

People should not play the hypocrite by correcting someone else for stealing a piece of gum while they themselves are guilty of robbing banks. We must get the log or beam out of our own eyes before we attempt to remove the speck from someone else’s.

There are dangers involved with judging other people but we cannot allow the fact to keep us from making necessary judgments. The Apostle Paul taught in First Corinthians, chapter five, verses nine through thirteen, about the need to judge immorality. He had previously commanded the Christians not to associate with sexually immoral people. The church members believed he meant every fornicator in the world, which was not so because that would have been impossible. Christians would have had to leave the planet in order to avoid immoral people. The apostle meant for the church members to disassociate themselves from any brothers or sisters-in-Christ, who practice lusting after the possessions of others, involve themselves with inordinate sexual activities, worship idols, get drunk, or obtain things by force. We are not permitted even to eat with Christians who practice such immorality.

Carrying out the Apostle Paul’s command requires judgment. We must decide whether or not a church member is guilty of unrepentant immorality and know the facts with certainty. If a brother-in-Christ should come to me admitting he earns his living as a thief, I would not be judging him by letting him know that he is in sin and needs to repent. God has already judged stealing to be a sin and I would only have been informing the thief of the Lord’s judgment on that behavior. If he refuses to change his ways, I would no longer be allowed to associate with him until he does repent. If a sister-in-Christ tells me she also worships Buddha, and I know it to be true, my duty as a Christian would be to inform her that she was guilty of idolatry and needed to repent. If she fails to turn away from the sin, I would not be permitted to socialize with her.

We cannot associate with immoral Christians who refuse to change their evil ways. This does not mean we have nothing to do with them. We can take every opportunity to admonish and encourage those who have gone astray to come back to the Lord, not behave as if they were dead. All of this must be done in humility, not arrogance or with a holier-than-thou attitude, lest we fall into temptation ourselves.

While there are judgments we are required to make, there are also judgments we have no right to make concerning one another. Some people took it upon themselves to judge the work of the Apostle Paul, a thing he did not even do himself. He writes concerning the matter in First Corinthians, chapter four, verses one through five. Our Lord is the Judge and everything hidden will be exposed to Him. No one on earth had the right to judge Paul’s life, how good or fruitful the quality of his work was. The Corinthians did not have the authority to decide how good or bad a Christian Paul was and neither do you or I have the right to decide those things about each other.

Is it right to eat meat or should we all become vegetarians? This question is a matter of judgment. The topic is discussed in Romans, chapter fourteen, verses one through thirteen. Jesus ate the Passover lamb, which means the consumption of flesh is not in and of itself a sin. A vegetarian has no scriptural authority to condemn someone who eats meat. Carnivores, it is not a sin to eat only fruits, vegetables, nuts, or berries. If you think it is bad to eat meat, then give thanks to God and do not eat meat and do not belittle those who disagree. If you believe eating meat is good, then give thanks to God and enjoy the meal, but do not despise the vegetarian. The same idea holds with the observing of special days. Some people believe in celebrating birthdays and anniversaries while others do not. You can take time off to honor people or for special events or not take the time off at all. We can honor the veterans, Martin Luther King, presidents, take time off as a nation to thank God, honor any special days we want, but we should not judge people because they choose not to celebrate a particular day.

Christians, alive or dead, belong to the Lord. He is the Judge, we stand or fall before Him, and He will give us the strength to stand. We should leave the judging to Him.

You and I are not qualified to judge the hearts and minds of other people and have no authority to sentence anyone to an eternity in hell. All we can do is tell people what the bible says will happen to those who practice evil and leave it to them to make whatever adjustments they need to make to their lives before the end. Who knows, the person you might be tempted to consign a place in hell may change and become a soul winner for Jesus. There was such a man and we can read of him in Acts, chapter twenty-two, verses one through sixteen.

Saul persecuted the church in Jerusalem. He took in air and exhaled threats and murder against the early Christians, wanting them all arrested and punished. He was an enemy of the church and I can see where some people would be tempted to judge this man and decide where he should be spending his eternity. Even so, Jesus is the judge and He had plans for that zealous enemy of God. The Lord paid him a visit on the road to Damascus and Saul, who was also called Paul, who was blinded by the light, became a believer. The Lord sent him into the city to be told what to do. Ananias healed Paul, revealed God’s plan, and then told him to arise and be baptized, washing away his sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

The man whom many people may have been quick to judge and condemn went on journeys converting countless souls to Christ. We are unqualified to make eternal judgments. The person in front of us might be guilty of horrendous things in the present but could change in the future and be an instrument of good for God. We just do not know, but Jesus does and that is why He is the judge and none of us are.

The apostle Paul warns about self-imposed rules and regulations in Colossians, chapter two, verses sixteen through twenty-three. Some groups make up their own doctrines, calling for the observation of special days, rules, restrictions of diet not required by Christ, and bodily neglect. These are self-imposed religions that deal in false humility and we should not allow those who practice such things to impose their tenants on us or to judge us by their regulations. Christians belong to Jesus, who nourishes us spiritually, and we are not subject to the rules and restrictions of man-made religions. The head of the spiritual body, the church, is Christ and we follow and receive spiritual growth from Him. We are not subject to the religious principles of the world.

Religious tolerance allows us to get along politically and socially but it does not make other religions, beliefs, or philosophies equal to that of Christ. It might be tempting, for the sake of unity, to compromise on the word of God or to substitute someone else’s precepts over those of God, but we should never give in to such an impulse. All authority has been given to Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the risen Son of God, and no one gets to the Father accept through Him.

We will be required to make judgments from time to time, but when judging is necessary it should be as Jesus instructed in John, chapter seven, verse twenty-four. Our judgment should be righteous and not according to appearance. We should not allow any stereo types or preconceived notions to cloud our judgment. The standard we use to judge others will be used on us, so let’s make it righteous and mix it real good with mercy. I cannot speak for you but I am hoping for a lot of mercy come judgment day.

While we sojourn through the world it is important for us to resist the temptation to judge others and be mindful of whom the true judge is. No other religious figure can do what Jesus can and chapter twelve explains why.

Chapter Twelve:The Narrow Way

The religious world is far from united on how to get closer to God. People invent philosophies, doctrines, and steps to achieve spiritual enlightenment. There are some who say they feel closer to God when out communing with nature, climbing mountains, fishing, camping, or just gazing up at the stars. While it is true we can all enjoy and marvel at God’s wondrous creation, observing these kinds of things cannot reconcile us to God. None of the philosophies conceived by man or rules; “do this,” or, “don’t do that,” nor can any grand list of deeds get us closer to the heavenly Father. False teachers come along and say they know what the Lord wants and how to reach Him, things that usually cannot be backed up by scripture. When what they teach cannot be found in the bible or contradicts the Devine passages, they claim to be prophets or prophetesses possessing special revelations.

Jesus proclaimed Himself to be the way, the truth, and the life, in John, chapter fourteen, verse six. No one gets to the Father except through Him. Moses is no longer the way. Mohammed is not the way. Buddha is not the way. We can place any prophet or teacher you want on the list and none of them can get you or me or even themselves to the Father except through Jesus Christ. This teaching is exclusive in that it excludes any other way to God the Father. However, if you believe what Jesus said about Himself and tell these words to people who do not believe He is the Christ or that the bible is God’s word, they will accuse you of being hateful, divisive, intolerant, and narrow-minded.

Jesus taught his followers to enter by the narrow gate in Matthew, chapter seven, verses thirteen and fourteen. The path leading to destruction is broad, the entranceway is wide and many people are going that way because it is easier. The entranceway into eternal life is narrow and the pathway difficult, so few people go that way.

Jesus leads the way into the kingdom, to the Father, and to eternal life. The people who say that what Jesus taught is narrow-minded are correct. The Lord did tell us the way is narrow, but charging Him who went to the cross for us with teaching hatred and intolerance is bold beyond belief.

Christ leads the way to the Father and following Him may require some personal sacrifices. There are things we may be called upon to give up. Jesus informed his followers of this situation in Luke, chapter nine, verse sixty-two. Anyone who starts plowing in a field and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God. We need to set our minds on the narrow way ahead and not look back at the things or the way of life we have left behind. No one can plow a straight line while looking backward. If a driver focuses all of his attention on the rearview mirror, sooner or later, he is going to crash. Once we decide to follow Jesus there should be no going back and we should be willing to sacrifice whatever it takes in order to remain faithful to Him. A man who makes his living selling pornography would have to sacrifice his business and find a godly way to earn a living. A woman whose family has worshiped Buddha for many generations would have to sacrifice the family tradition and worship God and no other.

The Lord speaks more on the subject of personal sacrifice in Mark, chapter eight, verses thirty-four through thirty-eight. We must deny ourselves, even if it means losing our own lives. There was a time when admitting to being a Christian was a death sentence, in some countries it still is true, and anyone who denied being a Christian would be spared and save his physical life. If called upon to deny Christ or die, we should be willing to choose death, knowing that whoever dies by standing firm with Jesus will save his or her life eternally. We should not deny Him or His teachings. What does it profit a man to gain the entire world and lose his soul? Sadly, some people would say, “You gain the world!”

Whatever we amass in this life, wealth, fame, political power, or any number of earthly things, they do not last forever and cannot go beyond the grave. Our time on earth is relatively short and is but a vapor when compared to eternity, yet our souls go on and on.

We should not be ashamed of Christ or His teachings. The world is full of adultery, homosexual and hetero-sexual. People are not even ashamed of committing fornication, even brag about it, yet many are ashamed of Christ and His teachings and hesitate to even mention Him or them out loud. These are the people whom Jesus will be ashamed of when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.

Jesus told those who believed in Him in John, chapter eight, verses thirty-one and thirty-two, that if they abide in His word they would know the truth and the truth would set them free. His teachings are true and we show ourselves to be His disciples by making His words a part of our daily lives.

Jesus admitted being a king when standing before Pilate in John, chapter eighteen, verse thirty-seven. The reason our Lord was born into this world was to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears His voice. The people who are of the truth are those who listen to what Jesus has to say and act upon it. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords and whatever He says is to be heeded. To hear and not act is to reject the truth and the Son of God from whom it was spoken.

The Father gave Jesus authority over all flesh so He could give eternal life to those who have been given to Him. The Lord revealed this during His prayer recorded in John, chapter seventeen, verses one through three. Eternal life requires knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent, the most important knowledge we can absorb. The way is straight and difficult and what we learn is vital to our entering by the narrow gate. What we know determines the decisions we make and the ramifications of those choices can have eternal con-sequences.

The Lord spoke to the ancient Israelites through the prophet Hosea, chapter four, verses one through six, and told them they were destroyed because of their lack of knowledge. They were untruthful, merciless, and most of them didn’t know God or His ways. They swore falsely, told lies, and were unrestrained in breaking His laws. There was murder, theft, and the committing of adultery along with extreme violence and bloodshed. The writings of Hosea could easily be describing what is going on in our modern society and sooner or later America too could be destroyed for lack of knowledge. There was a time when God overlooked ignorance, Paul told the Athenians in Acts, chapter seventeen, verse thirty, but now commands all men everywhere to repent. The days of winking at ignorance are long gone and have been so since the Lord sent His apostles to make disciples in every nation. All people all over the world are expected to turn from their former ways and follow the Lord, who is the righteous Judge. Pleading ignorance on judgment day will not excuse a person of his or her sins, which can only be cleansed by the blood of Christ.

The fact that a lack of knowledge can be lethal is grounded in reality. If we eat something not knowing it is poisonous, our lack of knowledge would still kill us. Ignorance of the law of gravity does not keep people from falling to their deaths if they walk off a cliff.

Knowledge is the key to understanding. How can we walk godly along the narrow way without having an understanding of God’s word? Many people believe in the Almighty and possess great zeal, yet do not know His righteousness nor submit to it. Paul said this same thing about his countrymen in Romans, chapter ten, verses one through three. They, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, set about to establish their own.

Zeal without knowledge has been responsible for millions and millions of deaths. History, ancient and recent, is filled with religious zealots who have committed wholesale slaughter while claiming to be doing God’s will. They do not know or believe God’s word and so make up their own code of righteousness and use it to justify themselves.

The people who know and understand God’s truth, as revealed in the bible, will not kill or harm in any way those who reject Jesus Christ. We pray for the wayward souls to come to the knowledge of the truth before it is everlastingly to late, demonstrating a true care and concern for them.

Jesus is the high priest who intercedes for us in heaven, according to Hebrews, chapter four, verses fourteen and fifteen. He understands our weaknesses and can sympathize, having been tempted like us. He is the way, the truth, and eternal life comes through Him. There is no other way to the Father.

What we know about God is revealed in His inspired word, which should be the ultimate source. The apostles and inspired disciples of Jesus have written church doctrine and there is no need for any person or group to add or subtract from what has been revealed. The scriptures instruct us in what we should and should not do and show us how to identify and correct the things that may be wrong in our lives. The value of these writings is revealed in Second Timothy, chapter three, verses sixteen and seventeen. The scriptures provide everything we need in order to live godly and involve ourselves in all kinds of good works.

Every person needs to know and understand that there is eternal life in heaven and eternal life in hell. Which of the two places we end up depends on us knowing God and Jesus Christ, whom He sent.

Life is in a state of constant flux and change will happen, but we must not allow the unexpected to knock us off the narrow way. Stay the course and read chapter thirteen.

Chapter Thirteen:Change Without Warning

Change is inevitable and can be good or bad. Some of the changes are deliberate and well planned while some are forced upon us unexpectedly. People, places, and things, are in a constant state of flux, yet few of us contemplate the fact that we are all subject to change without warning.

A good example of a person facing drastic changes in his life can be found in Job, chapter one, verses one through twenty-two. Job was a godly man who was blessed with a wife, seven sons, and three daughters. He was a man of great wealth, had the respect of his contemporaries, was hedged about with God’s protection, and enjoyed a tranquil life. We human beings have a tendency to believe things will continue on just as they are or, if we need to change, there will be plenty of time to prepare. Job had no idea the sons, angels, of God were presenting themselves before the Almighty or that Satan would show up along with them. Job could not know he would be the topic of discussion. The devil believed Job would curse God if faced with catastrophic losses while the Lord was certain Job would maintain his integrity.

In rapid succession, in one report after another, Job lost his flocks, herds, and his precious sons and daughters. His life was suddenly changed without warning. He then fell to the ground and worshiped God saying, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Another change is thrust upon Job in chapter two, verses one through thirteen. In the not too distant future in this godly man’s life, another day came when the sons of God presented themselves before the Lord and Satan again showed up. The devil believed Job would curse God to the face if physical affliction should come upon him. Satan was permitted to strike Job, but not take his life.

The devil struck Job with boils from the bottom of his feet to the crown of his head. A single boil on the bottom of the foot can be extremely painful and make walking difficult. Job was struck all over his body with festering boils. He must have been in agony and had to be hideous to behold. Again, Job was subject to change without warning.

The notion that bad things happen only to bad people has been around for a long time and is false. Job is biblical proof that good people suffer. We can read about godly men and women suffering hardship in the scriptures, secular history, and in the newspapers of today. Natural disasters, crimes of theft, violence, sicknesses, and accidents, are all things that can happen to us at any time of the day or night.

Job’s friends arrived to comfort him and most of their conversation was an attempt to persuade him to repent and seek God’s forgiveness. They believed Job must have committed horrible sins of which he unwilling to acknowledge. This is because they believed, like so many others, that good things happen only to good people and bad thing happen only to sinners as a punishment from God. Even with all of the losses and his wife’s advice to curse God and die, Job did not curse the Lord. Job was a very wise man.

God speaks in Job, chapters thirty-eight through chapter forty-two, and asks questions of Job, some of which have only been answered within the last hundred years. Job could not answer the questions and was humbled by the Lord. Afterward, God blessed Job with seven sons, three of the most beautiful daughters ever born, twice the number of sheep, camels, and yokes of oxen along with a thousand female donkeys. As for Job’s friends, God chastised them for speaking wrongly about Him.

We should all keep in mind what happened to Job and how he handled the afflictions and false accusations. We should also consider carefully when we speak for God, lest we make the same error as Job’s friends. I am most comfortable talking for God when I am quoting the bible and dare not claim authoritative knowledge of Him apart from what has been revealed in His inspired word. Another thing we should remember is that we are God’s creation, His judgment is perfect, and we do not have the authority to call Him to account. God does not owe us an answer, but He is merciful and we can trust in His grace.

We learn from King Solomon in Ecclesiastes, chapter nine, verses eleven and twelve; that the fastest runner does not always win. He can trip, sprain an ankle, pull a muscle, or any number of mishaps can happen and end up costing him the race. The finest soldier does not always win in combat. Time and chance happen to everyone. For some people it means being in the right place at the right time and for others it means being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

We can see King Herod was subject to change without arrested warning in Acts, chapter twelve, verses eighteen through twenty-three. He had the Apostle James killed by the sword and then arrested Peter An angel of the Lord rescued the incarcerated apostle, leaving the cell empty. Herod, furious with the guards; ordered them to be executed. He was an angry man but proved later to be a skilled politician and orator. Dressed in his glittering royal finery, his speech impressed the people of Tyre so much they began shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man.”

Herod accepted the praise, not rebuking his adoring crowd and not giving God the glory, so he was stricken with worms by an angel. His royal majesty’s life suddenly changed in a direction he could not have anticipated, although he may have had days to contemplate the error of his ways while the worms ate him from the inside out.

A change without warning may be a new and promising opportunity. In Matthew the ninth chapter, verse nine, we can see how the life of a publican, a tax collector for the Romans, can change. The profession was not well liked among the general population and was often linked with sinners. Matthew probably started the new day believing it would be much the same as the one before. He may have received a few dirty looks while making his way to the collector booth. He may well have had people lined up to grudgingly pay their taxes when Jesus walked by and said, “Follow Me.”

The Lord was not inviting the man to go on a stroll with Him. Matthew knew this was an invitation to become a disciple of the Rabi. The tax collector decided right there and then to become a follower of Jesus and to learn from Him. This was the opportunity of a lifetime and Matthew seized it.

Jesus invites all who are weary and heavy laden to come to Him in Matthew, chapter eleven, verses twenty-eight through thirty, and He will give them rest. Take His yoke upon them and learn of Him, for he is gentle and humble in heart and will give rest to their souls. His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever,” proclaimed the Hebrew writer in chapter thirteen, verse eight.

Our Savior is the One we can depend on in an ever changing world. We can go from rags to riches and back again. We can go from health and vigor to sick and worn. Some changes are sudden and unavoidable and we deal with them by the grace of God. Other changes we can choose to make. A person does not stumble accidentally into the kingdom of Christ, but must choose to enter by doing what He says.

According the Apostle Paul in Second Thessalonians, chapter one, verses eight and nine, the wrath of God will fall upon everyone who does not know God and those who fail to obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They will be punished with everlasting destruction away from the Lord.

Even if the world does not come to an end in our lifetimes, our stay on the earth will. The savior helps those who love and trust in Him to navigate through life and its changes, enabling them to reach their heavenly home. We show our love for Jesus by obeying Him and trusting in His grace. Living godly and fighting temptation in a world where change can happen without warning requires trust. God’s word builds faith, hope, and trust, read chapter fourteen and strengthen yours.

Chapter Fourteen:Trusting God

Faith is the composition of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The definition is stated in the book of Hebrews, chapter eleven, verse one, and shows how faith is not based on whimsy or fantasy. Faith is supported by evidence. Faith makes it possible to believe in someone we have never actually met, to believe in the existence of places we have never been, or to believe in events taken place outside of our personal experience.

I believe George Washington was the first president of the United States of America. I have never met the man nor know any person who has actually seen him. My belief is based on the testimony of teachers I had in school and what I have read in textbooks. I have seen documentaries showing letters reported to have been written by George Washington and all sorts of writings to and about the man. I believe in the reliability of the evidence and therefore conclude that a man by the name of George Washington did exist and was indeed the first president of the United States.

Most of us live by faith and believe in people, places, and things well beyond our personal experience. Faith is only as good as the evidence upon which it is based. Faulty or corrupted evidence can lead a person to have faith and believe in things that are not true. A witness can give false testimony, documents can be forged, and key facts can be missing or withheld. These errors and omission can cause a person’s faith to be sincerely wrong.

I believe the bible is the inspired word of God. My belief began with the testimony of my parents. We all start out believing the people who raised us, they being our earliest primary source of knowledge. My faith in the bible being the inspired word of God grew as I read about events predicted centuries ahead of their actual fulfillment. My belief was strengthened even more when I read the scientific facts casually thrown out by God to Job in chapters thirty-eight through forty-two of his book. Job was written thousands of years ago and no mortal man could have had enough knowledge of the workings of the universe to even be able to ask such questions.  God mentions the springs under the sea and it has only been in my life time that fresh water springs have been discovered under the ocean.

I believe Jesus is the Son of God because I believe the testimonies of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I also believe in Jesus based on the letters of Peter, Paul, James, and Jude. I have faith in what has been written in the book of Hebrews. My faith comes by hearing the word of God. Therefore I believe God created everything, actually parted the Red Sea, and raised Jesus from the dead, even though they sound impossible and I never witnessed the events.

It is impossible to please God without faith, according to Hebrews, chapter eleven, verse six. A person must believe in His existence and that He rewards the efforts of those who actively seek Him. We cannot see God but we can find evidence of His existence in His word and in His creation, if we are diligent enough to look.

The things we see with the naked eye are made up of things not visible. This scientific fact was written almost two thousand years ago in Hebrews, chapter eleven, verse three. I wonder about the many centuries going by with people reading or being taught this scripture and them not fully understanding the depth of it. We are made; everything is made, of things not visible with the naked eye. There are microscopic, molecular, atomic, and subatomic levels, all of which are invisible. These are very recent discoveries and some people would have me believe the scripture stating the fact was just a good guess. I think not.

God created and framed the world and we should believe and have faith enough in His word to accept this to be so, not based on fantasy but on the evidence presented.

Fighting temptation takes faith in God, which means we must believe what the bible says about Him. He has revealed the origins of the heavens and the earth through the writings of Moses, who wrote the first five books of the bible. God brought the universe into existence and set the laws in motion to govern it. He questioned if Job knew the ordinances of the universe in Job, chapter thirty-eight, verse thirty-three. Our scientists are even now learning more about the universe and only recently discovered the existence of dark energy. They are trying to understand how this discovery affects the known laws and previously held theories. Do they even know all of the ordinances of the universe?

The actual laws of the universe do not conflict with what God has revealed about them in His word. The conflict comes from the theories people have created based on their interpretation of the evidence. Laws can be observed in nature and or duplicated in a laboratory. A theory becomes a law when it can be observed or demonstrated. We see evidence, actual demonstrations, of the law of gravity every day. I believe, based on the evidence, that it is reasonable to conclude the universe was designed and created by a Supreme Intelligence. The universe did not come up from a sub-atomic level all the way to the macro level of planets, moon, stars, solar systems, and galaxies, by random chance, or a big cosmic accident where something sprang from nothing.

Do the things described in the first chapter of Genesis make any sense? Read the verses and think about the laws as we understand them today.

The earth was empty and had no form, and darkness was over the face of the deep. In other words, the earth started out as a big blob of water.

What is water?

Water is made up of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. God created a nucleus and an electron out of subatomic particles. He spun the electron into motion around the nucleus, after establishing the laws that govern rotation and an object’s relationship to another. Thus He created an atom. Hydrogen is an atom with one electron circling it.

God created another nucleus, added more electrons, and created oxygen. He brought the elements of hydrogen and oxygen together and the result is water. We could go through the entire periodic table of elements and find each one has a nucleus and electrons.

God created the space that would contain the universe and the ordinances, laws, which would govern it. He created hydrogen and oxygen, brought them together, and created a big blob of water called, earth. He also created positrons, neutrons, and photons. God said, “Let there be light.” He created radiant energy.

Many people picture the big bang as a giant star that suddenly exploded and expanded outward. They cannot explain where this star or object of some sort came from, or why it exploded. Even if we dispense with the knowledge that subatomic particles had to come first, the theory of a large object just existing in the middle of nothing and then exploding leaves more questions than it answers. The questions become even more daunting the deeper we look. The chunks of stellar material would have to some how form at random into solar systems, stars, planet and moons, with all of these objects rotating in precise calibration.

God said, “Let there be light,” and neutrinos, electrons, positrons, and photons, flashed into existence, rushing apart and filling all space. These are the building blocks of the creation. It makes more sense to believe an Intelligent Force, God, caused a brilliant flash containing subatomic particles to expand outward. That Force used those particles to create everything in the universe and placed them in their proper positions with a precision we can literally set our clocks by.

God took the blob of water and created an atmosphere and then created dry land, taking those building blocks of the universe and creating the final state of matter. We had gas, hydrogen and oxygen, which God turned into liquid, and now we have land, a solid. Solid, liquid, and gas are the three states of matter, science, not fantasy. The earth was no longer void and without form. God formed it into a planet with oceans, land, and an atmosphere.

The Lord created grass, plants, and trees, ordaining that their seed be in themselves and for them to reproduce each after their own kind. God created living creatures to inhabit the waters, the birds of the air, all of the land animals, and culminated His work in the creation of man. All of these creatures were determined by God to reproduce each after their own kind.

The naturalistic processes described by Darwin, and those people today who believe his theory of evolution, fail to explain how non-living chemicals of the periodic table of elements could somehow self-assemble into the first living cell. We live in an age with super computers and high tech labs, yet there have been no verifiable experiments whereby non-living chemicals have been brought to life or produced a single living cell. Cell division is essential for reproduction. No cell, no division, means no evolution to life.

If scientists cannot make chemicals into living cells in a modern laboratory, why am I expected to believe random elements came together in the harsh environment of the outside world? They say the process took place over millions of years. They might as well try to convince me that a chip of silicon, if given enough time, will evolve into the computer I am writing this book on. Computers were designed by intelligent minds possessing engineering and technical skills, all of this came together to bring into existence my laptop.

The universe is complex beyond our fullest comprehension and it stretches credibility for people to tell me it is all a series of accidents, each spontaneously leading to another and out of this chaos came precise order and eventually life.

God determined for every living thing to reproduce after its own kind. This is a law, not a theory. We have within our cells, as does every living thing, deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA is what causes each living creature to reproduce after their own kind. This fact is true of single cell organisms all the way up to the complex human body. This genetic fact, not theory, can be observed in nature and in laboratories. Evolution cannot be observed because it takes place over millions of years, nor can it be demonstrated in a lab, but it gets talked up a lot.

DNA is a strand of genetic material so complex; scientists are still mapping it with computers in their desire to understand the human genome. DNA makes us what we are and is unique in every living creature. DNA is why a shark and a killer whale exist in the same environment, can eat mostly the same food, and yet cannot reproduce with each other.

DNA does allow for adaptation within a species. The adaptations can be caused by environmental conditions, natural selection, and breeding habits. We see panda bears and polar bears, but they are still bears. People breed horses and dogs for favorable traits, but no matter how many you breed or how many times over as many years as you continue to breed them, DNA will not allow horses to give birth to puppies. I know what I wrote seems simplistic to some people and they wave the notion away as if it has no merit, but every living thing does reproduce after its own kind. If two spiders mate they do not produce a fly.

If a dolphin beaches on the sand, it does not eat, reproduce, or grow legs, it dies; this happens every time. The dolphin that beaches itself will not evolve. When we remove the theory of evolution and just observe how things live, grow, and adapt, God’s way makes more sense. The idea that snakes lost their legs because they stopped using them is preposterous. Any creature that decided to stop using its legs would not survive its first encounter with a predator. Even if such a creature managed to live and reproduce, the offspring would have legs because of DNA.

We can observe nature and conclude that God loves variety. He did not make just one kind of grass, He made many types of grasses. He did not make one type of flower; He made many types of flowers. He didn’t make one kind of tree; He made lots and lots of trees of varying kinds. We know He did not make just one kind of bug. He made many kinds of bugs, spiders, frogs, and snakes. He made all kinds of birds, fish, and people; all of which reproduce after their own kind. There are an incredible number of species in the world and a missing link between each one of them.

In order for me to accept Darwin’s premise of evolution, I would have to accept as credible evidence that is extremely flimsy and defies the actual natural laws that we do know and can observe.

I’m being asked to believe:

1. Nothing produced everything.

2. Random processes caused subatomic particles to come together in such a way as to produce the fine tuning of the universe along with planets forming solar systems around stars, all rotating within galaxies, and earth in the perfect location to sustain life.

3. Non-life produces life, if given enough time.

4. Various acids combined on their own to form complex strands of DNA.

My faith is based on what evidence is found to be credible. I find God to be more credible than any person and believe the testimony of the men He inspired. Darwin’s theory does not meet my standard.

The faith we need in order to be successful in our fight against temptation is made stronger the more we study God’s word. The examples set by men and women in the Old and New Testaments are there for our encouragement, to show us how the Lord worked in their lives, and how they served Him. We learn to trust in the grace and mercy of the Almighty and find strength to stand firm in the face of opposition.

We read of Moses, who was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter and lived as a prince in Egypt for forty years. He visited his people, observed the Hebrew’s plight, and even killed an Egyptian. Moses spent forty years as a shepherd and at eighty years old was told by God to lead the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. Ten plagues were brought upon Egypt and God parted the Red Sea to allow the Israelites to cross on dry ground with a wall of water on one side and a wall of water on the other. Moses and all of the people beheld the wondrous power of God being worked in the real world, making computer generated effects pale in comparison. Moses led these people to the mountain where God then spoke the Ten Commandments, which frightened most everybody. The people sinned, even after seeing such spectacular demonstrations of God’s power and after hearing Him say, “You shall have no other gods before me.” They made a golden calf and worshiped it while Moses was in the process of receiving the Ten Commandments, in tablet form, and many of them died.

We have examples of people, both good and bad, in the bible for our learning. We can draw strength to resist temptation, knowing how God blessed those who were faithful and how he punished those who rebelled.

Enoch walked with God and prophesied about judgment day. He was faithful and God snatched him right to heaven, not allowing him to see death. Noah Believed God and built an ark in an area far from any large body of water. He built a rectangular craft that was about four hundred-fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and about forty-five feet high. Everybody mocked him, but he believed a flood was coming against all evidence to the contrary. He believed and built what was probably, at the time, the largest floating vessel ever made. It took faith, courage, and the ability to persevere when others were mocking his faith.

We are surrounded by a great cloud of biblical witnesses, according to Hebrews, chapter twelve, verses one and two. They are watching us run this marathon of life and the obstacles we face. We should lay aside anything that interferes with our spiritual progress and look to Jesus, who endured the cross for us. Trusting Him will help to increase our faith and help us in our fight against temptation.

Having faith is good and it should be demonstrated by our works, according to James, chapter two, verses fourteen through twenty. Our faith must go beyond well wishes and pats on the back for those who are destitute and in need. The kind thoughts must be coupled with action. The idea that one brother has faith and the other has works and together they make a team is bogus. The brother who has no works has a dead faith. The person who works shows his faith through his deeds, which go beyond lip service.

Christians are saved by the grace of God through the blood of Christ on the cross. The works do not save us, mitigate, or wash away our sins. The works are an outward reflection of the faith within our hearts, which is why faith without works is dead. A living faith is expressed in word and in deed.

Faith is the victory, we learn in First John, chapter five, verses four and five, and belief is the key. Our faith comes from believing the evidence presented in God’s word. His word gives us hope even when all appears to be hopeless.

Hope is made up of the things we expect and desire. Faith is what makes up the things we hope for and is based on evidence presented by people whose testimony we trust. Whatever we hope for, things, events, relationships, eternal life, these are things we expect and desire. Faith gives us the reason to believe what we hope for will come to pass.

A person can hope for many things, not all of which are necessarily good, some hopes are selfish and evil. Misfortune and loss occur in a world filled with turmoil, physical, emotional, and economical. Problems arise from multiple sources and can leave a person with a strong feeling of hopelessness. Hopes can be dashed to pieces for any number of reasons, some of which can be discovered by asking the following four questions.

1. In what did the person place his or her trust?

2. In whom did he or she place their trust?

3. Was the hope based on a false assumption?

4. Was the hope based on greed?

Hopes based on a flimsy foundation risk failure. The strongest foundation our hopes can have is the word of God. His word never returns to Him void, according to Isaiah, chapter fifty-five, and verse eleven. It always accomplishes the purpose for which it was sent.

The trouble with basing hopes on people is that even those having the best of intentions can fail and any hopes riding on their success are gone. God is the person upon whom we can place our hope.

People can believe lies or misinterpret facts and thereby develop hopes based on falsehoods. No amount of hope can turn a lie into truth or make two plus two equal three.

Hopes based on greed are at high risk of going unfulfilled. In Acts, chapter twenty-four, verses twenty-five and twenty-six, we read of Felix the Roman governor. He was hoping the Apostle Paul would pay him money. The hope for a bribe was misplaced and based on greed.

We can and do experience set backs and disappointments on our journey through life. These events need not leave us feeling hopeless. We have a wonderful example in Genesis, chapters thirty-seven through forty-one. Joseph went from being his father’s favorite son to being sold by his brothers into slavery.

Many people would have given up hope on the way to the Egyptian slave market. Joseph never lost hope. He did the best he could in whatever circumstances he found himself. He kept his integrity toward God and never wavered. Joseph was sold to Potiphar. Because of the young Hebrew’s ability and hard work, he was quickly raised to the highest position a slave could hold, he was placed over the entire household.

Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph and failed. The young Hebrew refused to sin against God and thus showed himself to be a man of great moral fiber, but it cost him. He was falsely accused of trying to force himself on Potiphar’s wife and her lie landed Joseph in prison.

The once favorite son is again cast down, yet does not sink into despair or lose hope. Like before, he uses his talents and does the best he can in the circumstances in which he find himself and is soon placed in charge of the prison.

God gave Joseph the ability to interpret dreams and this talent was used on the baker and the cupbearer. Joseph said the cupbearer would be restored to his former position before Pharaoh and the baker would be hanged, both of the interpretations came true. Joseph explained how he came to be in Egypt and to be in prison to the cupbearer and asked to be remembered before the Egyptian monarch.

Joseph was in prison for two more years before Pharaoh had some bad dreams and the cupbearer finally remembered the promise he had made. Joseph was summoned before the Egyptian ruler and interpreted the dreams about seven years of plenty to be followed by seven years of famine. The son of Jacob was then raised to second in command of all Egypt.

The events in the life of Joseph seemed to go from bad to bad to even worse, yet he never lost hope and did the best he could in the circumstances in which he found himself. God had a plan and all things worked out to the good.

God causes all things to work together for the good of all people who love Him and are called according to His purpose. This assurance comes from the Apostle Paul in Romans, chapter eight, verse twenty-eight. No matter how bad things seem to be, the person who loves God can take courage from the life of Joseph and the writings of Paul, knowing all will work out to the good. God gives us the reason to hope.

We learn from King David in Psalms, chapter thirty-one, verses twenty-three and twenty-four, that all of God’s saints should love the Lord, who preserves the faithful. All of the people who have been set apart from the world and dedicated to God should be of good courage because the Lord will strengthen the hearts of those who place their hope in Him.

A king is not saved by the size of his army, according to Psalms, chapter thirty-three, verses sixteen through twenty-two, and a powerful man is not rescued by his strength. The eyes of the Lord are on those who hope in His mercy. He protects those who trust Him and can deliver their souls from eternal death.

A large army is no guarantee of victory. History has many examples of a large fighting force being defeated by a smaller force. The book of Judges, chapters seven and eight, reveals how Gideon overcame the vastly superior army of the Midianites with the help of God. In first Samuel, chapter seventeen, David defeats Goliath. The giant would have won the contest if physical strength had been the only factor. David was armed with a slingshot and his faith in the Lord.

By most any standard of human reasoning Gideon had no hope of routing an army well over one hundred-twenty thousand strong with just three hundred men. By the same reasoning, David had no hope of prevailing over Goliath. The Philistine and Israelite armies did not believe David could win and neither did the taunting giant. The hope for victory for David and Gideon came from their trust in God.

The trials and temptations we meet on a daily basis can take their toll, troubling us to the depths of our souls. In times of inner turmoil we can look to passages like Psalms, chapter forty-three, verse five, and ask ourselves the same questions. Why are we feeling down cast? Why are we disturbed within? The person who trusts in God can take courage and defeat the negative feelings that trouble the soul.

We survive each day because of the Lord’s mercy and compassion, as was written in Lamentations, chapter three, verses twenty-two through twenty-six. The Lord is the one in whom we should hope to bring us to salvation. Twice in the passage we are encouraged to wait on Him. In our fast-paced society we have come to expect instant satisfaction. Waiting for anything takes patience, which must be developed. The Lord is faithful and we can trust His timing to be perfect. His blessings come to us each day and we should be thankful for them because things could have been different. The Lord does not owe us anything, but gives according to His grace.

Many people start out in their cars assuming they will arrive at their intended destinations. The majority of those drivers will probably end up where they wanted to be, but accidents happen and a person’s day can end drastically different than it began and nowhere near the way they hoped for.

Abraham, the father of the Jewish and Arabic nations, believed God. The Apostle Paul speaks of the hope demonstrated by the patriarch in Romans, chapter four, verses, sixteen through twenty-one. Abraham believed God when the Almighty told him about the numerous descendants he would have, becoming the father of many nations. Abraham believed the promise, even though he was a hundred years old and Sarah, his ninety year old wife, was barren. By human standards there was no way a couple of such advanced age could produce a child.  Abraham hoped against hope. The idea here is to hope in God and believe what He says even if it seems impossible to us.

Justification and peace come to us through Jesus, according to Romans, chapter five, verses one through five. We hope in the glory of God because of the faith in which we stand. When troubles arise we should look at them as a means to teach us perseverance and an opportunity to demonstrate the content of our characters. The concept is much easier said than done.

The Gentiles, everyone not Jewish, were not a part of the covenant God made with the children of Israel, according to Ephesians, chapter two, verses eleven through thirteen. The Gentiles had no promises and were without God and without hope in the world. Jesus Christ changed all of that when He gave His own blood on the cross and paid the price for all of us, Jews and Gentiles alike.

The people, who are truly without hope, as revealed in Second Thessalonians, chapter one, verse eight, are those who know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hope can get us through the difficult times and give us a reason not to give up, to trust in God, and to keep fighting temptation. There will be times when we lose the struggle and fall into sin. Never give up hope; trust in God, and read chapter fifteen to find out what to do.

Chapter Fifteen:Sin Removal

The focus of this book up to this point has been on fighting temptation, living godly and avoiding sin. Let’s now see what the bible teaches us to do when we fall short of the standard set forth in the New Testament. An honest self-examination would lead most people to conclude that they are guilty of more than a few violations of God’s word.

Everyone has sinned at one time or another and falls short of the glory of God. The Apostle Paul pointed this out in Romans, chapter three, verse twenty-three. The only man not guilty of sin is Jesus Christ; all others are guilty as charged. The person who claims to be sinless is only deceiving himself and the truth is not in him. This teaching can be found in First John, chapter one, verse eight. We cannot change or lower the standard just because people can’t measure up and we cannot decide a behavior or action God has condemned is no longer a sin. Let us accept the fact that we all have sinned at some point in our lives and work on correcting the problem.

Jesus told the people standing around Him in John, chapter eight, verse twenty-four, that they would die in their sins unless they believed in Him.

Belief in Jesus is therefore necessary for people who have no desire to die in their sins. The question becomes, what are we suppose to believe about Jesus? There are many people who believe a man named Jesus lived long ago and was raised in Nazareth. Some people will go so far as to call Him a prophet or a philosopher. The New Testament writers call Him the Son of God.

Our faith in God should be based on His word. Peter, James, and John, beheld Jesus transfigured and speaking with Moses and Elijah in Matthew, chapter seventeen, verses one through five. Peter wanted to build a tabernacle for each of the three persons, Moses representing the law, Elijah representing the prophets, and Jesus representing Himself. God spoke and made clear that Jesus is His beloved Son and they were to hear Him.

We must believe Jesus to be God’s Son and listen to Him or we will die in our sins. If we close the bible at this point it would be logical to conclude that belief in Jesus being the Son of God is all one needs to do in order to avoid dying in sin. Let us keep the bible open because the scriptures have more to say. Jesus taught in Matthew, chapter ten, verses thirty-two and thirty-three, that those who confess His name before men would have their name confessed by Him before the heavenly Father. The people who deny Jesus before men will be denied by Him before His heavenly Father.

A person can believe Jesus to be the Son of God and yet be lost for refusing to admit that belief in front of other people. Belief in Jesus being the Son of God and confession of that belief are therefore required in order for a person to avoid dying in sin or being denied by Christ. I cannot speak for you but I want the Lord to say, “Yes, Father, this one is mine.”

Again, if we close the bible we come away with the doctrine that belief and confession are all God requires of a person. The bible does not end with the few verses we have looked at so let us continue and find out what more it has to say on the subject.

Jesus encountered a naked man among the tombs in Mark, chapter five, verses one through nine. The man had an unclean spirit and possessed super human strength. The unclean spirit acknowledged Jesus to be the Son of the Most High God and wanted to know if the Lord had come to torment him. Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man and asked its name. The unclean spirit identified itself as Legion, for we are many, and begged not to be sent out of the country. Jesus gave His permission and Legion entered a herd of swine, which stampeded into the sea and drowned.

Jesus cleansed the man, which is the good part. Legion openly declared Jesus to be the Son of the Most High God. He believed and confessed, showing unclean spirits do as much, and was not saved. James makes this same point in the second chapter of his letter, verse nineteen. You do well to believe there is one God, the demons believe and tremble.

The fate of demons not-with-standing, I am more concerned with the fate of people and my own soul as well.  The words of Jesus in Matthew, chapter seven, verses twenty-one through twenty-three, are sobering.  Not everyone who calls Him, “Lord, Lord,” is going to enter the kingdom of heaven; only those who do the will of the Father.  A whole lot of people are going to speak to Jesus about all the wonderful works they did in His name, prophesying - speaking for Him, and casting out demons.  He is going to tell them to depart from Him because He never knew them, they practiced iniquity.

These were people who clearly believed Jesus to be the Son of God, spoke for Him, and did many wonderful works in His name. If belief in Jesus and confessing Him before men prevents a person from dying in sin, why did Jesus not only deny ever knowing them, why did He condemn them in the Day of Judgment for being full of iniquity?

Iniquity is lawlessness, which is sin, and those people still were guilty. There was something they yet needed to do in order to avoid dying in sin. The bible has not left this mystery unsolved. Some people reported to Jesus in Luke, chapter thirteen, verses one through five, how Pilate mingled the blood of certain Galileans with their own sacrifices. The Lord asked the people if they supposed those Galileans who died to be worse sinners than all other Galileans because of what they had suffered. He informed them the victims were no worse and that they would all likewise perish if they failed repent. Jesus went on to talk about the eighteen people upon whom the tower of Siloam fell and asked if people thought those who had been killed were worse sinners than all other men. The answer was, “No.” The Lord let them know they all needed to repent or perish.

The Apostle Paul told the people of Athens in Acts, chapter seventeen, verse thirty, that God overlooked ignorance in times past but now commands all men everywhere to repent. Repentance here is turning away from the path of sin and following the way of Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life.

The New Testament does not stop with belief, confession, and repentance, so neither am I. Jesus taught in Mark, chapter sixteen, verse sixteen, that whoever believes in Him and is baptized will be saved and whoever does not believe will be damned. Peter and the other apostles were present with the Lord just before His ascension and heard what He wanted them to do and teach. He sent them in Matthew, chapter twenty-eight, verses eighteen through twenty, to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to teach them to observe all that He had commanded. In Acts, chapter two, verses fifteen through forty-seven, Peter preaches the first gospel sermon convicting his listeners of crucifying Jesus, the Person God made both Lord and Christ. The people wanted to know what they needed to do. Peter told them to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins in the name of Jesus. The passage goes on to show that those who believed Peter were baptized and the Lord added them to His church.

The apostle teaches us in First Peter, chapter three, verse twenty-one, that baptism is an antitype that saves us, not washing dirt off our skin but an appeal to God for a good conscience. Baptism is not just swimming in a pool, taking a bath, or diving into a lake, it is an appeal to the Highest of the High, the Creator of all things, to clean the conscience of its filth.

Baptize is a word transliterated from the Greek word Baptizo, which means to immerse or submerge. Baptizo does not mean sprinkle or pour, but to immerse. Sprinkling or pouring water are not modes of being immersed, they are not immersion at all.

We have an example of a person being baptized in Acts, chapter eight, verses thirty-six through forty-eight. Philip taught the Ethiopian eunuch about Jesus and the man spotted water and asked if he could be baptized. Philip told him that if he believed with all of his heart he could. The scripture says that both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and he baptized him. This was no water flask, no sprinkling of water drops, and no pouring onto anyone‘s head. The body of water was large enough for two men to go down into and for one to submerge the other. Jesus told us to be immersed. Men presume the authority to decide sprinkling or pouring will do. I will stick with the Lord.

Immersion into Jesus Christ is immersion into His death, Paul taught in Romans, chapter six, verses three through fifteen. The person being baptized is buried into the death of Jesus and in the likeness of His resurrection, thus the new person rises to walk in newness of life. Newness of life is being born again. Jesus taught Nicodemus in John, chapter three, verse three, that unless a person is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. The people who are united with Jesus in the likeness of His death shall certainly be united with Him in the likeness of His resurrection. The new person is freed from sin and has the hope of eternal life.

We can read in Luke, chapter three, verses two and three, that John the baptist taught repentance and baptism for the remission of sins. Jesus was immersed by John, who did not want to baptize Him. John said in Matthew, chapter three, verse fourteen, “I have need to be baptized by You, and You come to me?” Jesus told him to permit it in order to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus is our perfect example. Even though He committed no sins and had nothing to repent of, He allowed Himself to be baptized.

The Apostle Paul speaks of our faith and baptism in Galatians, chapter three, verses twenty-six through twenty-nine. Our faith in Jesus is what makes us sons of God and those who have been baptized into Christ have put Him on, like a garment. We stand in His righteousness, not our own. Through Jesus we become heirs to the promise God made to Abraham, that in him all the nations would be blessed.

The apostle to the Gentiles also spoke of his conversion in Acts, chapter twenty-two, verses six through sixteen. Paul spoke of how a blindingly bright light shined down and Jesus spoke to him. The Lord asked Saul, whose Roman name was Paul, why he was persecuting Him and instructed Saul to go on into Damascus and there he would be told what to do. Ananias, under direct command of the Lord, went and restored Saul’s sight and told him that God had appointed him to see His Holy One and hear an utterance from His mouth. Ananias spoke of what was going to happen in Saul’s future but the only thing he told him to do was, “Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”

Baptism is linked to the washing away of sins by the word of God, which should never be dismissed by anyone who wants to be pleasing to Him. Man teaches that baptism is an outward sign of an inward faith that has nothing to do with putting anyone into Christ or the remission of sins. We have just referenced passages in the bible that link baptism to the washing away and or remission of sins and verses speaking about being baptized into Christ. I cannot pretend those scriptures do not exist. Peter told us baptism is an antitype that saves us, an appeal to God for a good conscience. Nowhere in the bible is baptism described as a show of any kind. I choose to believe Peter.

The Apostle Paul encountered a group of twelve disciples in Acts, chapter nineteen, verses one through five. These people were probably taught by Apollos; see Acts, chapter eighteen, verses twenty-five and twenty-six. The disciples were not those of Jesus because they knew nothing about Him or the Holy Spirit until Paul spoke to them. He asked, “Into what were you baptized?” He went on to explain how John baptized with the baptism of repentance and to believe in Him who was to come, that Person being Jesus. They were then baptized in the name of Jesus.

The passage shows the importance of being baptized into Christ Jesus. If what a believer is baptized into is not important, if baptism is just an outward show of faith, if baptism has nothing to do with salvation, why did not Paul simply tell these people to accept Jesus in their hearts as there personal savior?

Baptism is necessary because:

It puts us into Christ. Romans 6:3

It represents the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Romans 6:4-5

It is for the remission/washing away of sins. Acts 2:38 & Acts 22:19

It is an appeal to God for a good conscience. 1Peter 3:21

There is much confusion on what to do in order to be saved in the religious world because of the different passages on the subject. The Apostle Paul taught in Romans, chapter ten, verses nine and ten, that you will be saved if you confess Jesus with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. A person believes with the heart unto righteousness and confesses with the mouth unto salvation. This scripture taken by itself teaches that a person who believes in Jesus and confesses Him to be the risen Son of God will be saved. Yet, Jesus already told us that not everyone who calls Him, “Lord, Lord,” is going to be saved. The people talking to Him believed, confessed, and did many wonderful works. He said that He never knew them.

Paul’s conversion only mentions baptism while Peter in Acts, chapter two, verse thirty-eight, called for repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus. Paul spoke of belief with the heart and confession with the mouth to the Romans without mentioning repentance or baptism.

Anyone can find and isolate passages in the bible that only talk about belief or only talk about confession or only talk about repentance or only talk about baptism, but there are no passages containing all four. We have to put them together in order to fully understand what the Lord requires us to do.

Belief and confession alone cannot save a soul or everyone who calls Jesus, “Lord, Lord,” would be saved. Repentance is a godly sorrow which leads to a change in conduct. We turn from following all other ways of conduct, all other paths, to following the way of Christ. A follower is a disciple, but it means nothing if the person does not believe in Jesus. Anyone can pretend and go through the motions. A person submerged in water that does not believe, is unwilling to confess Jesus to be the Son of God, is unwilling to make the necessary change from following the world to following Christ; is just getting wet.

Isolating biblical passages to suit a particular doctrine results in endless debate and the pitting of one scripture against another with people choosing the one they like. Harmony results when we take all of the teachings and put them together.

Sin is removed from the soul when a person believes Jesus is the risen Son of God, confesses that belief, repents, and is baptized into Christ for the remission of sins in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Enter the born-again Christian.

The new Christians with their sins washed away still had to live in the world and apply the teachings of Jesus to their lives, just like us today. They were still vulnerable to temptation and sin, just like us, and highly likely to sin again at some point in the future.

How is sin removed after a person is converted?

If any of us could live without committing sin, God would not have needed to send His Son into the world to die and live again. Conversion to Christ does not change the fact that we are human and susceptible to sin.

Due to the grace of God we do not need to be submerged in water every time we sin, some of us would be water-logged. We have an example in Acts, chapter eight, verses five through twenty-five, of how the Apostle Peter dealt with the problem. Philip went to Samaria and preached Christ to them. He worked miracles through the power of God and amazed everyone by healing people and casting out unclean spirits. Simon the sorcerer was watching Philip along with the crowds. The gospel was preached and men and women were baptized. Simon also believed and was baptized. He followed Philip, watching him work miracles. The Apostles Peter and John came from Jerusalem and began laying hands on the new converts. Simon realized the Holy Spirit was given by the laying on of the apostles’ hands. He wanted the ability to pass on the Holy Spirit, giving others miraculous powers. Whether he thought the ability was a good way to make money or just wanted the prestige does not matter, only God knows. Simon had the world’s value system, the idea that money can buy anything. He offered Peter money in exchange for the ability to lay hands on people that they might receive the Holy Spirit.  The apostle strongly condemned Simon for thinking the gift of God could be purchased with money and warned the former sorcerer that he was poisoned by bitterness and bound with iniquity. Peter told Simon to repent of the wickedness and pray for God to grant him forgiveness. Simon requested for Peter to pray for him.

Some people say Simon was not a disciple but the scriptures indicate that he did believe the preaching of Philip about Jesus and was indeed baptized. Peter did not command Simon to repent and be baptized again in the name of Jesus he urged him to repent and pray to God for forgiveness. I believe, even though the bible narrative moves on, that Peter prayed with Simon and the new convert who had sinned was forgiven. Who would not pray for someone in a circumstance like that? Even if I am wrong about Peter praying with Simon, repentance and prayer was called for but not baptism.

In the first letter written by the Apostle John to Christians, chapter one, verse nine, the apostle teaches us what to do when we sin. If we confess our sins, Jesus is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The narrow way to the Father begins when we apply God’s word and do all He has said is necessary for us to become disciples of Christ. Belief, confession, repentance, and baptism, start us on the road to heaven, but we must stay the course. We grow spiritually by studying God’s word and applying the inspired teachings to our lives.

Living godly is like being in a marathon with the finish line at the end of our stay on earth and eternal life with God being the reward. It does not matter who arrives first; only that we never give up, run by the rules, and finish.

There are temptations to be fought along the way that can trip us up, cause us to fall flat on our faces, and sometimes leave us stunned to the point of inaction. The way to eternal life is narrow and difficult but not impossible. When we fall, when we sin, we should be sad, but not to the point where we are paralyzed and unable to go forward. We should make whatever changes are necessary when failure occurs and look to Jesus, who will clean off the dirt and help us back onto the journey to eternal life.

There are other people making the same journey, trying to follow the Lord. Each person is more than willing to help a fellow human being overcome the hurdles and temptations. All of the travelers are aware of their own vulnerability and know they can fall at any moment and need help in return.

The End

May God’s light guide you to heaven.

John Buttrick

Table of Contents

Copyright

Chapter One: Sin Vs Temptation

Chapter Two: Our Influence On The World

Chapter Three: Every Idle Word

Chapter Four: Our Character And Reputation

Chapter Five: Marriage

Chapter Six: Holding Grudges

Chapter Seven: Love

Chapter Eight: Charitable Giving

Chapter Nine: Prayer

Chapter Ten: Overcoming Anxiety

Chapter Eleven: Judging Others

Chapter Twelve: The Narrow Way

Chapter Thirteen: Change Without Warning

Chapter Fourteen: Trusting God

Chapter Fifteen: Sin Removal